Toulouse 2022 Call for Papers
Among apocalyptic compositions, the extensive Enochic corpus (i.e. 1, 2 and 3 Enoch) stands out for its great complexity, length, and variety of themes. The current project plans to focus not only on the overarching multilingual metanarratives manifested in the Enochic corpus sensu stricto, but also on related Judaeo-Christian parabiblical traditions from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages and Modernity, along with Manichaean and Gnostic texts (e.g. Nag Hammadi Library) and Islamic exegetical writings. Religious art and iconography will also be taken into consideration, with special emphasis on the language of visual arts, as well as palaeography. The role played by the Enochic corpus in transmitting specific aspects of ancient science (e.g. cosmology, calendrical and astronomical knowledge, etc.) within complex multilingual and cross-cultural intellectual environments will be considered. Further attention will be paid to vernacular oral attestations of Enochic themes and motifs, which so far has been neglected by specialists. Likewise considered will be the impact of Enochic traditions upon heresiological movements and esoteric writings. The three types of corpora diffusing Enochic intellectual heritage will be included — scribal traditions (in a multilingual setting), verbal/oral renditions (including cross-cultural and inter-confessional encounters), and iconography. The project will focus on 1, 2, and 3 Enoch within the broad framework of apocalyptic writings within the Judeo-Christian intellectual environment, in connection with palaeography and hitherto understudied iconography and oral traditions. Scholars with broad interdisciplinary interests are invited to participate. Along with specialists from the area of Enochic studies, researchers in related fields are encouraged to contribute papers dealing with allusions and references to Enochic imagery, as attested in all three Abrahamic religions. General studies of apocalyptic texts will also be welcome as potential comparative material, as well as explorations in the multilingual scribal traditions, along with the iconography of Enochic paradigms of knowledge.
