Friday, August 31, 2018

Review of Reeves and Reed, Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

BOOK REVIEW: Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Sources from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Volume 1. John C. Reeves, Annette Yoshiko Reed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press , May 2018. 416 pages. $150.00. Hardcover. ISBN 9780198718413. Reviewed by Sarah S. Eckert in Reading Religion. Excerpt:
Reed and Reeves recognize that one barrier to the study of Enochic literature is the lack of availability of these texts, which span diverse times, languages, and customs. This volume lowers that barrier while raising scholarly awareness that the Enochic corpus contains a richer legacy than previously thought. The authors propose that Second Temple Judaism scholars could apply these texts to search for “Enochic motifs and mythemes within Jewish literary circles from late antiquity to the Middle Ages” (4). Early Christian scholars can also benefit from this volume as they tackle the question of Enoch’s legacy after these works fell out of the favor in the West.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.