What’s the Deal with Enoch?

By Keith Sherwood

The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish apocalyptic text. Tradition holds that it was a record of visions the patriarch Enoch had in the second century B.C.E. According to the Pentateuch, Enoch was the father of Methuselah, who in turn was the grandfather of Noah.

The Book of Enoch (also known as 1 Enoch) has a checkered history. For centuries, it was con…