George Nickelsburg
American scholar of early Judaism and 1 Enoch
- Born
- 1934
- Known for
- Two-volume Hermeneia commentary on 1 Enoch (2001, 2012); 1 Enoch translation with James VanderKam
- Institution
- University of Iowa (professor emeritus)
- Field
- Second Temple Judaism, Jewish apocalyptic literature
University of Iowa scholar whose commentary on 1 Enoch reads the Watcher myth against the wars of Alexander's successors.
What is George Nickelsburg known for?
George W. E. Nickelsburg is an American scholar of early Judaism and Christianity, professor emeritus at the University of Iowa. He is a member of the Enoch Seminar and one of the leading specialists on 1 Enoch and on Jewish literature of the Second Temple period.
His major work is the two-volume Hermeneia commentary on 1 Enoch: the first volume (2001) covers chapters 1–36 and 81–108, and the second (2012) was written with James C. VanderKam. With VanderKam he also produced a modern English translation of the whole book. He also wrote the widely used textbook Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah.
Nickelsburg has argued that the story of the Watchers, the angels who descend, father giants and fill the earth with violence, can be read as a reflection of the bloody wars of the Diadochi, the generals who fought over Alexander the Great's empire after 323 BCE. On that reading, the giants' violence mirrored the experience of Jews living under warring Hellenistic kings. Other scholars stress different backgrounds, such as priestly concerns about marriage and purity.
The site cites Nickelsburg's reading of the Watcher myth as a reflection of Hellenistic-era violence and worries about foreign learning, not a record of real visitors.
Sources
- Academy for Temple Studies, '2013 Enoch and the Temple Conference' (speaker profile of George W. E. Nickelsburg)Reference
- Library of Congress Name Authority, 'Nickelsburg, George W. E., 1934-'Reference
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