Enochic Judaism: An Assessment

Over the last decade, considerable energy has been devoted to the study of "Enochic Judaism, " mainly through the efforts of Gabriele Boccaccini. It is argued that the writings preserved in 1 Enoch represent a distinct type of Judaism, in which Enoch rather than Moses is regarded as the primary revealer. It is also argued that this "Enochic Judaism" was the precursor of the movement known from the Dead Sea Scrolls. I propose to examine a) whether these writings do in fact provide evidence for a distinct type of Judaism, and b) whether or to what degree they are relevant to the pre-history of the sect known from the Scrolls.