Enoch Seminar (2001-), learned society

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First Enoch Seminar, at Palazzo Corsi Salviati, Florence, Italy (2001)
Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan, Founder of the Enoch Seminar
Second Enoch Seminar, at Palazzo Sullam, Venice, Italy (2003)
Kelley Coblentz Bautch, St. Edward's University, Vice-Director of the Enoch Seminar
Third, Fourth, and Seventh Enoch Seminar, at the Monastery of Camaldoli, Italy (2005, 2007, 2013)
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, University of Munich, Vice-Director of the Enoch Seminar
Fifth Enoch Seminar, at Cappella Cangiati, Naples, Italy (2009)
2016
Sixth and Eighth Enoch Seminar, at Villa Cagnola, Gazzada, Milan, Italy (2011, 2015)
2014
File:2013 Henze Boccaccini.jpg
2013
File:2Enoch Orlov Boccaccini.jpg
2012
File:2009 Boccaccini Ibba.jpg
2009
File:2007 Boccaccini.jpg
2007
File:2007 Boccaccini Collins.jpg
2007
2005
File:2005 Boccaccini.jpg
2005


The Enoch Seminar is an academic group of international specialists in Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins, who share the results of their research in the field and meet to discuss topics of common interest. In addition to the biennial Enoch Seminars, the group has launched three other series of international meetings: the biennial Enoch Graduate Seminar (since 2006), the yearly Nangeroni Meetings (since 2012), and the occasional Enoch Colloquia (since 2017). The group also runs an online journal (Enoch Seminar Online), 4 Enoch: The Online Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism (since 2009), and the yearly Enoch Seminar Reception at the SBL (since 2012).

History

Founded in 2001 by Gabriele Boccaccini, the Enoch Seminar focuses on the period of Jewish history, culture and literature from the Babylonian Exile to the Bar-Kochba revolt—the period in which both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism have their roots. The goal is to tear down the misleading walls of separation that still divide this field of research, recovering the unity and integrity of the period. Enoch is the symbol of this inter-canonical and inter-disciplinary effort, as he is present of each and all the canons that anachronistically divide sources from the period: Old Testament, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish-Hellenistic literature, New Testament, Apostolic Fathers, etc.

Participation at the Enoch Seminar is by invitation only and is restricted to University professors and specialists in Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins who have completed their PhD. To graduate students and PhD candidates, the Enoch Seminar offers a biennial meeting (the Enoch Graduate Seminar).

The Enoch Seminar is chaired by Gabriele Boccaccini (University of Michigan) and is made possible by fundings from the University of Michigan and from the Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies and the Alessandro Nangeroni International Endowment.

Enoch Seminar Board of Directors:

Meetings (chronology)

2001

2003

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

  • 2009 (Naples, Italy) - Fifth Enoch Seminar: Enoch, Adam, Melchisedek: Mediatorial Figures in 2 Enoch

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

  • 2019 (June 9-14; Florence, Italy) - Tenth Enoch Seminar: Enoch and Enochic Traditions in the Early Modern Period: Reception History from the 15th Century to the End of the 19th Century
  • 2019 (June 16-20; Gazzada, Italy) - Eleventh Nangeroni Meeting: 3rd Early Islamic Studies Seminar, New Perspectives and Contexts in the Study of Islamic Origins II
  • 2019 (Nov 23-26; San Diego, CA) - 8th Enoch Seminar Reception at the SBL

2020

  • 2020 (June 29 - July 2; online) - 2020 Enoch Seminar Online: Concepts of Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity

2021

  • 2021 (Jan 11-14; online) - Nangeroni meeting (online) on John the Baptist, in collaborazione with the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus
  • 2021 - (Apr 29-30; online) - Eighth Enoch Graduate Seminar
  • 2021 (May 23-27; online) - Eleventh Enoch Seminar: Ancient Apocalypticism: History, Method, and Reception, in collaboration with the University of Munich, Germany
  • 2021 (Oct 25-27; online) -- Was Paul an Apocalyptic Jew?
  • 2021 (Nov 19; San Antonio) -- Luke and Acts With(in) Second Temple Judaism

2022

  • 2022 (Jan 10-13; online) -- Studies in Second Temple Judaism: A Global Enterprise (Jan 10-13, 2022)
  • Jan 31-Feb 3: Present and Future Perspectives on the Study of Second Temple Judaism in Ibero-America
  • March 3: RES Virtual Review - Intro to Apocalypticism (Oegema)
  • April 11-13: Fellows closing with John Collins/AJ Levine
  • April 28: Pharisee in J&C dialogue/ RES Virtual Review - Review of Pharisees (Sievers & Levine)
  • 2022 (May 29 - Jun 3; Norway) -- "Virtus et Humanitas: Virtues and Values in Greco-Roman, Jewish and Christian Paideia at the Turn of the Common Area"
  • 2022 (June 26-30; Rome, Italy) -- Luke and Acts Wit(in) Second Temple Judaism
  • July 14: RES Virtual Review
  • October 6: RES Virtual Review
  • October 17-18: MCECS Music & Christianity
  • November 18: ES Colloquium at SBL

... ...

