THE FALL AND REDEMPTION OF THE

MATERIAL WORLD IN APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE

Donald E. Gowan

This paper takes the title of our conference, "A New

Heaven and a New Earth," very literally and asks about the
place of the created world, apart from human life, in apoca-
lyptic literature.
Traditionally, this subject has not been taken very
seriously, in the religious community or as a subject for
scholarly research. It does not involve a very large number
of texts, what to make of those texts is a difficult
question
for the twentieth century world-view, and the spiritual or
ethical significance of the subject has not been obvious to
many. Studies of the cosmologies of various ancient authors,
including the writers of apocalyptic, have been made, in
order to elucidate creation theo!ogy,1 1 and the standard
descriptions ofapocalyptic always include the fall and
redemption of the cosmos as one of its themes, but there
is scarcely any literature which deals with the subject in any
extensive way.2 It seems necessary for me, then, to begin
with an apology, to justify my focus on a subject which
others have not found interesting or important.
My apology is autobiographical and ethical. Two
interests, Old Testament eschatology and environmental
concerns, began to reinforce one another in my research
and teaching as I encountered a relatively large number of
texts that spoke of a transformation of the material world
in the latter days. The literature on nature in the Old Testa-
ment has concentrated on creation theology and its contri-
bution to environmental concerns, but no one has seemed to

83.
84.

know quite what to do with the eschatological materials.3

I began to work on them and taught courses both on the
relationship between human societies and the natural world
in the Bible and on the eschatology of the Old Testament.
The research done on the latter subject eventually led to the
writing of a book in which a major section deals with the
transformation of nature.4 In that section, as in the other
parts of the book, I ask about the ethical implications of the
biblical hope that God will one day intervene to make the
world right.
The ethical dimensions of our present concern about
the environment, as it affects humon life, are obvious, but
that is not my subject today. I intend to do what is scarcely
ever done, and that is to focus on the material world in its
own right. The issue which lies behind this research topic is
pain, and the
question whether God is concerned to do
something more
about than human pain.
The "problem of pain" is a familiar topic in theological
and philosophical literature, but those discussions seldom go
beyond human suffering. It may seem there is enough of
that to occupy all our attention for a long time. Since our
subject today is apocalyptic, I shall only remind you that
one of the answers to the problem of pain offered in Scrip-
ture is eschatological. Recall Isa 35:3-6, the first chapter of
Mark, and Rev 21 :4 as classic examples. But there are times
when Scripture speaks of the pain of the non-human world,
and we have not been so sure what to do with these texts.
I cite here, without discussion, one passage from each testa-
ment, as examples of a biblical concern which can be docu-
mented in other texts, from Gen 3:17 to Rev 21-22. The
intention of the paper then will be to show the relationships
between the various views of nature which are represented
in non-canonical Jewish apocalypses and canonical texts
such as these.
 85.

My example from the Old Testament is Isa 24:4-6 (cf.

vv. 1-3, 7-13, 17-23) :
The earth mourns and withers,
the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
The New Testament example comes from Rom 8:19-23:
For the creation waits with eager longing for the
revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was
subjected to futility, not of its own will but by
the will of him who subjected it in hope; because
the creation itself will be set free from its bondage
to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the
children of God. We know that the whole creation
has been
groaning in travail together until now;
'
and not
only the creation, but we ourselves, who
have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly
as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption
of our bodies.
Each of these passages speaks of a "fallen
world,"
suffering under a curse, clearly brought upon it by human
sin in Isaiah, of an unspecified origin in Romans. Paul
immediately promises God's intention to redeem the material
world, as well as human beings,5 and the same kind of prom-
ise appears in the context of the Isaiah passage. Of course,
it must be acknowledged that most of what the Bible says
about the non-human part of creation is thoroughly anthro-
86.

