Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity
- Introduction
- 1 Angelic Descent and Apocalyptic Epistemology: The Teachings of Enoch and the Fallen Angels in the Book of the Watchers
- 2 From Scribalism to Sectarianism: The Angelic Descent Myth and the Social Settings of Enochic Pseudepigraphy
- 3 Primeval History and the Problem of Evil: Genesis, the Book of the Watchers, and the Fallen Angels in Pre-Rabbinic Judaism
- 4 The Parting of the Ways? Enoch and the Fallen Angels in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity
- 5 Demonology and the Construction of Christian Identity: Approaches to Illicit Angelic Instruction among Proto-Orthodox Christians
- 6 The Interpenetration of Jewish and Christian Traditions: The Exegesis of Genesis and the Marginalization of Enochic Literature
- 7 The Apocalyptic Roots of Merkabah Mysticism? The Reemergence of Enochic Traditions in Rabbinic Judaism
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index of Modern Authors
- Index of Primary Sources
- Subject Index
Epilogue
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity
- Introduction
- 1 Angelic Descent and Apocalyptic Epistemology: The Teachings of Enoch and the Fallen Angels in the Book of the Watchers
- 2 From Scribalism to Sectarianism: The Angelic Descent Myth and the Social Settings of Enochic Pseudepigraphy
- 3 Primeval History and the Problem of Evil: Genesis, the Book of the Watchers, and the Fallen Angels in Pre-Rabbinic Judaism
- 4 The Parting of the Ways? Enoch and the Fallen Angels in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity
- 5 Demonology and the Construction of Christian Identity: Approaches to Illicit Angelic Instruction among Proto-Orthodox Christians
- 6 The Interpenetration of Jewish and Christian Traditions: The Exegesis of Genesis and the Marginalization of Enochic Literature
- 7 The Apocalyptic Roots of Merkabah Mysticism? The Reemergence of Enochic Traditions in Rabbinic Judaism
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index of Modern Authors
- Index of Primary Sources
- Subject Index
Summary
This study has suggested that the Book of the Watchers originated in a setting of priestly scribalism. In the centuries following its composition and redaction, the apocalypse had a major impact on early Jewish and early Christian approaches to antediluvian history. Although early exegetes generally avoided its distinctive view of the fallen angels as corrupting teachers of humankind, the Enochic myth of angelic descent shaped the interpretation of Gen 6:1–4 among a range of pre-Rabbinic Jews, including members of the Jesus Movement. In the first centuries of the Common Era, Enochic texts continued to be popular among proto-orthodox Christians, and Enochic traditions were developed in new directions by Christian apologists and heresiologists. By contrast, their Rabbinic contemporaries abandoned the Enochic pseudepigrapha, replacing the traditional angelic interpretation of Gen 6:1–4 with new euhemeristic approaches and asserting that Enoch was a normal man who died a normal death. These efforts formed part of a broader attempt at self-definition over against non-Rabbinic Jews (including but not limited to Christ-believing Jews), and they proved largely successful in excluding the Book of the Watchers and the Enochic myth of angelic descent from Rabbinic Judaism during the Talmudic period (ca. 200–600 ce).
Beginning in the third and fourth centuries, Christians in the Roman Empire began to adopt a similar stance. Concurrent with the formation of the biblical canon of Western Christian orthodoxy, church leaders followed their Rabbinic counterparts in rejecting both the Enochic books and the angelic reading of Gen 6:1–4, often with explicit reference to the precedent set by “the Jews.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and ChristianityThe Reception of Enochic Literature, pp. 273 - 277Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005