Dr. David W. SuterI had read Dr. Suter's valuable work on the Parables of Enoch and then got to know him at the Enoch Seminar meetings. You will find him mentioned here occasionally in the early years of this blog. I only found out about his passing this morning when this funeral notice came up in my search, although I see now that I missed an annoucement in a 2024 Enoch Seminar newsletter."To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."
- William Blake ("Auguries of Innocence")Dr. David Winston Suter, 82, of Puyallup, Washington, passed away on Thursday, June 20, 2024. ...
David was actively involved in the Society of Biblical Literature, which enabled him to participate in expeditions to Jerusalem, the caves of Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, and the foot of Mount Herman in Dan where the group discovered the ruins of the Sanctuary of the Northern Tribes, including the throne where the King of the Northern Tribes sat and judged the people. This travel in pursuit of his scholarship also allowed him to engage in one of his favorite hobbies, photography, documenting these trips with beautiful photos to share with family and friends.
David’s primary scholarly interest was the Book of Enoch. His dissertation involved translating an Ethiopian copy of the Book of Enoch written in Aramaic into English and then using this translation to study and analyze the text. From 2005 to 2019, he was a member of the Enoch Seminar, an academic group of international specialists in Second Temple Judaism and the origins of Christianity, who biennially meet in Naples, Italy to share information about their work and discuss topics of common interest. David presented at these seminars and contributed to the joint publications.
David's Academia.edu page is here, where you can see some of his work on 1 Enoch and related topics.
I am sorry to hear that he is gone. Requiescat in pace.
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