2023

2024

2025

2026

  • 2021 (June 20; online) -- Happy Birthday, Enoch Seminar! (25th anniversary)

2031

  • 2021 (June 20; online) -- Happy Birthday, Enoch Seminar! (30th anniversary)

Meetings of the Enoch Seminar (2001-)

  • 2017 (Camaldoli, Italy) - Ninth Enoch Seminar - From tôrāh to Torah: Variegated Notions of Torah from the First Temple Period to Late Antiquity
  • 2019 (Florence, Italy) - Tenth Enoch Seminar - Enoch and Enochic Traditions in the Early Modern Period: Reception History from the 15th Century to the End of the 19th Century

Enoch Seminar Nangeroni Meetings (2012-)

Meetings of the Enoch Colloquia (2017-)

  • 2017 (Cambridge, MA, USA; November)
  • 2018 (Denver, CO;November)

<in preparation>

  • 2020 (Boston, MA, USA; November)

Meetings of the Enoch Graduate Seminar (2006-)

<In preparation:>

  • 2018 (Lausanne, Switzerland)
  • 2020 (Boston, MA)

Enoch Seminar Receptions at the SBL (2012-)

  • 2012 (Chicago, IL) - 1st SBL Annual Meeting
  • 2013 (Baltimore, MD) - 2nd SBL Annual Meeting
  • 2014 (San Diego, CA) - 3rd SBL Annual Meeting
  • 2015 (Atlanta, GA) - 4th SBL Annual Meeting
  • 2016 (San Antonio, TX) - 5th SBL Annual Meeting
  • 2017 (Boston, MA) - 6th SBL Annual Meeting

<In preparation:>

  • 2018 (Denver, CO) - 7th SBL Annual Meeting
  • 2019 (San Diego, CA) - 8th SBL Annual Meeting

Publications from the Enoch Seminar

  1. Gabriele Boccaccini (ed.), The Origins of Enochic Judaism (Turin: Zamorani, 2005) [=Henoch
  2. Gabriele Boccaccini (ed.), Enoch and Qumran Origins: New Light on a Forgotten Connection (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005)
  3. Gabriele Boccaccini (ed.), Il messia tra memoria e attesa (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2005)
  4. The First Enoch Graduate Seminar at the University of Michigan: 1. Angels and Demons (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2006) [=Henoch 28.2 (2006)]
  5. Gabriele Boccaccini (ed.), Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man: Revisiting the Book of Parables (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007)
  6. Gabriele Boccaccini and John J. Collins (eds.), The Early Enoch Literature (Leiden: Brill, 2007)
  7. Gabriele Boccaccini and Giovanni Ibba (eds.), Enoch and the Mosaic Torah: The Evidence of Jubilees (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009)
  8. Gabriele Boccaccini, Pierpaolo Bertalotto and Todd Hanneken (eds.), Enoch and Jubilees (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2009) [=Henoch 31.1 (2009)]
  9. Gabriele Boccaccini and Jason M. Zurawski (eds.), Enochic Traditions and Mediatorial Figures in Second Temple Judaism (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2011) [=Henoch 33.1 (2011)]
  10. Across the Jewish-Christian Divide: Perspectives from the Enoch Graduate Seminar of Budapest (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2011) [=Henoch 33.2 (2011)]
  11. Andrei A. Orlov and Gabriele Boccaccini (eds.), New Perspectives on 2 Enoch: No Longer Slavonic Only (Leiden: Brill, 2012)
  12. Matthias Henze and Gabriele Boccaccini (eds.), 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch: Reconstruction after the Fall (Leiden: Brill, 2013)
  13. Gabriele Boccaccini and Jason M. Zurawski (eds.), Interpreting 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch: International Studies (Leiden: Brill, 2014)
  14. The Seleucid and Hasmonean Periods and the Apocalyptic Worldwiew (2016 Grabbe, Boccaccini, Zurawski), edited volume
  15. Paul the Jew: Rereading the Apostle as a Figure of Second Temple Judaism (2016 Boccaccini, Segovia), edited volume

"The Enoch Seminar", an article by Philip Jenkins (30 May 2016)

One of the most exciting areas today in Biblical scholarship (broadly defined) is the Enoch Seminar. Founded in 2001, it originally focused on the literature associated with the patriarch Enoch, but has since branched out massively, almost to become a field in its own right. The changing limits of that field are fascinating, both for their present state and their emerging dimensions.