pocentric. The creation stories indicate that the world was

made as a place in which human beings are to live, and they
are to rule over it. Usually, when the corruption of the
world because of sin is spoken of, it is the resulting human
suffering that is emphasized. And most of the promises of
the redemption of the fallen world concentrate on how that
will be a blessing for people. But occasionally there appears
an indication of concern about the well-being of the non-
human world in its own right. In addition to the two texts
just quoted, I remind you of one which is perhaps the most
striking of them all, Isa 11:6-9, with its promise that God
intends the day to come when animals will no longer prey on
one another, concluding with, "They shall not hurt or des-
stroy in all my holy mountain." We may also remember
Lev 26:34-35, 43, which seems to express a concern for
rights of the land.
There is probably no promise in the Bible - even
resurrection of the dead! - which is harder for us to imagine
than this, for hurting and destroying are an essential part of
the ecology of this world. I repeat my introductory remark:
Pain is the essence of the problem which is addressed by
these biblical texts. The issue is eloquently described by
Karl Heim, in The World: Its Creation and Consummation.
Here are a few lines from his lament over universal pain:
How shocking it is, that wherever a number of
different animals live together, for example in a
marshy lake or in the open sea, each kind of animal
is the terror of the others! While themselves tor-
turing and murdering, they are each constantly in
danger of being attacked by bigger animals and
suffering a painful death. (p. 106)
One living creature must continually squeeze out
or devour other forms of life in order to preserve
its own existence. The beasts, and especially the
beasts of prey, are therefore equipped by nature
 87.

with deadly weapons and instruments of torture,

which they use on the fulfillment of their destiny.
(p. 107)
... the whole
creation, not only the world of
mankind, but also the world of animals and plants
and inorganic nature, is subject to one common,
fundamental law. Everywhere the principle of
polarity prevails, although in the most diverse
variations. Everywhere there reigns an unremitting
warfare. Creatures, which need each other for
their life, obstruct and destroy each other....
All this brings us to the last and most decisive
question. Is there a solution for this problem, or
is it inevitable?(p. 109)
For us there are only two possibilities. The first is
that the world will in fact go on as at present.
Then life is not worth living. The other possibility
is the hope that history is not an eternal cycle,
but a course which had a beginning and moves
toward a goal, ... But this destination must not
be annihilation if everything is not to be utterly
meaningless, but must be what the New Testament
calls a telos (goal, end), in which not merely will
some things in this world be improved and the
gravest abuses find an end, but in which the whole
basic form of this world will be abolished to make
way for a new form. (p. 110)
This paper will not take up the question, raised by
modern scholarship, whether it is appropriate to anticipate
anything like a literal re-creation of the world.6 Although
most scholars seem to deny the validity of such a hope,
claiming that represents a misunderstanding of the nature of
the language used in apocalyptic, Heim's approach raises the
question whether taking the pain of the world seriously can
be satisfied by any other hope.
88.

The intentionof this paper is to add clarity and detail

to the generalizations about the cosmic dimension of apoca-
lyptic which are commonplace in the literature. What we
all know is nicelv expressed by Russell:
The apocalyptic writers teach that God's creation
has been by Satan and his legions and lies
usurped
under the power of wickedness. The redemption
which God will bring about will involve not only
man himself and not only the nation of Israel,
but also the whole created universe. The usurped
creation will be restored; the corrupted universe
willI be cleansed; the created world will be re-
'
created.7
This is the "apocalyptic view"
which is cited in many works,
with a few illustrative texts, but surely one of the advances
which should come from the present interest in the study of
apocalyptic literature
is the abandonment, or at least qualifi-
cation, of such generalizations.
Variety is one of the most noteworthy characteristics
of this literature, and so every generalization about it ought
to be suspect. Each document needs to be studied for its
own view.8 It will be seen that some show no interest in
the material world, some have a very positive creation-
theology, with no suggestion of a fallen world, some follow
the Old Testament pattern of using natural phenomena as
elements of judgment, without saying anything significant
about the existence of nature itself, while others show an
intense interest in the well-being of the material world.
Since suffering, its cause and cure, is a major concern
of these documents, the question of how extensive they
conceive the suffering to be ought to contribute to a better
understanding of the theology of each book. The approach
I plan to take, then, will be to discuss a series of ten docu-
ments, individually, then to draw a few conclusions. It will
 89.

