The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions
Overview
In this volume, leading scholars explore the contours of the Watchers traditions throughout history, tracing their development through the Enoch literature, Jubilees, and other early Jewish and Christian writings. At the origin of the Watchers tradition is the single enigmatic reference in Genesis 6 to the “sons of God” who had intercourse with human women, producing a race of giants upon the earth. That verse sparked a wealth of cosmological and theological speculation in early Judaism. This volume provides a lucid survey of current knowledge and interpretation of one of the most intriguing theological motifs of the Second-Temple period.
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Key Features
- Explores an obscure, yet intriguing biblical text
- Traces the Watcher traditions through history
- Offers insight into Second-Temple Judaism
Contents
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I: Origins and Biblical Discussions of the Fallen Angels
- “Mesopotamian Elements and the Watchers Traditions” by Ida Fröhlich
- “The Watchers Traditions and Gen 6:1-4 (MT and LXX)” by Chris Seeman
- “Symbolic Resistance in the Book of the Watchers” by Anathea Portier-Young
- “The Enochic Watchers Traditions and Deuterocanonical Literature” by Jeremy Corley
- “Watchers Traditions in the Catholic Epistles” by Eric F. Mason
- “‘Because of the Angels’: Paul and the Enochic Traditions” by Scott M. Lewis, SJ
- “The Watchers Traditions in 1 Enoch 6–16: The Fall of Angels and the Rise of Demons” by Kevin Sullivan
- Part II: Second Temple Developments
- “The Watchers Traditions in the Book of the Watchers and the Animal Apocalypse” by Karina Martin Hogan
- “The Watchers Traditions in the Book of Jubilees” by John C. Endres, SJ
- “Watchers Traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls” by Samuel Thomas
- “The Watchers Traditions in 1 Enoch’s Book of Parables” by Leslie Baynes
- Part III: Reception in Early Christianity and Early Judaism
- “The Descent of the Watchers and its Aftermath According to Justin Martyr” by Randall D. Chesnutt
- “Cain the Giant: Watchers Traditions in the Life of Adam and Eve” by Silviu N. Bunta
- “The Watchers Traditions in Targum and Midrash” by Joshua Ezra Burns
- Index of Names
- Index of Biblical References and Ancient Literature
Praise for the Print Edition
Scholars and students alike can learn much from The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions. Written by leading scholars, the articles in this book comprise a rich introduction to a fascinating subject . . .
—Matthew Goff, associate professor of religion, Florida State University
The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions is an important collection of essays that should be of interest not only to scholars but to all educated non-specialists in the ways myths about the fallen angels have influenced the literature and imaginations of ancient Jewish and Christian communities.
—Jacques T.A.G.M. van Ruiten, professor, University of Groningen
The Watchers have finally come to the public attention thanks to the movie Noah. The essays in this volume provide the most comprehensive and reliable guide to the actual ancient evidence about these exotic figures that has ever been published. This is an important contribution to the study of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature.
—John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale Divinity School
This collection of essays offers some of the finest research on the Watcher Tradition to emerge in recent scholarship on the topic. . . . The volume is highly recommended for any scholar and student of Second-Temple Period literature."
—Archie T. Wright, Regent University, School of Divinity
Product Details
- Title: The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions
- Editors: Angela Kim Harkins, Kelley Coblentz Bautch, and John C. Endres
- Publisher:Fortress Press
- Publication Date: 2014
- Pages: 224
- Christian Group: Catholic
- Resource Type: Topical
- Topic: Pseudepigrapha
About the Editors
Angela Kim Harkins is associate professor of religious studies at Fairfield University in Connecticut and in the Center for Judaic Studies.
Kelley Coblentz Bautch is associate professor of religious studies at St. Edward’s University.
John C. Endres, SJ, has taught Old Testament and Hebrew Bible at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University since 1982. He was chief editor of Chronicles and Its Synoptic Parallels in the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Related Biblical Texts. He also writes and teaches on the Psalms, the deuterocanonical books, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Book of Jubilees.
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Top Highlights
“The main list of ethical impurities is in the Holiness Code (Lev. 17–26). Sins are related to four categories: sexuality, violence, death, and magic.” (Page 15)
“The sins of the Watchers are their transgression of the cosmic order and mixing with earthly women, and their teaching of magic.” (Page 16)
“Thus, Gilgamesh, as a ruler of the shades in the netherworld, had three primary functions. As a judge, he judged the case of the sufferer (the prayers use legal terminology to speak of the sufferer). As an omen-interpreter he was able to foretell future events and to prognosticate the sufferer’s fortune if he dies or remains alive. Finally, as one who had authority over troublesome ghosts he was believed to be an effective healer. The three roles were interrelated, and each of them was related to the healing of a sickness (believed to be caused by harmful magic).” (Page 23)
“The figure of Enoch and the elements of the revelation tradition associated with him originate in the figures of the Mesopotamian apkallū-s (wise ones), more exactly in the figure of the Mesopotamian diviner-king Enmeduranki, and in the tradition about divine revelation given to him.5 Thus it can be assumed that the kernel of the Enochic tradition, the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36), was shaped either in a Babylonian Jewish diaspora community or perhaps in a community of returnees that maintained traditions from the Babylonian exile.” (Page 12)
“The meaning of the Watchers’ story is that impurities and sins lead to the defilement of the earth and a catastrophic punishment.” (Page 21)
Reviews
5 ratings
John Pezzanite
9/26/2023
This is an excellent survey of the topic of Watchers. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in this topic.Ray Mills
6/6/2019
Dawn Brewer
11/12/2018
James Brooks
8/18/2018