The main Seminar meetings occur regularly in a variety of international settings, and are strictly intended for credentialed scholars, by invitation only. The actual roster of experts varies widely on each occasion, but with some continuity. Since 2006, there is also a graduate seminar that meets every two years, most recently last week in Austin TX, where I had the privilege of serving as a faculty mentor. So what does the Enoch Seminar do? It describes its topic areas as “Second Temple Judaism, Christian, Rabbinic and Islamic Origins,” and that staggeringly broad reach is deliberate. The basic theme is that the Jewish world between, say, 300 BC and 200 AD, included a great many ideas and themes, some of which fit well into standard and orthodox views of Jewish history, but others would be viewed as Christian, Jewish-Christian, Gnostic or Jewish-sectarian.

At the time, though, those various ingredients all belonged in one common cauldron of ideas, without hard boundaries separating them. Nor was it obvious which elements were going to become components of world religions, and which would be consigned to obscure heresies. The more you investigate this period, moreover, the more absurd become the traditional divisions that scholars once drew about which texts were “more Jewish,” and which Gentile or Hellenistic. (See for instance 150 years of debate on the Gospel of John). One theme that emerges repeatedly: just because an idea or theme does not fit within the mold of later Rabbinic Judaism does not mean that its origins were not thoroughly Jewish.

This is, in fact, one of the most critical eras in the history of religion. It also left a vast range of writings, including standard Jewish and Christian texts, but also a range of apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. You get a sense of the scope we are dealing with here from the various edited volumes that have emerged from the Seminar. In 2009, for instance, the main Seminar met in Italy, and its discussions appeared under the title New Perspectives on 2 Enoch, edited by Andrei A. Orlov and Gabriele Boccaccini. In 2012, again, the Seminar pursued the theme The Seleucid and Hasmonean Periods and the Apocalyptic Worldview, and that is now the title of the just published collection, edited by Lester L. Grabbe and Gabriele Boccaccini, with Jason M. Zurawski. For anyone working in the areas of early Jewish history and Christian origins, these collections are just indispensable.

To see what younger scholars are up to now, you can check out the titles of the recent Austin papers here. I stress, just the titles, not the full-length papers. All are very much works in progress, and the authors don’t want to give public access to works that are still in the course of development. Nor, understandably, do they want other people purloining their ideas before they can be properly published. But the list of topics is very wide, and deeply impressive, as was the dazzling diversity of themes. And so was the level of execution and presentation. If this is the next scholarly generation, this is wonderful news.

I had my own particular favorites from the papers presented, but won’t embarrass the ones I select or ignore! One question that does occur. Just glance at the range of eras, themes and societies covered in this conference. How on earth would we find a single overarching description for all these, if we did not use the convenience term “Enochic”?

If you trace the Enoch field through the past sixteen years, it is intriguing to see the directions in which research has been leading, logically and almost inevitably. Today, the main area of focus is shifting to Islamic origins, and the roots of Islam in Jewish and Christian soil. If recent seminars are anything to go by, watch for major insights and unsuspected connections in that area. And where next, we ask?

If you want to see the cutting edge actually cutting, this is where it is happening.

Participants

Here are the names of international scholars who have attended three or more meetings of the Enoch Seminar. A detailed list of participants is offered in Enoch Seminar Participants.

Veterans

Guidelines for Organizing an Enoch Seminar

The Enoch Seminar is meant to be a meeting of between 50-80 people (as compared to the Nangeroni Meetings which are designed to have 25-35 participants). It includes:

- 12 major paper authors - 12 major paper respondents - 24 short paper authors - Up to 6 reading sessions chairs

Organizing an Enoch Seminar is a 4-step process

  • First Step: An Enoch Seminar Member(s) proposes a topic, which then must be approved by the Enoch Seminar Board of Directors.
    • Timeframe: 2 years prior to date of proposed Enoch Seminar
  • Second Step: The appointed chair(s) of the Enoch Seminar should gather a group of at least 5-10 colleagues, who are committed to participate in the Meeting and collaborate on its organization. At this point, an email will be sent to the Enoch Seminar members, announcing the proposal and asking those who are particularly interested in the topic to join the organization of the Meeting.
    • Timeframe: 1.5 years prior to the date of the Enoch Seminar
  • Third Step: The appointed chair(s) must present the final schedule, including the major authors and paper topics to the Enoch Seminar Board of Directors for final approval.
    • Timeframe: 1 year prior to the date of the Enoch Seminar
  • Fourth Step: The Enoch Seminar Board of Directors will announce and advertise the program and registration for the Enoch Seminar until the maximum number of participants (50-80) is reached.
    • Timeframe: 8-6 months prior to the date of the Enoch Seminar

External links

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