Adam's Book (Oriental)
The oriental book of Adam, often also called Arabic book of Adam or Ethiopian book of Adam , is a Christian pseudepigraphic work that is available in Arabic and ancient Ethiopian .
The book is usually divided into two books, although the first and second books form a related narrative. The division into two books is likely to have purely technical reasons and is not always found in the same place in the different original texts.
The Ethiopian text was translated into German by August Dillmann under the title Das christliche Adambuch des Morgenlandes (Göttingen, 1853), the Ethiopian Urtext was later published by Ernst Trumpp . An English translation by Solomon Caesar Malan appeared in 1882.
The work begins immediately after the expulsion from Paradise and ends with the Testament and the rapture of Enoch .
It emphasizes Adam's worries and helplessness in the world outside of Paradise. The Nephilim mentioned in the book of Genesis are identified with the children of Sets , and the daughters of man with female descendants of Cain who successfully seduce most of the descendants of Sets, incited by Genum, the son of Lamech . "Genum" is apparently a fusion of the biblical Jubal and Tubal-Cain .
The story handed down to us testifies to a strong Christian and ascetic attitude of its author. In contrast to the Christianized versions of the Apocalypse of Moses , the Christian doctrine of redemption was not sporadically and obviously afterwards woven into the narrative, but rather its central element for large parts; Far-reaching narrative sections focus on this idea.
The core element of the story, the story of the treasure cave on the Holy Mountain, is completely alien to the older Jewish tradition up to and including Josephus and is incompatible with the story of the giants from the Book of Enoch. In the Apocalypse of Moses, even in the later versions, no elements from this tradition appear.
The Holy Efrem (. Ephraim the Syrian, * 306, † 9.6 373 AD in Edessa, today Urfa / southern Turkey) is the story of the treasure cave known: In his hymns of Paradise, he refers to this. Therefore the basic narrative must have been written before the 4th century. The time of origin of the Adam books in the present form can only be roughly delimited; The earliest possible point in time would be the second century due to the spiritual orientation, and the seventh century as the latest, because after the spread of Islam the previously active contact between the Christians of Arabia and Ethiopia almost broke off. The scripture attributed to Saint Efrem, The Treasure Cave, recounts the version that has come down to us in abbreviated form, but without any significant deviations. The treasure cave was probably written in Aramaic, and so were the Adam books.
See also
Web links
- Modern adaptation of the English translation by Solomon Caesar Malan
- The Christian Adam Book of the Orient, Dillmann 1853