A Study of the Geography of 1 Enoch 17-19: "No One Has Seen What I Have Seen," by Kelley Coblentz Bautch. JSJSup 81. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Pp. xvii + 332. 79 [euro] (hardcover). ISBN 9004131035. In order to comprehend the development of Judaism in the Second Temple period, it is necessary to understand the large and complex Enochic corpus, which many have suggested represents a distinct form of Judaism ("Enochic Judaism"). Yet, because the Enochic corpus consists of five separate writings, each stemming from a different period of time and composed by a different author for a specific community, we cannot treat the corpus as a single, unified entity; instead, we must endeavor to understand each book in its own right and within its own historical and literary context. Bautch does just that for the "Book of the Watchers" (1 Enoch 1-36 [henceforth BW]), which is quite possibly the earliest Jewish apocalypse and, together with the "Astronomical Book" (1 En. 72-82), also the earliest part of the Enochic corpus, dating to the latter half of the third century B.C.E. (see now James H. Charlesworth, "A Rare Consensus Among Enoch Specialists: The Date of the Earliest Enoch Books," Henoch 24 [2002]: 225-34). Arguing that the BW itself is a composite writing, Bautch limits the scope of her study to 1 En. 17-19, which she argues existed as an independent literary unit before being incorporated into the BW. Hence, insofar as it takes us back to the time of the initial formation of the Enochic corpus itself and of apocalyptic literature in general, this study deals with crucial matters about which all biblical scholars and historians of early Judaism must be vitally concerned.
