The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic

The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic: A Polemical Work on a Neglected Area of Biblical Studies and Its
Damaging Effects on Theology and Philosophy (1972) Klaus Koch
prophetic thought in the works of Joachim of Fiore
Nag Hammadi texts 1945 English in 1977
1 Enoch Aramaic
the Apocalypse of Adam of Paul of Peter
"apocalypticism was the mother of all Christian theology" Ernst Kasemann
“The perplexity and embarrassment that Koch detected in modern scholarship has in part a theological
source. The word "apocalyptic" is popularly associated with fanatical millenarian expectation, and
indeed the canonical apocalypses of Daniel and especially John have very often been used by millenarian
groups. Theologians of a more rational bent are often reluctant to admit that such material played a
formative role in early Christianity. There is consequently a prejudice against the apocalyptic literature
which is deeply ingrained in biblical scholarship. The great authorities of the nineteenth century, Julius
Wellhausen and Emil Schürer, slighted its value, considering it to be a product of "Late Judaism" which
was greatly inferior to the prophets, and this attitude is still widespread today. In his reply to Käsemann,
Gerhard Ebeling could say that "according to the prevailing ecclesiastical and theological tradition,
supremely also of the Reformation, apocalyptic — I recall only the evaluation of the Revelation of John
— is to say the least a suspicious symptom of tendencies towards heresy." Whatever we may decide
about the theological value of these writings, it is obvious that a strong theological prejudice can
impede the task of historical reconstruction and make it difficult to pay enough attention to the
literature to enable us even to understand it at all. It will be well to reserve theological judgment until
we have mastered the literature.”
“The notion that there is a class of writings that may be labeled "apocalyptic" has been generally
accepted since Friedrich Lücke published the first comprehensive study of the subject in 1832. Liicke's
synthesis was prompted in part by the recent edition of 1 Enoch by Richard Laurence (who also edited
the Ascension of Isaiah, which Lücke discussed as a Christian apocalypse).”
Most of the works that figure in discussions of the Jewish apocalyptic literature were not explicitly
designated as apocalypses in antiquity. The use of the Greek title apokalypsis (revelation) as a genre
label is not attested in the period before Christianity. The first work introduced as an apokalypsis is the
New Testament book of Revelation, and even there it is not clear whether the word denotes a special
class of literature or is used more generally for revelation. Both 2 and 3 Baruch, which are usually dated
about the end of the first century C.E., are introduced as apocalypses in the manuscripts, but the
antiquity of the title is open to question. Morton Smith concludes from his review of the subject that
"the literary form we call an apocalypse carries that title for the first time in the very late first or early
second century A.D. From then on both the title and form were fashionable, at least to the end of the
classical period.”
The ancient usage of the title apokalypsis shows that the genre apocalypse is not a purely modern
construct, but it also raises a question about the status of early works (including most of the Jewish
apocalypses) that do not bear the title. The question is complicated by the fact that some of these works
are composite in character and have affinities with more than one genre. The book of Daniel, which
juxtaposes tales in chaps. 1-6 and visions in chaps. 7-12, is an obvious example
A systematic analysis of all the literature that has been regarded as "apocalyptic," either in the
ancient texts or in modern scholarship, was undertaken by the Society of Biblical Literature Genres
Project, and the results were published in Semeia 14 (1979). That analysis will serve as our point of
departure. The purpose of Semeia 14 was to give precision to the traditional category of "apocalyptic
literature" by showing the extent and limits of the conformity among the allegedly apocalyptic texts.
“In this essay we are not concerned with the historical origin of apocalypticism but the identification of a
literary genre "apocalypse" as represented in Jewish literature. Accordingly, we will confine our
attention to the analysis of Jewish texts. We will begin with those texts in the prophetic corpus which
are most frequently adduced in discussions of "apocalyptic"—Zechariah and the later parts of Isaiah.
The two main views of apocalypticism, the "historical" view which emphasizes temporal eschatology and
the "vertical" view which stresses the spatial symbolism of the heavenly world, both find analogies and
precedents in these books.” (Semeia 14: Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre)
“In the Jewish literature which can be dated with some plausibility to the period 250 BCE - 150 CE, it is
possible to identify fifteen apocalypses by this definition. This corpus can be classified further
according to the typology presented in the Introduction.”
The most obvious distinction within the Jewish apocalypses is between those that do not have an
otherworldly journey (Type I) and those that do (Type II). This distinction coincides strikingly with a
distinction in the content of the revelation. All apocalypses which do not have an otherworldly journey
contain an ex eventu prophecy of history. Only one apocalypse (the Apocalypse of Abraham 15-32)
combines an otherworldly journey with a historical review.
15 Jewish apocalypses
Daniel 7-12
Animal Apocalypse - Yes
Apocalypse of Weeks (1 Enoch 91-105)

Jubilees 23
4 Ezra
2 Baruch
Apoc Abraham
1 Enoch 1-36
Heavenly Luminaries
Similitudes of Enoch
2 Enoch
Test Levi 2-5
3 Baruch
Test Abraham 10-15
Apoc Zephaniah

The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic

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How did scholars originally view apocalyptic literature?

What are the two main views of apocalypticism discussed in the text?

The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic: A Polemical Work on a Neglected Area of Biblical Studies and Its

Damaging Effects on Theology and Philosophy (1972) Klaus Koch

prophetic thought in the works of Joachim of Fiore

Nag Hammadi texts 1945 English in 1977

the Apocalypse of Adam of Paul of Peter

"apocalypticism was the mother of all Christian theology" Ernst Kasemann

Animal Apocalypse - Yes

Apocalypse of Weeks (1 Enoch 91-105)

Test Levi 2-5

Test Abraham 10-15

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