Harkins et al. (eds.), The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions

NEW BOOK: Angela Kim Harkins, Kelley Coblentz Bautch, John C. Endres (eds.), The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions (Fortress, 2014).

At the origin of the Watchers tradition is the single enigmatic reference in Genesis 6 to the "sons of God" who had intercourse with human women, producing a race of giants upon the earth. That verse sparked a wealth of cosmological and theological speculation in early Judaism. Here leading scholars explore the contours of the Watchers traditions through history, tracing their development through the Enoch literature, Jubilees, and other early Jewish and Christian writings. This volume provides a lucid survey of current knowledge and interpretation of one of the most intriguing theological motifs of the Second Temple period.

As noted on Friday, Dr. Harkins is coming soon to the University of Birmingham for a two-year fellowship on the Dead Sea Scrolls.