The Book of Enoch (Paperback)

~ (Translator), W. O. E. Oesterley (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'The greatest importance of Enoch is that it was not only a pre-Christian book, but also a post-Christian book, a text from their Jewish background kept and used by the earliest churches. When we use Enoch as a 'context' for the New Testament, many early Christian ideas come into a much clearer focus, and many of the gaps in the New Testament can be bridged.' From The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and its Influence on Christianity by Margaret Barker" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

The Book of Enoch was considered one of the most important books in early Christianity and was used widely. R.H. Charles, who translated the book, said, "the influence of I Enoch on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other aprocryphal and pseudepigraphical books put together." One of the main influences from the book is its explanation of evil coming into the world with the arrival of the "fallen angels." Enoch functions as a scribe, writing up a petition on behalf of these fallen ones, to be given to higher powers for judgment. Enoch was apparently chosen for this duty because he was of a different nature than the angels. It appears that Christianity later adopted some of its ideas and philosophies from this book, including the Final Judgment, the concept of demons, the Resurrection, the origins of evil, and the coming of a Messiah and Messianic Kingdom. This makes The Book of Enoch of immense importance, not only to the study of Christianity's origins, but to the possible reality of strange, otherworldly visions or visitations. If this book was so important to Christian beginnings, why was it removed from the canon and banned? Enoch had found and experienced God face to face, something which gnostics always strive for. The Church opposed gnostics-to them, they were heretics. Only now, after many centuries, are people rediscovering this book's value, along with its important counterpart, The Book of the Secrets of Enoch. Both of these important books are now shedding new light on Christian origins and otherworldly "encounters."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Book Tree (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585090190
• ISBN-13: 978-1585090198
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,209,752 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enoch, pure source of history?, May 26, 2000

By	J. Henson "smaftymac.com" (Washington, The State) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Book of Enoch (Paperback)

this version of the book of Enoch is very indepth,easy to read.Enoch is a very odd character Genesis states that he walked with god. What did it mean The book gives us the back story to what happened than.The story of lust,betrayal,greed,and hate.Sex hungry angels who try to take over the Earth with there demonic offspring.The book of Enoch comes from a better source than even the gospels,texts left alone for almost a thousand years.There were no rewrites,no editorial changes by people saying"Well this is what they meant!"A pure source of history found with the dead sea scrolls, and in Ethiopic temples.Even if you don't believe it at all,the story is excellent!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enoch, father of Mathusaleh, the censored Book, January 3, 2005

By	Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This pseudepigraphon of the Old testament was rejected for what seems obscure reasons, like most of the time with apocrypha, and yet this book is probably essential. It shows that God's creation was far from being perfect, which we knew of course. But it also gives the episode in which some angels known as the Watchers because they were supposed to be watching the human race, got fascinated by the beautiful women on earth. But these angels were not pure spirits and they were sexually very well provided (« the great stars whose privy members were like those of horses » 88:3) and males. Hence they descended from their heights and took some women and procreated a new race of beings with them, the famous giants who destroyed the earth. And the book contains two versions of the tale, the first one with women procreating giants, and the second one with cows, this time procreating elephants, camels and asses. This is a perfect parable for those scientists and technicians who invent anything and menace the life of the planet and of humanity with the implementation of their inventions. This will bring about God's decision to send the deluge and wipe life out completely or nearly. To clean up the damage god causes even greater damage : the radical, though not quite final, solution. But this book is also essential because there is a complete vision of the other worlds, paradise and all the hells that were being prepared for the coming apocalypse and that were surrounding the human world. The descriptions are very vivid and the trip in these climes reminds us of Dante's Divine Comedy. And that is not all. The book contains a strong section about astronomy, summarizing all human knowledge at the time about the sun and the moon, not so much about the stars, except the twelve sun portals that will give the twelve zodiacal signs. It also contains a strong prediction in the shape of wisdom chapters and verses and in the shape of dream visions that the rich and the powerful will be destroyed, even if God has to stir some trouble down on earth among their victims or subjects to have them removed from power. Finally it also predicts there will be a final day of judgment when the Elect One will perform divine justice in the name of the God of the Spirits. This is very similar to the Book of Revelation. In other words it is an important source and model for that Book of Revelation. Finally it reveals very clearly that Noah is an albino, the fear his birth caused among his relatives, first of all his father, and how Enoch saved him from destruction, which was normal in those days for off-standard children, with the argument that he had a divine mission to fulfill and that he, Enoch, knew about it because it had been revealed to him in his visions and his communication with God. This book is thus both tremendously human by the desire to get a compensation for the oppression of the majority of the people by a few rich and powerful persons or the fear an albino baby can cause among human beings, and tremendously visionary in a way that announces Isaiah, Ezekiel and John but with an extreme sense of retribution, punishment and destruction in suffering for the rich, the powerful and the violent, essentially, plus the dishonest, the blasphemous, liars, and sexual perverts, meaning here fornicators. This book should be reinstated in the Old Testament and it cannot be ignored, especially since it is one of the sources of inspiration of the English poet William Blake. It gives a vision of the Jewish and Christian religions that has a lot more power by its imagination, its humanity and its great descriptive and evocative style.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

42 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Scripture, but invaluable nonetheless, July 22, 2000

By	"dorianrex" (St. Albans, WV USA) - See all my reviews

Okay, the reviewer below is wrong about a couple things: A-Jesus said angels "in Heaven" don't marry; he wasn't talking about ones that might take human form! Also, Enoch never in this text is a mediator between God and men. Even if he was, Jesus didn't become the mediator until his rise to Heaven. Now for the actual review: While much of the Intro is wild speculation to say the least, ( I doubt the NT was as influenced by "Enoch" as Mr. Charles thinks ) it is still an invaluable document in studying how the Jews did eagerly await a PERSONAL Messiah and they believed in an EARTHLY manifestation of His Kingdom. The Book of Enoch is stunning in it's glowing poetry and vivid images; this text was of great importance to both William Blake and even modern day Anne Rice. I doubt strongly this is some "lost book" of the Bible, but it has added so much to my faith in the canonical Scriptures that I heartily urge ANY lover of the Word, or truth-seeker, to obtain and study this fascinating ancient text.