R H Charles

The Book Of The Secrets Of Enoch R H Charles

This is a reproduction (facsimile) of the original book published in 1896. The Book of the Secrets of Enoch cannot fail to be of interest to students of Apocalyptic literature and of the origins of Chiistianitv. It is with a view to help such that this the first edition of the book has been undertaken. In certain respects it will appeal also to specialists in Assyriologv. So far indeed as it does so, I have been able to do little more than refer to the leading- scholars in this department, as my knowledge of such subjects is very slight, and all secondhand. This book has had a peculiar history. For more than 1200 years it has been unknown save in Russia, where acquaintance with it goes several centuries back. Further, by its present name it was never known in any literature save the Slavonic. Even in Slavonic the name was not quite constant, if we may trust one of the MSS. (B); for there it appears as ' The Secret Books of God which were shown to Enoch.' And yet the book was much read in manv circles in the first three centuries of the Church, and has left more traces of its influence than many a well-known book of the same literature (see § 5), and it is undoubtedly of much greater importance in respect of exegesis. In its Greek form it passed current probably under the general designation of Enoch. Occasionally we find that it was not distinguished by those who used it from the older book which has come down to us through the Ethiopic. We have, in fact, in this book another fragmentary survival of the literature that once circulated under the name of Enoch.