Customer Reviews

Enoch, a Man for All Generations: A Man for All Generations (Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament)

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I've recommended this book to several people who've wanted an introduction to the Enoch traditions outside the Bible. Although Vanderkam's treatment of both canonical and non-canonical books on the same dispassionate basis may bother some Christian readers, most of the book concerns unfamiliar material with which a bit of objectivity does not come amiss.

The only reservation I have is that both here and in his chapter on Enoch in 'The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Christianity' mention is made of the quotes of 1Enoch (i.e. Ethiopic Enoch) found in 2Peter and Jude without any critical analysis of why the writers make these references. And on p.171 the common mistake of all translators of Jude 14 from Luther onwards "Enoch prophesied about these men" is repeated when all the Greek manuscripts clearly say "Enoch prophesied to these men". The difference between "about" and "to" may not seem important if one believes, as Luther did, that the Enoch being referred to was the Enoch of Genesis, but if the Enoch being referred to is the book (as the origin of "the seventh from Adam" in 1En.60:8 confirms) that implies that Jude did not identify his audience with the audience of 1Enoch. It seems like a small mistake but as Jude 14 is the primary NT quote of 1Enoch, this is not the place to allow a basic grammatical error to skew one's approach. More generally it shouldn't just be assumed without question that every reference to Jewish legends in the New Testament is a positive reference. The NT writers were as capable of both negative and positive reference as any writer today. On occasion Dr. Vanderkam appears to be doing the authors of 2Peter and Jude the injustice of automatically assuming that they were as gullible as some people today.