Some background.
1 Enoch is a Jewish apocalyptic text from the Second Temple period, the intertestamental period between the Old and New Testaments. Scholars date the writing of 1 Enoch to be around 300 BCE to around 0 CE. Those dates are important as 1 Enoch represents developments in Jewish thought directly before the writing of the New Testament. In fact, and this is the reason for this series, scholars see many Enochian themes and material in the New Testament texts. That is not to say that 1 Enoch was a direct influence upon the New Testament writers. But it is safe to suggest that Jewish apocalyptic ideas were a part of the shared cultural backdrop upon which the writers of 1 Enoch and the New Testament drew upon. Consequently, 1 Enoch is an important window in how Jewish apocalyptic thought was developing between the Old and New Testaments. What ideas and assumptions were "in the air" when the New Testament was being written? What stories were being told in the synagogues as the apostles preached in them? What would have been strange or familiar in the story the Christians were telling about Jesus? 1 Enoch gives us some insight into these questions.
As Hart comments in his translation of the New Testament, "During the intertestamental period, before the 'official' canon of Hebrew scripture was generally established for either Jews or Christians, among the most influential holy texts for both communities were visionary books such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees." Hart goes on to note,
Having now read 1 Enoch for myself I can now say two things. First, 1 Enoch is a very strange book. And second, having said that, I can see Hart's point. In reading 1 Enoch there were multiple places where I could see a clear connection with New Testament ideas, themes, and images. In the posts to come I'll share some of those observations.It is difficult to exaggerate how influential the intertestamental "Noachic" literature was for the Jews and then Christians of the first century. On the whole, too many New Testament scholars over the years have neglected to assess properly not only the three centuries of Hellenistic culture in which Jewish culture had been steeping by the time of Christ and the apostolic church but also the profound importance for the early church (quite explicit at numerous places in the New Testament) of the angelology, demonology, cosmology, and the eschatology of texts like 1 Enoch and Jubilees.
