DESCRIPTION
Enoch, Levi, and Jubilees on Sexuality marks a first stage in William Loader's research on attitudes toward sexuality in Judaism and Christianity of the Hellenistic Greco-Roman era. Loader first discusses the early Enoch literature relevant to the theme, focusing on the impact of an ancient myth on the writings and examining how sexual deeds are not here concerned with sexual wrongdoing. He then examines the weight of such wrongdoing in the priestly instruction of the fragmentary
Aramaic Levi Document as a whole. He finally considers
Jubilees as a cumulative work, building on both the Enoch tradition and the instruction of
Levi, and reveals a range of devices warning against sexual depravity. Loader's aim throughout is to interpret the works from within, examining literary form, context, sequence, and tradition and redaction, reflecting engagement with current research in this area.
REVIEWS
John C. Endres, S.J.
— Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley
"Loader's monograph provides a significant and positive contribution to contemporary study of the Book of Jubilees. His focus on the role of sexuality in the thought-world of Jubilees synthesizes many important studies of Jubilees. He models the value of sustained attention to the vocabulary of sexuality — in Ethiopic, Latin, and Hebrew — and translation patterns, but also charts the sustained and often surprising aspects of sexuality in a number of key narratives. Consistent with patterns of literature of this genre, sexuality is seen as incompatible with sacred time and space, but Loader finds surprisingly positive views of sexuality and its unitive power, particularly in his subtle reading of the story of Eden. This work on Jubilees models the fruitful use of various methods to push forward the limits of our knowledge of this topic."