Textual & Comparative Explorations in 1 & 2 Enoch ~ Samuel Zinner ~ ISBN: 9781890718596

Title: Textual And Comparative Explorations in 1 & 2 Enoch

Series: Ancient Scripture & Texts Series 1

Publishers: Eborn Books & The Interpreter Foundation

Salt Lake City, Utah. This copy is new but has creasing on the covers.

Date: 2014

Pages: 273

ISBN: 9781890718596

Textual and Comparative Explorations in 1 and 2 Enoch breathes fresh air into the scholarly field of Enoch studies. Samuel Zinner emphasizes the textual and theological dimensions of the feminine divine Lady Wisdom in 1 Enoch and how she resembles aspects of earlier indigenous conceptions of Mother Earth. The study presents evidence that 1 Enoch’s and Daniel 7’s Ancient of Days and Son of Man originated in Noah stories that predate both texts. Daniel 7 and the Parables of Enoch each reflects a combination of early and late traditions, which calls into question the standard consensus of simple Danielic dependence on the part of 1 Enoch. Zinner brings to light previously undocumented influences of 1 Enoch on texts such as the Book of Wisdom, the Gospel of the Hebrews, and the Shepherd of Hermas, and demonstrates the application of Enochic traits to the Qur’anic portraits of the prophet Ezra and the Virgin Mary. The study culminates in a literary journey through ancient Jewish and Judaic-Christian literary parallels to various Mormon texts dealing with the prophet Enoch.

Review:

“This is a glimpse of the future of Enoch studies. I could not put the book down. Zinner scrutinizes the work of several scholars in the field and also draws on his own vast knowledge to set the Enoch texts in their wider context. He finds traces of them not only in the Bible, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, but also in Mandaean texts, the Qur’an, the Zohar and the Scriptures of the Latter-day Saints. Each essay is a gem.

— Margaret Barker, former President of the Society for Old Testament Study.

Table of Contents:

1. The Parables of Enoch: Reflections on the Nickelsburg-VanderKam 1 Enoch Commentary

2. Tentative Proposals for Rearranging 1 Enoch 42’s Lines On the Basis of 4 Ezra 5:9-11 and 1 Enoch 39:5

3. Daniel Boyarin’s Recent Parables of Enoch and Daniel 7 Research and Potential Evidence for Noahic Origins of Danielic/Enochic Ancient/Head of Days and Son of Man

4. The Ancient/Head of Days and the Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch and Daniel: Untangling Literary Relationships

5. עתיק ימין and ርእሰ፡ መዋዕል፡ Ancient of Days — Head of Days: Two Synonymous Calendric Phrases in Daniel and 1 Enoch. Philological-Textual Explorations

6. Challenging the Opinio Communis Herodian Dating of the Parables of Enoch: Reflections on the Contributions of Jonathan A. Goldstein and Ted M. Erho

7. A Short Note on Ethiopic reʾsa mawāʿel, Head of Days, and Avestan rathwãm asnyanãmca, “Lords of Days”: Some Iranian Influences in the Parables of Enoch

8. Confirmation of 2 Enoch 1’s “Their Clothes Were Like Foam” in Belgrade National Library Bulgarian MS No. 321: Correcting the Textus Receptus’ “Their Clothing Was Singing Variously” in Light of an Overlooked Parallel in Mandaean Ginza Rabba 6

9. 1 Enoch 84:1, 3 Parallels in the Book of Wisdom 1 and an Underappreciated Paraphrase of Psalm 139:7, 14-15 in 1 Enoch 84:3: A Short Note

10. A Short Note on the Book of Wisdom 1:7’s Dependence on the Qedushah of the Parables of Enoch (39:12)

11. 1 Enoch Allusions and Citations in the Book of Wisdom 1:1-13 with Special Emphasis on 1 Enoch 42’s Mytheme of Hypostatic Wisdom

12. Supportive Evidence for Zurawski’s Rendering of Wisdom 2:24’s Diabolos as “Adversary”

13. On Enoch and Sacrifices in Moshe Idel’s Kabbalah in Italy: A Short Note on the Influence of 2 Enoch

14. An Enochic Beatitude in Zohar I:37b? Apparent Evidence for the Zoharic Circle’s Knowledge of 1 Enoch: A Short Note

15. A Catena of 2 Enoch Parallels in the Gospel of Thomas Logia 1-18

16. The Transfer of Enochic Traits to Ezra: An Exploration in Ethiopic and Slavonic Enoch Parallels in the Text of 4 Ezra

17. Underemphasized Parallels between the Account of Jesus’ Baptism in the Gospel of the Hebrews/Ebionites and the Letter to the Hebrews and an Overlooked Influence from 1 Enoch 96:3: “And a Bright Light Shall Enlighten You, and the Voice of Rest You Shall Hear from Heaven”

18. The Transfer of Enochic Traits to the Virgin Mary in the Gospels and the Qurʾān

19. “Zion” and “Jerusalem” as Lady Wisdom in Moses 7 and Nephi’s Tree of Life Vision: Reverberations of Enoch and Asherah in Nineteenth-Century America

About the Author:

Samuel Zinner (Ph.D. University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is a multidisciplinary researcher and Holocaust scholar who contributed to German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing 1920-1945 (Oxford/NY: Berghahn Books, 2004), which was awarded the American Library Association’s prestigious “Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award” for 2005. His books and essays on ancient and modern history and literature have been published internationally in a variety of languages. He has contributed articles to Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Oxford University Press), Religious/Adyan (Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue), and other academic journals. He is currently engaged in researching American indigenous history and culture.