be found that the ten documents represent ten different

views of nature.9

1 Enoch 1-36
In this bookwe find no pessimism concerning the mate-
rial world, for it is the marvelous revelation of God's glory,
order and sovereignty. "And understand in respect of every-
thing and perceive how he who lives for ever made all these
things for you; and how his works are before him in each
succeeding year, and all his works serve him and do not
change, but as God has decreed, so everything is done"
(5 :1b-2). Only human beings have transgressed the law of
God (5:4-6), but they have cursed only themselves. This
book is one of those which takes great interest in the story
of the mating of sons of gods with daughters of men, from
Gen 6:1-6, as an explanation of the appearance of evil on
earth. It is true that the sins of the offspring of that union
affected the animal world (7:5-6), but all of that was cor-
rected by the Flood (10:2) and the earth was restored to
perfection afterward
(10:7, 18-22). There do remain evil
spirits dwelling on earth, the descendents of the offspring of
the sons of the gods, but they seem to affect only human
life (chap. 15). Enoch's extensive tour of the world reveals
to him its hidden marvels, but nowhere is it suggested that a
second re-creation, after the one associated with the Flood,
will be needed.

1 Enoch 37-71
The first and third of the Parables of Enoch see the
created world much as chaps. 1-36 do, emphasizing the reve-
lation of the mysteries of nature to the seer (chaps. 41-44,
59-60). The point of view is nicely expressed in the conclu-
sion of the first parable: "I will always bless the Lord of
Glory who has made great and glorious wonders that he might
90.

show the greatness of his work to his angels and to the souls
of men, that they might praise his work, and that all his
creatures might see the work of his power and praise the
great work of his hands and bless him for ever" (36:4).
The Second Parable, however, does promise that when
God makes his Chosen One to dwell among them, he will
transform heaven and earth and make them an eternal bless-
ing (45 :4-5). No further details are added, and the need for
it is not explained. The Third Parable also cites the Old
Testament's promise of ceaseless light (58:6), and speaks of
the separation of Behemoth and Leviathan, which seems to
represent not judgment but the division of various elements
in nature (60:7-25).10 It also contains the kind of promise
which the summaries
of apocalyptic thought like to cite,
that in the day when the Son of Man appears, "from then on
there will be nothing corruptible, ... and everything evil
will pass away" (69:29), but once again no details or reasons
are provided. This part of 1 Enoch thus contains a great deal
of positive use of nature, but does have an eschatology which
mentions briefly the "improvement" in the latter days of
what now exists.

1 Enoch 72-82
This Book of the
Luminaries, with its astronomical
calculations, is much
like chaps. 1-36 in its use of natural
phenomena as testimony to the order of God's created work.
Enoch learns this, concerning the movements of sun and
moon: "... all their
regulations exactly as they are, for each
year of the world and for ever, until the new creation shall be
made which will last for ever" (72:1 ). So this astronomical
book does contain an eschatology, even though its main
emphasis is on the stability and dependability of the present
world. At the end of days it expects things to become
different:
 91.

But in the days of the sinners the years will be-

come shorter, and their seed will be late on their
land and on their fields, and all things on the earth
will change, and will not appear at their proper
time.... will change its customary
And the moon
practice, and will not appear at its proper time.
... And the entire law of the stars will be closed to
the sinners, ... (80:2, 4, 7)
It is not clear whether these extensive changes in the cosmos
are presented here as the familiar
portents the end is that
near, or as the corrupting effects of human sin, but since the
moon itself is included the former interpretation seems more
likely. This is one of many texts which speaks of natural
upheavals at the end of days, but which does not clearly
speak of a fallen world or a curse brought upon nature by
human sin.

