Andrei Orlov examines the tradition about the seventh antediluvian patriarch Enoch, tracing its development from its roots in the Mesopotamian lore to the Second Temple apocalyptic texts and later rab
Discusses the two most important figures in early Jewish mythologies of evil, the fallen angels Azazel and Satanael. Discusses the two most important figures in early Jewish mythologies of evil, th
Recent studies of the development of early Jewish mysticism from Second Temple times have avoided considering the extensive writings which have survived only in their Slavonic translations. Orlov (the
This volume is a study of two of the most important Slavonic apocalypses, the Apocalypse of Abraham and 2 Enoch, as the crucial conceptual links between the symbolic universes of Second Temple apocaly
The Apocalypse of Abraham is a vital source for understanding both Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism. Written anonymously soon after the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple, the text envisions heaven as the true place of worship and depicts Abraham as an initiate of celestial priesthood. Andrei A. Orlov focuses on the central rite of the Abraham story – the scapegoat ritual that receives a striking eschatological reinterpretation in the text. He demonstrates that the development of the sacerdotal traditions in the Apocalypse of Abraham, along with a cluster of Jewish mystical motifs, represents an important transition from Jewish apocalypticism to the symbols of early Jewish mysticism. In this way, Orlov offers unique insight into the complex world of the Jewish sacerdotal debates in the early centuries of the Common Era. The book will be of interest to scholars of early Judaism and Christianity, Old Testament studies, and Jewish mysticism and magic.
