Second Enoch: A Samaritan Apocalypse - (Studia Judaeoslavica) by Daniel C Olson (Hardcover)

About the Book

Second Enoch: A Samaritan Apocalypse identifies this pseudepigraphon as a Samaritan writing, composed most likely in the first century CE. Its purpose was to incorporate the Enochic tradition into Samaritanism in order to combat the Dosithean heresy and in order to persuade his co-religionists to resume a full sacrificial cultus.

Book Synopsis

This study marks a bold new departure in 2 Enoch studies. The book has long been regarded as one of the most baffling apocalypses to come down to us from antiquity. The present work argues that 2 Enoch was written by a 1st c. CE Samaritan author whose purpose was to incorporate the Enochic tradition into Samaritanism. By identifying Enoch as the "prophet like Moses" (Deut. 18:15, 18), both during his earthly past and in the eschatological future, the author of 2 Enoch hoped to combat the Dosithean heresy and also to persuade co-religionists to resume a full sacrificial cultus in the shadow of Mt. Gerizim.