1 Enoch 83-90
The second dream vision of Enoch shows no significant
concern about the material world, but in the first dream
vision he sees the entire earth destroyed, and that is explained
as concerning "the secrets of all the sin of the earth" (83:7).
Remarkably, that terrifying sight is set against Enoch's own
experience of the present world, which is in keeping with the
tone of the earlier parts of the book:
And when I went out below, and saw heaven, and
the sun rising in the east, and the moon setting
in the west, and some stars, and the whole earth,
and everything as he knew it at the beginning,
then I blessed the Lord of Judgment, and ascribed
majesty to him, for he makes the sun come out
from the windows of the east so that it ascends
and rises on the face of heaven, and sets out and
92.

goes in the path which has been shown to it.

(83:11)
Once
again the observable order of the creation is ap-
pealed to as a basis for confidence in the sovereignty of God
over the world of human affairs, where no such order or
sovereignty is evident, save to the seer, who understands the
mysteries of the whole cosmos.

1 Enoch 91-108
In the fifth section of 1 Enoch, the elements of nature
are said to be witnesses against sinners (100:10-1 1 ) and are
used as instrumentsof judgment against them (100:12-13, cf.
chap. 101). A new point of view appears in the Apocalypse
of Weeks, which speaks of the world being destroyed in the
ninth week, then of the first heaven being replaced by a new
heaven in the tenth with
no reference to a restoration
week,
of the earth (91:14, 16). This is one of the few passages in
the literature being surveyed which apparently speaks of a
completely spiritual redemption, hence it stands in consider-
able contrast with the rest of 1 Enoch.

2 Enoch
Although the Slavonic Enoch at length the
describes
seer's journies through the various levels of heaven, it is by
no means an "otherworldly" book, in the sense of having no
interest in the created world. In several of the heavens which
Enoch visits he has revealed to him the secrets of nature
(chaps.5, 6, 8, 11-16, 19, 23, 40, 48). Praise of the creator
God, reminiscent of that found in 1 Enoch, appears in chaps.
47 and 66. Creation out of nothing is affirmed in 24:1:
"Before anything existed at all, from the very beginning,
whatever exists I created from the non-existent, and from the
invisible the visible." A highly original retelling of the events
of the six days of creation follows in chaps. 25-30. One of
 93.

the significant additions to the creation story is the fall of

one of the archangels, on the second day. The account is
based on Isa 14:12-15,and the sin is the attempt to make
himself equal to God. At this point he is left "fly ing around
in the air, ceaselessly, above the Bottomless" (29:5). The
author explicitly denies that the fall of Adam brought a
curse upon the earth. "But those whom I had blessed pre-
viously, them I did not curse; <and those whom I had not
blessed previously, even them I did not curse > - neither
mankind I cursed, nor the earth, nor any other creature, but
only mankind's evil fruit-bearing. This is why the fruit of
doing good is sweat and exertion" (31 :7-8).
The world as it now exists does not lie under a curse,
but human responsibility for the welfare of animals is an
unusual subject which seems to be of considerable interest to
this author. He is commenting on the story of the naming
of the animals in Gen 2 and reasserts the promise of Gen 1
that human beings shall have dominion over all the earth,
but then adds:
And the LORD will not judge a single animal soul
for the sake of man; but human souls he will judge
for the sake of the souls of their animals. In the
great age there is a special place for human beings.
And just as every human soul is according to num-
ber, so also it is with animal souls. And not a
single soul which the LORD has created will perish
until the great judgment. And every kind of
animal soul will accuse the human beings who have
fed them badly (58:4-6; cf. 59:5).
This is followed by a brief statement approving animal
sacrifice when it is done correctly (59:1-4). This reflects
an interest in the animal world which is unparalleled in any
of the other documents which have been surveyed.
Near the end of the book, creation and the eschaton
are brought together in a single chapter. The Lord's creative
94.

work is summarized, focusing on time, then it is said that

the whole of creation will come to an end, each person will
come to judgment, and all time will perish. The righteous
"will be collected together into the great age" (65:8). The
characteristics of the new age are listed briefly, largely as
negatives: no weariness, sickness, affliction, worry, want,
debilitation, night nor darkness. Instead they will have a
great light and a great and indestructible
paradise. "For
everything corruptible will pass away, and the incorruptible
will come into being, and will be the shelter of the eternal
residences" (65:10). The new age will thus do away with
human afflictions, without any reference to a need for the
redemption of the rest of creation except possibly for the
great generalization "everything corruptible will pass away."
As in most of 1 Enoch, the treatment of the material world
in 2 Enoch is largely positive.

