Bibliography for my Blog

One in a series on Lucan resources

Michael Turton asks: “Which books would recommend for the connection between Enoch and the NT?”

I would recommend two books by Margaret Barker as an introduction to the subject.

In her first book, The Older Testament: The Survival of Themes from the Ancient Royal Cult in Sectarian Judaism and Early Christianity, Barker discusses what was the background for the origins of Christianity and her methodology:

“We have to find something appropriate for a group of Galileans, relevant to their needs and aspirations, but sufficiently coherent (and even recognizable) to draw the hostility of Jerusalem Judaism, as a threat to the Law. . . . Our task is to reconstruct a background quite independent of New Testament considerations, appropriate to the world of Jesus' first followers, and known to exist as a single set of ideas which threatened the Law. . . . In order to reconstruct such a background, it is necessary to dig deep, and to work back through the writings of several centuries. I shall begin with the pseudepigraphon known as 1 Enoch (Ethiopic Enoch), and shall then devote the rest of this book to establishing the antecedents of this work, which is known to have been used by the earliest Christians. . . . This mythology underlies the creation theology of Romans 8, the exorcisms and miracles of the Gospels, the heavenly archetypes of Hebrews, and the first Temple imagery of the Fourth Gospel. It is the imagery of Revelation, Jude and the Petrine Epistles, and the song of its angels became the Sanctus of the eucharistic liturgy. Little of this is derived directly from Enoch; the process rather has been one of following the Enochic stream to its source, and seeing what other waters have owed from it.”

The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and its Influence on Christianity (SPCK/Abingdon Press 1988). The following is from her book:
'When fragments of the Book of Enoch were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was realized that this was a very ancient text. Although it was known and used by the first Christians, it was not written by them but was a part of their Jewish heritage. Exactly when and where the book (or rather 'books', because it is a collection of texts) originated is still debated, but there is the distinct possibility that it is as old as some of the Old Testament . . . The greatest importance of Enoch is that it was not only a pre-Christian book, but also a post-Christian book, a text from their Jewish background kept and used by the earliest churches. When we use Enoch as a 'context' for the New Testament, many early Christian ideas come into a much clearer focus, and many of the gaps in the New Testament can be bridged.'
The introductory material to Enoch: a commentary on the book of 1 Enoch, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, Vol. 1, 2001) by George W.E. Nickelsburg probably contains the best and most recent detailed analysis of Enoch and the New Testament. The influence of Enoch on the New Testament is probably most pervasive in the son of man christologies derived in part from the theme of the chosen one/elect one[i] which appears in the Book of Parables included in Volume II. Volume II should be available soon. See the review of Volume I at:

1 Enoch 1Currents in Theology and Mission, April, 2004 by Ralph W. Klein
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MDO/is_2_31/ai_n6003259

You can read the Book of Enoch, R.H. Charles, 1912 edition, online at:
http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch/ENOCH_1.HTM

The following internet sites have valuable information on Enoch:

The Enoch Literature
http://www.askwhy.co.uk/judaism/0450Enoch.html

Welcome to the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Web Page
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/otpseud.html

The Book in Enoch Quoted in the NT
http://www.stargods.org/EnochQuoted.htm

An Introduction to the Qumran Enoch Fragments
http://www.taylor-edu.ca/codex/DSS/Introductions/1Enoch.html

The following are two very good articles:
Enoch as a Divine Mediator
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/med_enoch.html

Melchizedek as a Divine Mediator
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/med_melchizedek.html


In my various blogs on Enoch, I cited additional material most of which was not included in this blog.


[i] Note Luke 9:35 “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" and Luke 23:35 “And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!"

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