Angels among us? The Watchers myth and angelology in Ephrem’s Commentary on Genesis and the Ethiopic tradition

IF 0.4 0 RELIGION

Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Pub Date : 2019-09-01 DOI:10.1177/0951820719875716

D. Skelton

{"title":"Angels among us? The Watchers myth and angelology in Ephrem’s Commentary on Genesis and the Ethiopic tradition","authors":"D. Skelton","doi":"10.1177/0951820719875716","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the euhemeristic interpretation of Genesis 6:1–4 as it appears in Ephrem of Nisibis’ Commentary on Genesis and its influence on Syriac and Ethiopic commentary traditions. I suggest that Ephrem’s attempt to mitigate the angelic interpretation of Genesis 6 ironically mirrors his own angelology. The distinctive components he adds to the Watchers myth (different geography, diet, and bodies) are central virtues in Ephrem’s attempt to make virginity and monasticism ideals for all Christians. For Ephrem, the angels are paradigms of these ideals, and those who achieve them become equal to the angels. Surprisingly, these distinctive components reappear in the Ethiopian commentary tradition on Genesis (andemta), but unlike Ephrem, the andemta makes the equation of Sethites with angels and monks quite explicit. Overall, this analysis between Ephrem and the andemta reveals the influence of Syriac interpretation on the Ethiopian commentary tradition as well as the centrality of angelology in the Sethite reading of Genesis 6:1–4.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"29 1","pages":"12 - 27"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0951820719875716","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0951820719875716","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study examines the euhemeristic interpretation of Genesis 6:1–4 as it appears in Ephrem of Nisibis’ Commentary on Genesis and its influence on Syriac and Ethiopic commentary traditions. I suggest that Ephrem’s attempt to mitigate the angelic interpretation of Genesis 6 ironically mirrors his own angelology. The distinctive components he adds to the Watchers myth (different geography, diet, and bodies) are central virtues in Ephrem’s attempt to make virginity and monasticism ideals for all Christians. For Ephrem, the angels are paradigms of these ideals, and those who achieve them become equal to the angels. Surprisingly, these distinctive components reappear in the Ethiopian commentary tradition on Genesis (andemta), but unlike Ephrem, the andemta makes the equation of Sethites with angels and monks quite explicit. Overall, this analysis between Ephrem and the andemta reveals the influence of Syriac interpretation on the Ethiopian commentary tradition as well as the centrality of angelology in the Sethite reading of Genesis 6:1–4.

查看原文本刊更多论文

天使就在我们中间?厄弗伦《创世纪注释》中的守望者神话和天使学与埃塞俄比亚传统

本研究考察了《创世纪》6:1-4的委婉解释，因为它出现在尼西比斯的《创世纪注释》的Ephrem中，以及它对叙利亚和埃塞俄比亚注释传统的影响。我认为，Ephrem试图缓和创世纪第6章天使的解释，讽刺地反映了他自己的天使学。他为守望者神话添加的独特成分(不同的地理、饮食和身体)是Ephrem试图为所有基督徒创造童贞和修道理想的核心美德。对Ephrem来说，天使是这些理想的典范，而那些达到这些理想的人就与天使平等。令人惊讶的是，这些独特的成分再次出现在埃塞俄比亚对创世纪的评论传统中(andemta)，但与Ephrem不同的是，andemta使塞提人与天使和僧侣的关系非常明确。总的来说，对以法莲和安德姆塔之间的分析揭示了叙利亚解释对埃塞俄比亚注释传统的影响，以及天使学在赛特人对创世纪6:1-4的解读中的中心地位。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha RELIGION-

CiteScore

0.40

自引率

33.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： The last twenty years have witnessed some remarkable achievements in the study of early Jewish literature. Given the ever-increasing number and availability of primary sources for these writings, specialists have been producing text-critical, historical, social scientific, and theological studies which, in turn, have fuelled a growing interest among scholars, students, religious leaders, and the wider public. The only English journal of its kind, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha was founded in 1987 to provide a much-needed forum for scholars to discuss and review most recent developments in this burgeoning field in the academy.