What Ken Johnson’s book Ancient Book of Enoch presents is some historical background, a translation of the entire Ethiopic Book of Enoch and concludes with points to ponder such as details about the Nephilim, “includes a previously unknown chapter from the Dead Sea Scrolls that actually explains how they did their genetic tampering” and actually offers, based on the premise that prophetic sections of Enoch are accurate, a chart whereby to ascertain the “window of time” of the Messiah Jesus’ return.The material quoted in the review is a wild mixture of accurate information, misunderstandings, and the book's author's own idiosyncratic theological reflections. The translation in the book is not familiar to me. It may be a paraphrase of the Charles translation, which was good in its day, a century ago, but is now very outdated.
If you have come to this blog post through a search engine to find out more about the book of Enoch (1 Enoch), for heaven's sake, don't bother with Johnson's book. The place to start is with the recent translation of 1 Enoch by two of the top specialists in the field of Enochic studies. (Yes, there is a scholarly field of Enochic studies and many of the specialists meet every couple of years in the Enoch Seminar.) The translation is:
George W. E. Nickelsburg and James C. VanderKam, 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation (Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2012)It also has an excellent introduction. Beyond that, have a look at VanderKam's An Introduction to Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2001) for more on 1 Enoch, its historical and cultural background, and related literature. Then go from there with more work by serious scholars.
Cross-file under "Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch."