Jubilees
Since the book of Jubilees contains a couple of passages
which show clear relationships with apocalyptic literature,
and since its point of view is of abvious interest for one
researching this subject, it has been included in the survey.
It is the only book which makes
anything of the curse on
the ground in Gen 3:17, connecting the pain of the non-
human world with the sin of Adam and Eve. The idea is
not elaborated to any extent however.
On that day the mouths of all the wild animals
and the cattle and the birds, and of everything that
walks or moves, were shut, so that they could no
longer speak (for up till then they had all spoken
'
with one another in a common tongue). And he
sent out of the garden of Eden all creatures that
were in it; and they were scattered to the places
naturally suited to them, according to theirkinds
and species (3:28-29).
 95.

In the eschatological parts of the book, it is said that the

earth will perish, with all that lives on it, because of human
sin (23:18) and that in the latter days heaven and earth will
be renewed (1 :29). The only details of that renewal which
are provided are the creation of the sanctuary of the Lord
in Jerusalem and the renewal of the luminaries as instruments
of healing and of peace and of blessing for all the elect of
Israel. Hence it may be seen that the potential interest in
the animal world which appears in the story of the Fall is
not developed in the eschatological sections.

2 Esdras
Evil is theproblem with which the author of 2 Esdras
struggles throughout his book, but his concerns are almost
exclusively confined to the evils which beset Israel. The
creation story is used in two ways, to affirm a deterministic
view and to raise the theodicy question. In 6:1-6 Esdras is
given a long list of things (wind, thunder, flowers, Zion, etc.)
which were created after God planned the events over which
the seer is mourning. All of them, and also the end which is
coming, are the works of the same God who will bring them
all to an end. But in 6:38-54 Esdras recounts the events of
creation in order to ask, "If all this was made for us, then
why do the nations now lord it over us?"
Adam's sin plays a more prominent role in this book
than in most other apocalyptic works, but nothing is said of
a curse on nature (7:10-11; 46-56). Among the signs that
the end is near, however, will be reversals in what is natural ;
the sun will suddenly shine at night, sown places will sudden-
ly appear unsown, etc. (5:4-9; 6:21-24). The final sequence
of events which is given in chap. 7 is as follows: after the
death of Messiah comesthe primeval silence for seven days,
no one shall be left; then that which is corruptible will perish,
the dead will be raised and judgment day will come (7 :29-
96.

38). Judgment day will last about a week of years, and dur-
ing that time the material world will not exist; no sun, moon,
stars, cloud, summer, frost, etc. (7:39-43). The new age,
beyond the day of judgment, is not described in this context.
One further detail is of interest, and that is Esdras' lament
that it will be better for the beasts than for people on that
day, for the beasts do not know of judgment (7:(65-66) ).
The focus on human sin and apparently undeserved human
suffering is so strong in this book that nature serves only
as the "stage-setting" in which the human struggle is played
out.

