Kimball College

This is a translation by R. H. Charles from the Ethiopic Text with a complete analysis and notes. Considered indispensable to students of both the Old and New Testaments in understanding the problems underlying the Bible prophecies. In its present form the Book of Enoch is made up of various elements belonging to different dates and a diversity of authorship and more properly should be spoken of as '"Books'" of Enoch. One part belongs to the earlier Book of Noah. The following is a small sampling of Mr. Charles' quite long and detailed Introduction: '" . . . To describe in short compass the Book of Enoch is impossible. It comes from many writers and almost as many periods. It touches upon every subject that could have arisen in the ancient schools of the prophets, but naturally it deals with these subjects in an advanced stage of developement. Nearly every religious idea appears in a variety of forms, and if these are studied in relation to their contexts and dates, we cannot fail to observe that in the age to which the Enoch literature belongs there is a movement everywhere, and nowhere dogmatic fixity and finality. And though at times the movement may be reactionary, yet the general trend is onward and upward. In fact the history of the development of the higher theology during the two centuries before the Christian era could not be written without the Book of Enoch. From what has already been said it is clear that no unity of time, authorship, or teaching is to be looked for. Indeed, certain considerable portions of the book belonged originally not to the Enoch literature at all, but to an earlier work, i. e. the Book of Noah, which probably exhibited in some degree the syncretism of the work into which it was subsequently incorporated. This Book of Noah clearly embraced chapters 6-11, 54-55, 60, 65-69, 106-107. . . .'" Conflicting views are advanced on the Messiah, the Messianic kingdom, the origin of sin, Sheol, the final judgement, the resurrection, and the nature of the future life. There is an elaborate angelology and demonology, and much space is devoted to the calender and the heavenly bodies and their movements. The analysis and notes are an excellent addition to this work, enabling the reader to better understand the subject matter.