Customer Reviews

The Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch - Complete Exhaustive Edition

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R. H. Charles Translation

This is a translation by R. H. Charles from the Ethiopic Text with a complete analysis and notes. Considered indispensable to students of both the Old and New Testaments in understanding the problems underlying the Bible prophecies.

In its present form the Book of Enoch is made up of various elements belonging to different dates and a diversity of authorship and more properly should be spoken of as "Books" of Enoch. One part belongs to the earlier Book of Noah. The following is an extract from Mr. Charles' quite long and detailed Introduction:
. . . To describe in short compass the Book of Enoch is impossible. It comes from many writers and almost as many periods. It touches upon every subject that could have arisen in the ancient schools of the prophets, but naturally it deals with these subjects in an advanced stage of development. Nearly every religious idea appears in a variety of forms, and if these are studied in relation to their contexts and dates, we cannot fail to observe that in the age to which the Enoch literature belongs there is a movement everywhere, and nowhere dogmatic fixity and finality.And though at times the movement may be reactionary, yet the general trend is onward and upward. In fact the history of the development of the higher theology during the two centuries before the Christian era could not be written without the Book of Enoch.

From what has already been said it is clear that no unity of time, authorship, or teaching is to be looked for. Indeed, certain considerable portions of the book belonged originally not to the Enoch literature at all, but to an earlier work, i. e. the Book of Noah, which probably exhibited in some degree the syncretism of the work into which it was subsequently incorporated. This Book of Noah clearly embraced chapters 6-11, 54-55, 60, 65-69, 106-107.

. . . Conflicting views are advanced on the Messiah, the Messianic kingdom, the origin of sin, Sheol, the final judgment, the resurrection, and the nature of the future life. There is an elaborate angelology and demonology, and much space is devoted to the calender and the heavenly bodies and their movements. Babylonian influences are here manifest and in a slight degree Greek. . . .
The analysis and notes are an excellent addition to this work, enabling the reader to better understand the subject matter.
Paperback
450 pages *******

...E. Raymond Capt noted Christian archeologist and historian recommends this version and the Richard Laurence version by (Artisan Publishers)

This Book of Enoch needs to be in the hands of every serious Bible student as an indispensable aid in understanding the New Testament regarding the evolution of theology between 200 BC and 100 AD, and also the Old Testament concerning problem prophetical passages. The book was written by a number of Jewish writers around the second century BC, and was considered inspired Scripture in the century before Christ and up to the third century AD by such early Church Fathers, as Justin Martyr, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. It was eventually removed from the canon of Scripture in the fourth century and was virtually lost to Western Christendom until the early 1800s AD, when Laurence published the first English translation based upon a single Ethiopic manuscript. There are several other popular versions in print today, but the only translation worthy of serious study is the R.H. Charles edition, published in the early 1900s after twenty years of extensive research. His translation is based upon 23 Ethiopic manuscripts and all available source fragments of the time. Compared to other translations, the Charles version is quite exhaustive in the number of pages (nearly twice as many as other editions). He, alone, offers an extensive, in-depth Introduction of over 100 pages, and a comprehensive analysis and criticism of the text, plus accurate verse numbering. This is definitely the version to purchase without question! Two other important ancient books readers might want to consider are The Book of Jasher Referred to in Joshua and II Samuel (1840 edition), and The Book of Jubilees translated from the Ethiopic by Schodde, offered by Artisan Publishers. To ensure accuracy of purchase of this complete translation of The Book of Enoch, cut and paste ISBN 0934666466.

