4. The Book of Enoch
The Book of Enoch has long been one of my favourite works of theological apocryphal literature not only for its content, but also for the rather peculiar fact that it is considered canonical by the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia and the Orthodox Church of Eritrea, but as apocryphal by all other Christian groups. When the final list of canonical books of the bible was established at the 397 AD Council of Carthage,
The Book of Enoch was not included. Yet the text was known to and quoted extensively by many early 'Church Father' heavyweights including Justin Martyr, Iraneus, and Origen of Alexandria . Traditionally ascribed to the great-grandfather of Noah, Enoch, it was certainly in existence around 200 BC, and there is little doubt that had it had a profound theological impact on New Testament interpretations of angelology and eschatology. At its core what Enoch does is massively flesh-out and re-interpret the story told in Genesis 6:1, explaining that the sons of God were in actual fact a group of 200 soon-to-be fallen angels (led by the Satan-like Samazya) who were so enamored with the women of our world that they came to Earth to procreate with mankind. Their offspring were the giants known as the Nephilim, who were destroyed by the Old Testament god Yahweh in the great flood. And how does this relate to events In
Prometheus? For one, the non-canonical
Book of Enoch would massively influence the dogma of Catholicism when it came to developing theories on the nature of angels and demons: with the Church Fathers interpreting verses of Isaiah and Ezekiel to signify that Satan was once a high-ranking cherub or seraph (similarly in Islam El Shaitan was once a djinn known as Iblis). Secondly, and like the Greek myth of Prometheus, the book is all about forbidden knowledge. In
Prometheus, David- who represents the apex of human creativity born of a miniature echo of the Engineers own act of creation- soaks up the knowledge left by the Engineers, just as in
Enoch humankind laps up the forbidden knowledge handed to them by Samazyas troupe of fallen angels... in particular an angel known as Azazyel- who teaches mankind the art of making weapons, and women the art of using cosmetics. This motif of utilising forbidden knowledge learned from those who came before, and its often dire consequences, is pronounced in
Prometheus. Davids trials with the Engineers black liquid- which stem from Weylands self-centred self-seeking quest for eternal life- has disastrous consequences for the entire crew of the ship.