The Book of Enoch Canonized

History has been made today as the International Nazarene Beit Din has officially canonized the Book of Enoch.

CANONICITY OF THE BOOK OF ENOCH

Passed by the International Nazarene Beit Din (1-17-10).

We the International Nazarene Beit Din do hereby declare Book of Enoch to be part of the Nazarene Canon.

We have no hesitation in pronouncing this book to be a work of Divine inspiration, great antiquity and interest, and a book that is entitled to a great circulation among those who take pleasure in studying the Word of YHWH. We declare that this book is profitable for teaching (doctrine) and for reproof and for correction and for instruction in righteousness. While we pronounce this books to be part of the official canon of the Assembly, we do allow that a person who does not accept the canonicity of this books may still personally be in good standing with the Assembly.

While the Beit Din recognizes the canonical status of the Book of Enoch in general, there are issues concerning the Calendar Section which must be addressed. When the Beit Din declares any book Canon, it means that we recognize that the autograph was inspired. In the case of the Book of Enoch the autograph was in Hebrew and none of the original Hebrew have come down to us, and only fragments of the Aramaic version have survived. The complete text survives only in an Ethiopic translation. In regards to the Calendar section, enough of the Aramaic survives to make it clear that it did not closely agree with the surviving Ethiopic Version, yet not enough of the Aramaic survives to reconstruct its meaning. Moreover there is question as to whether the calendar presented in 1st Enoch was intended as an actual alternative to the traditional Hebrew calendar for the keeping of feasts, or had some other use, perhaps astronomical. Therefore we do not advocate this calendar as a matter of halacha.

It should be understood that “Book of Enoch” refers only to 1st Enoch and not to 2nd or 3rd Enoch.