I am writing this review to assist the reader in selecting an EDITION of the Book of Enoch. This particular Edition is exceptionally scholarly - but not particularly readable for casual students or "simply curious" individuals. I am in complete agreement with previous reviewers that "The Book of Enoch ...(is) as an indispensable aid in understanding the New Testament regarding the evolution of theology between 200 BC and 100 AD..." Clearly, this collection of "Lost Books & Manuscripts" contains critical (and vastly under-considered) information relevant to Christianity, Judaism & Islam. However, the footnotes in this Edition vastly outweigh the text. Example: one page contained two lines of text and the entire remainder of the page was footnotes. (I am an attorney, and this volume made law school text books seem like Comic Books in comparison.) Although footnotes are undoubtedly essential to understanding the text, many of the footnotes in this edition contain lengthy paragraphs of the original Aramaic or Hebrew or Greek or Ethiopian texts - written in their original languages. So, even "skimming" the footnotes requires wading through several lines of very tiny text written in other languages. Additionally, the footnotes presuppose a familiarity with theological studies that most readers (including myself) do not have. In sum, "The Book of Enoch" is a MUST READ for anyone who wishes to fully understand the roots and contexts from which modern religion evolved. BUT, unless you are a serious Theological Scholar, I would suggest you find an edition that is perhaps annotated in a more "readable" and less "scholarly" fashion.

What a helpful, insightful addition to understanding the Scriptures and theological subjects! R. H. Charles offers an excellent English translation of the Ethiopic Text. His additional notes and analysis contribute added clarity to this work. This book is another fine example of the unique, unusual biblically based books offered by Artisian Publishers.

This may be the greatest book I have ever read about the judgment and the leadership in these last days to get us safely to the other side in these last days. It lets one see as the earth fell there was a civilization that did not fall and that this civilization would be here to help us as mankind and the earth takes the next step towards ascention. It gives detailed information on those that corrupted mankind in its inocence and how this was done. It lets us know that there will be leadership set up in the next world. Maybe one of the best things about this book is it is not written to any one type of people, it is written equally to all mankind. It covers the pre-existance in ancient times of the leadership in the next world. It explains plainly some of the metaphores used in this book and the Bible. There is good detail on the punishments and rewards of the judgment. It may be suprising to some to learn how (or who) will decide some of these judgments. It explains how evil survived the flood.

This may be the greatest book I have ever read about the judgment and the leadership in these last days to get us safely to the other side in these last days. It lets one see as the earth fell there was a civilization that did not fall and that this civilization would be here to help us as mankind and the earth takes the next step towards ascention. It gives detailed information on those that corrupted mankind in its inocence and how this was done. It lets us know that there will be leadership set up in the next world. Maybe one of the best things about this book is it is not written to any one type of people, it is written equally to all mankind. It covers the pre-existance in ancient times of the leadership in the next world. It explains plainly some of the metaphores used in this book and the Bible. There is good detail on the punishments and rewards of the judgment. It may be suprising to some to learn how (or who) will decide some of these judgments. It explains how evil survived the flood.

Although I haven't finished reading this book, there are a lot of Biblical Prophecies (which we read in the Bible in Genesis, Ezekiel, Revelation, etc.).

In regards to the condition of the book, it is remarkably readable! This is the complete scope of the Prophecies of Enoch ... and this is translated from ancient languages of the past. We're very fortunate to have it reprinted and remodified for readability.

The contents are quite scary in terms of the lifestyles of mankind during the days when the angels fell to earth and coexists among the flesh and blood of humankind.

If you read Genesis chapter 6 and Ezekiel 23-28, and read stories of the so-called "Greek Mythologies", then you will see that the so-called "myths" are actually REAL and not "myths" at all!

Decanonizing the books of Jaspher and Enoch is (ultimately) blurring the vision of modern mankind from knowing the Truth!

I sure hope the publishers of today can continue to reprint this book as well as the book of Jaspher and others which aligns with the Holy Bible of King James Version, New International Version and more (prior to 2000!).

There will be a time where we will come across Bibles which will REPLACE the name of Christ Jesus and state another name ... Then, we will certainly know who is at play here.

Get this book while it is in circulation.

Get a bit deeper, understand the Bible better.
Excellent translation work, but you need time to read it,
it is not a comic book -- indeed great book !

This version of Enoch is overtaken with footnotes. It's hard to read because it doesn't stick with the book itself, most of the pages are half way or more flooded with footnotes, making it difficult to read. And this version is written in Old English, a "King James" version, which also makes comprehension difficult. This version is great for people who have strong vocabularies, and enjoy footnotes. But it's not for me. I wasted my money.