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The Blessing of Enoch: 1 Enoch and Contemporary Theology (2017) is a book by Philip Francis Esler.

Abstract

"In recent decades the ancient apocalyptic work 1 Enoch has been intensively explored for its historical meaning and its contribution to Israelite and Christ-movement thought and identity. Yet its theological meaning, what it can contribute to understanding of the divine-human interface today, has been neglected by scholarship. This is surprising given that 1 Enoch is Scripture for the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches and has been a major influence on Christian theology, experience, and art in Ethiopia since the fifth and sixth centuries CE. This book inaugurates a project in Western scholarship to bring 1 Enoch into theological discussion. It contains a number of essays delivered at meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Cheltenham, England, involving scholars from Ethiopia, Germany, the UK, and the USA. The papers cover topics such as the appropriate theological response to a text that is Scripture for only some Christians; the role of 1 Enoch in Ethiopian ecclesial and theological tradition; the theological potential of 1 Enoch in areas such as the environment, politics, social justice, Christology, persecution, the problem of evil and how 1 Enoch stimulates artistic expression today. The Blessing of Enoch aims to launch a wider discussion on 1 Enoch and contemporary theology."--Publisher description.

Editions

Published in Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017.

Contents

Introduction / Philip F. Esler -- 1 Enoch and the Biblical canon / Gordon McConville -- Plotting "holy tradition" in Ethiopian Orthodox discourse / Alexandra Sellassie Antohin -- The contemporary influence of Ethiopian Andemta traditional commentary : examples from the commentary on 1 Enoch and other texts / Ralph Lee -- The animal apocalypse (1 Enoch 85-90) in the light of Ethiopian traditional commentary : the case of "open and closed" eyes / Daniel Assefa -- Social and economic injustice : apocalyptic themes in the Epistle of Enoch and the Apocalypse of John / Archie T. Wright -- The political theology of the similitudes of Enoch in its ancient context and its theological implications / Crispin Fletcher-Louis -- Words from the Book of Enoch on the environment / Loren T. Stuckenbruck -- The cry of the earth in 1 Enoch and environmental theology / Daniel Assefa -- The identity of the son of man : messianism and participation in the book (1) Enoch / Grant Macaskill -- Suffering and Anawim identity in 1 Enoch 108 : towards a theology of persecution / Sofanit T. Abebe -- Deus victor : the nature and defeat of evil in the book of the watchers (1 Enoch 1-36) / Philip F. Esler -- 1 Enoch : an artist's response / Angus Pryor.

External links