Apocalypses and Visionary Literature

Chapter four addresses the apocalypses of the Apocrypha. The social conditions that gave rise to apocalypses are examined, as well as the elements that are typically found in these texts. The two axes of apocalypses are discussed, the historical/eschatological axis and the spatial/cosmic axis. The role of an angelic interpreter, the importance of the revelation of a transcendent reality through dreams or visions, and its transmission to the learned scribe through writing in books are also central to the apocalypses. The challenging recent discussions on the genre of apocalypse are also surveyed. The relation of apocalypses to wisdom texts is noted, as is the special role of the scribe from long ago, such as Enoch, Ezra, or Daniel, and the focus of apocalypses on the transmission of secret knowledge. The texts treated here are 1 Enoch—composed of what were likely separate texts: Book of the Luminaries, Book of the Watchers, Animal Apocalypse, Epistle of Enoch and the Apocalypse of Weeks, and Parables or Similitudes of Enoch—and also Jubilees, 2 Esdras (or 4 Ezra, 5 Ezra, and 6 Ezra), and 2 Baruch.