2 Baruch
Although this book is parallel to 2 Esdras in many
respects, it shows a great deal more interest in the material
world than its predecessor. Traditional creation-theology,
praising the sovereignty of God, appears in 21:4-8 and 48 :1-
10, but a somewhat picture of God's creative and
different
providential activity may be found in chaps. 4 and 51. Here
we learn of two worlds, visible and invisible, corresponding
to one another. The true Jerusalem and the true Paradise
are preserved with God, and may not be touched by events
on earth (4:2-6), and the day will come when the righteous
"will see that world which is now invisible to them, and they
will see a time which is now hidden to them" (51 :8). This
is one attempt to mitigate the effects of that disaster which
befell Jerusalem and its inhabitants in A.D. 70. Another
appears in the promise of its temporary nature in 4:1:
This city will be delivered up for a time,
And the people will be chastened for a time,
And the world will not be forgotten.
Another attempt at mitigation appears in 70:10-71 :1: "For
the whole earth will devour its inhabitants. And the holy
land will have mercy on its own and will protect its inhabitants
 97.

at that time." The emphasis on the fate of Israel and the

holy land in 2 Esdras and 2 Baruch is undoubtedly a result of
the events of A.D. 66-70.
The sin of Adam is discussed several times, but without
any reference to its effect on nature (23:4; 48:42-47; 56:6).
The restoration, however, is described as a time when nature
will become a source of abundant blessings for the righteous.
Behemoth and Leviathan will become nourishment for those
who are left, the earth
will become fruitful, and the manna
will once again come down from heaven (29:4-8). Here we
encounter one of the imaginative pictures of the fruitful I
earth which were expanded still further by the rabbis in
later times. One vine will produce a thousand branches, one
branch a thousand
clusters, one cluster a thousand grapes,
one grape a cor of wine (about 364 liters). In another part
of the book the latter days are said to bring joy and health,
while fear, tribulation, lamentation, judgment, hate etc. will
pass away. In an obvious reference to Isa 11:6-9, "wild
beasts will come from the wood and serve men, and the
asps and dragons will come out of their holes to subject
themselves to
a child," and with reference to Gen 3:16,
"and women will no longer have pain when they bear"
(chap. 73). But note that these relatively extensive mentions
of the natural world in a description of the new age are all
focused on the renewed blessing of human beings. Nothing
is said of any need for or promise of redemption for the non-
human world, except for the general statement, "For the
youth of this world has passed away, and the power of crea-
tion is already exhausted" (85:10).
2 Baruch knows of two creations, one which is cor-
ruptible and one incorruptible (74:2), but the corruption of
this world is not discussed beyond the effects of human sin
on human beings. The beneficial relationship which is
expected to exist between prople and the natural world in
98.

the new age is developed with some satisfaction by this

author, but its benefits are entirely anthropocentric. He is
well aware of the curse on nature in Gen 3 and the new
ecology in Isa 11, but shows not interest in developing the
theme.

The Sibylline Oracles

Although several authors are represented in these
oracles, the first four will be considered together here, since
they show indications of representing Jewish thinking con-
temporary with the other documents which have been con-
sidered, and they do not differ greatly in their point of view.
The first oracle recites the story of creation and fall (11. 5-
60), with no reference to a curse on the material world.
"But they, immediately, going out on the fruitful earth wept
with tears and groans. Then the immortal God himself
spoke to them for the better:
'Increase, multiply, and work
on earth with skill, so that by sweat you may have your fill
"
of food' (1 :54-58). Of the first generation it is said, "To
these he granted a lengthy day for a very lovely life. For
they did not die worn out with troubles, but as if overcome
by sleep" (1 :69-71 ). This statement is followed by a descrip-
tion of their sin, however, which sent them to Hades. The
generations become successively worse until the Flood, but
after that act of judgment the earth is restored to its perfec-
tion, as in 1 Enoch and Jubilees (1 :291-305). After that,
however, comes the seventh generation, that of the Titans,
who are associated with the "mighty ocean of raging waters,"
but it is fully under the control of God (1 :315-323).
The second, third and fourth oracles agree in speaking
at length of the natural disasters which will come at the time
of the end, which will lead to the destruction of the earth
by fire (2:6-26, 194-213; 3:80-92; 4:54-64, 171-178),
Another favorite subject is the elaboration of the fruitfulness
of the earth after the time of judgment (2:2-30, 319-329;
 99.

