The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature, 2nd Edition (The Biblical Resource Series)

354 Pages·1998·13.33 MB·English

by  John Joseph Collins

General Editors
ASTRID Β. BECK
DAVID NOEL FREEDMAN
Editorial Board
HAROLD W. ATTRIDGE, History and Literature of Early Christianity
JOI IN HUEHNERGARD, Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
PETER MACHINIST, Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
SHALOM M. PAUL, Hebrew Bible
JOHN P. MEIER, New Testament
STANLEY E. PORTER, New Testament Language and Literature
JAMES C. VANDERKAM, Histoiy and Literature of Early Judaism
ADELA YARBRO COLLINS, New Testament
Available
John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination, Second Edition
John J. Collins, Between Athens and Jerusalem:
Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora, Second Edition
Frank Moore Cross, Jr., and David Noel Freedman,
Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry
S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew
and Some Other Syntactical Questions
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S..T., The Semitic Background of the New Testament
(combined edition of Essays on the Semitic Background
of the New Testament and A Wandering Aramean)
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., To Advance the Gospel, Second Edition
Birger Gerhardsson, Memory and Manuscript with
Tradition and Transmission in Early Christianity
Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The Apocalyptic
Imagination
An Introduction to
Jewish Apocalyptic Literature
SECOND EDITION
John J. Collins
WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN / CAMBRIDGE, U.K.
DOVE BOOKSELLERS
LIVONIA, MICHIGAN
© 1984, 1998 John J. Collins
All rights reserved
First edition published 1984 by Crossroad
Second edition published jointly 1998 by
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids. Michigan 49503 /
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.
and by
Dove Booksellers
30633 Schoolcraft Road. Suite C, Livonia, Michigan 48150
Printed in the United States of America
09 08 07 06 05 10 9 8 7 6 5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Collins. John Joseph. 1946-
The apocalyptic imagination: an introduction to Jewish apocalyptic literature /
John J. Collins. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10 0-8028-4371-9/ ISBN-13 978-0-8028-4371-5 (paper: alk. paper)
1. Apocalyptic literature — History and criticism.
I. Title.
BS646.C656 1998
229'.913 — dc21 97-49578
CIP
www.eerdmans.com
For
Jesse Yarbro
Sean Ryan
and
Aidan Michael

Contents
Preface ix
Preface to the Second Edition χ
Abbreviations xi
1. The Apocalyptic Genre 1
2. The Early Enoch Literature 43
3. Daniel 85
4. Related Genres: Oracles and Testaments 116
5. Qumran 145
6. The Similitudes of Enoch 177
7. After the Fall: 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and the Apocalypse of
Abraham 194
8. Apocalyptic Literature from the Diaspora in the Roman
Period 233
9. Apocalypticism in Early Christianity 256
Epilogue 280
Bibliography 284
Indexes 318

Preface
This volume is the product of more than a decade of study, begun when I was
a graduate student at Harvard University. Along the way numerous mentors
and friends have informed and corrected my work. Three groups deserve
special mention: my teachers at Harvard (Frank M. Cross, Paul D. Hanson,
and John Strugnell), the task-force on Forms and Genres of Religious Litera-
ture in Late Antiquity, and my colleagues in the Pseudepigrapha Group of the
Society of Biblical Literature. Above all my thanks are due to my most
constant collaborator, Adela Yarbro Collins. The book is dedicated to our
children, who show us how fantastic imagination can be.
I also wish to thank the editors of: Catholic Biblical Quarterly for
permission to adapt my article "The Apocalyptic Technique: Setting and
Function in the Book of the Watchers" (CBQ 44 [1982] 91-111); Journal for
the Study of the Old Testament for permission to adapt my article "Apocalyptic
Genre and Mythic Allusions in Daniel" (JSOT21 [1981] 83-100); Eisenbrauns
Publishing Co. for permission to adapt my article "Patterns of Eschatology
at Qumran" (Traditions in Transformation, edited by B. Halpcrn and J. D.
Levenson); Scholars Press for permission to adapt my article "The Heavenly
Representative: The 'Son of Man' in the Similitudes of Enoch" (from Ideal
Figures in Ancient Judaism, edited by G. W. E. Nickelsburg and J. J. Collins)
and to use material from Semeia 14; J. C. B. Mohr, Tübingen, for permission
to adapt my article "The Genre Apocalypse in Hellenistic Judaism" (from
Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East, edited by
D. Hellholm).