November 2006    

Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity: The Reception of Enochic Literature Author: Annette Yoshiko Reed Publisher: Cambridge University Press $75.00 Cloth (318 p.) ISBN: 9780521853781 B&T         YBP Reviewed by Jim Roberts, Book Processing In this book, Annette Yoshiko Reed demonstrates a tremendous mastery of a text with a convoluted and challenging history, but manages to talk about it in a way that can be understood readily. This isn't a layperson's book by any means, but if you're interested in Enochic literature and the links between Christianity and Judaism, then this book will be an ideal read. The books of Enoch are part of the mystic tradition of both Christianity and Judaism, one of the few such texts shared by the two religions. They tell the story between the lines of the early parts of Genesis. After the murder of Abel by Cain, the text of Genesis mentions how many of his descendants discovered the forging of metals, music and caring for livestock. Later in the text, it speaks of the sons of God who took the daughters of man as their mates. These mentions are just that, sentences here and there without any real detail. The Books of Enoch explain how the sons of God are angels who fell in love with mortal women and, in exchange for their favor, gave divine knowledge to mortal man in the form of the children of Cain. There was a time when such a text would not have been greatly controversial in either tradition. Even after Judaism's core literature was well-established and Christianity was close to forming its canon, ideas, even radical ideas, could still be entertained and discussed. There are dozens of texts of a similar nature, some just short explications of mysterious gaps in the biblical record, but few as long or as fundamental as the Books of Enoch. For me, the most fascinating chapter in the book was the third, which focuses on evil and the origins of evil as seen in Enochic literature by Jews and early Christians. It is here that Reed makes the closest links between the two traditions, ones that I had heard mentioned but never explained in such depth, or at least not so that they were clear and understandable. In particular, I was intrigued by the notion that man's tendency toward evil has its origin not in some part of human nature innate to the species, but the result of corruption by an outside angelic force. From the perspective of contemporary Judaism and Christianity, this is a radical departure from the norm, and later on she discusses how it became unorthodox to hold such views, even before the solidification of a centralized Christian Church and of orthodox rabbinism. It is in her discussion of the quashing of the Enochic tradition in Judaism, and its apparent resurgence in a form of Jewish mysticism, that Reed shows her consummate skill as an academician. In the sections on Christianity, we have the records of Charlemagne and numerous eyewitness accounts of the fate of Enochian thought, but in the sections on Judaism, she works with scanty evidence, working accounts on other matters to prove her thesis, and does a convincing job of it. This is a fine piece of work on a powerful and important subject. Published by YBP Library Services 999 Maple St., Contoocook, NH 03229 USA v: 800.258.3774   f: 603.746.5628 w: www.ybp.com   e: academia@ybp.com All rights reserved.