The relationship between Genesis and apocryphal accounts...

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
rgprice
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Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 11:57 pm

Re: The relationship between Genesis and apocryphal accounts...

Post by rgprice »

Interesting commentary:

https://books.google.com/books?id=joQeA ... 22&f=false

Two scholars concluding that the narrative found in 1 Enoch must pre-date that of Genesis 6. The writer of Genesis 6 is providing a truncated summary of 1 Enoch.

I agree.
rgprice
Posts: 2060
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 11:57 pm

Re: The relationship between Genesis and apocryphal accounts...

Post by rgprice »

This drives right at the main issue:

As a whole, 1 En. moves far beyond Genesis. This may
also be an explanation for the theological shift between Genesis and 1 En.: while
Genesis 1–11 takes mankind as the offender, responsible for its deeds, 1 En. views
mankind mainly as the passive victim of sin, in this case of heavenly origin.

This from (in another thread):
billd89 wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 9:47 am I presume you've seen this? Looks very well-documented:
https://theoluniv.ub.rug.nl/32/7/2013Do ... tation.pdf
This is precisely the issue. In Jubilees and 1 Enoch, the heavenly powers are clearly the ones responsible for the corruption of the earth, while in Genesis humans are the ones responsible.

In Jubilees and 1 Enoch, the Lord punishes the angels, while in Genesis he punishes the humans.

The writers of the Torah were adamant that there were no powers in heaven capable of challenging God. If heavenly powers were responsible for the corruption of the earth, that means those heavenly powers were rivals of God. The Torah contains no rivals of God. This is why the Torah has to lay the blame for the origins of sin on mankind, because the Torah cannot have any other heavenly powers responsible for anything. This is also why it is the serpent that temps Eve, which Genesis notes was created by God. They want to be clear that it was a creation of God at work, not a rival power.

And this is the crux of the breakdown that led to the rise of Gnosticism. The Gnostics stated that there were rival powers to the Creator. And of course, Belial/Satan is a rival power, though the Qurman sect was sure to clarify that the Lord had created Belial.

But that is the central question that resulted in the emergence of Gnosticism: Who was responsible for the corruption of the world? Was it human beings, as the Torah claims, was it rival heavenly powers, or was it the Creator himself?

I think the original narrative is closer to what we find in 1 Enoch.
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