Named by the Name? Christian Categories Causing Non-problems in the Academic Study of Religion. The Parables of Enoch as a Case Study

Abstract

In this article, the author argues that the Anointed One in 1 En 48:2–3 is not given the divine name. Scholars relying upon an ambiguous footnote and a Christian category (“divine identity Christology”) argue the opposite. Both the footnote and category are investigated. Whereas the footnote misrepresents the source language, the category serves Christian interests and not those of the academic study of religion. Two results follow from this analysis. First, 1 En 48:2–3 is likely not a naming scene but a summoning one. Second, attention is paid to academic categories with a personal rhetoric. Working with Jonathan Z. Smith’s claim that self-knowledge is the utmost concern of the scholar, the author tracks his own story and more to make explicit our shared, academic craft.