3:741-761, 777-780, 788-795; cf. 4:179-192), reminiscent

of the development of this subject in 2 Baruch. Of interest
is the citation of Isa 11 :6-9 in Sib Or 3:788-795. This is the
only place where
peace among is promised,the animals
but
not much can be made of it, for it is almost a direct quota-
tion of the passage of Scripture and the author has con-
tributed nothing to show what it may have meant to her.
Despite the relatively frequent mention of elements of
nature in the Sibylline Oracles, one does not sense that there
is as much interest in the material world in its own right here
as in some of the other documents surveyed. The authors
seem to have been repeating stock traditions, drawn from
the Old Testament and elaborated with nature materials
familiar to hellenistic authors, concerning upheavals in the
world at the last day followed by the gift of abundant
fertility.

CONCLUSIONS
This survey of the references to the elements of nature
in several non-canonical Jewish documents has intended to
add some specific details to the frequently repeated generali-
zation about the "cosmic dimension" of apocalyptic litera-
ture. It obviously represents only one aspect of that cosmic
dimension, but it is a part which has been neglected in pre-
vious studies. Let me now offer a brief summary of what
has been found.
1.One of the principal uses of references to the mate-
rial world is to set the rest of creation in contrast with human
rebelliousness and transitoriness. The wonders of creation
are enumerated with enthusiasm as revelations of God's
glory and sovereignty. The regularity of the movements of
the heavenly bodies and the procession of the seasons are
cited as evidence of God's rule by law. As the obedient
servants of God, the elements of nature are also used as
100.

agents of judgment, for this Old Testament theme is fre-

quently developed in lists of signs of the end, or of the time
of judgment itself. The destruction of the whole earth,
which sometimes results, seems to be understood as a part
of the punishment of human sin, not as a necessary des-
truction of a hopelessly corrupted cosmos. In the time of
restoration, after the judgment, the material world is some-
times described, usually with reference to its increased
fertility, picking up another Old Testament theme, and some-
times with a mention of the contrast between corruptible
and incorruptible. With few exceptions, the reason for this
transformation is to provide blessings for righteous human
beings in the new age.
2. Sometimes human
sin, more often the rebellion of
the sons of the gods, is said to bring a curse upon the material
world, which God intends to overcome. But most of what is
said about the activities of the sons of the gods, developing
Gen 6:1-6, which was a text of great interest to these writers,
is also said to have been already dealt with by God in the
Flood. Their confinement afterwards is regularly affirmed,
and the renewed earth is also described. The presence of
evil spirits in the world may be said to be the lasting result t
of the episode in Gen 6, but their influence on nature is
seldom if ever alluded to. Most often, the transformation of
nature in the last days is not said to be the lifting of a curse
brought upon the world by human sin or the rebellion of
the sons of gods, but is simply a part of God's rich, new
blessings for the righteous, when his rule over the whole
cosmos becomes manifest.
My title "The Fall and Redemption of the Material
World in Apocalyptic Literature," is thus something of a
misnomer. The title clearly comes from a theme which does
occur in the canonical books of both testaments, but which
is not prominent in the books I have surveyed. Apocalyptic
 101.

has sometimes been appealed to as the link between the

testaments, helping to account
for the relationship between
creation and redemption in passages such as Rom 8 :19-23,
but we have found no deeply pessimistic view of nature
itself in the documents surveyed. The familiar statements
about apocalyptic pessimism and world-despair have been
based on studies of other themes, especially of angelology
and of human sinfulness.11 I In the limited amount of work
which has been done on the non-canonical Jewish literature
of the I ntertestamental Period, these "cross-sectional" studies
have been far more common
than "longitudinal" studies,
working out in detail
the theology of a single book. I have
produced another of those cross-sectional studies, and since
it is a different cross section it has revealed a somewhat
more positive attitude toward the world than others have
found. Its potential value is simply to provide balance for
our judgments and to offer a warning concerning the mis-
leading nature of generalizations about apocalyptic thought.
I came to this study of Jewish apocalyptic literature
prepared to find evidence for a strong tradition growing out t
of Gen 3:17, concerning a fallen world in need of redemp-
tion, and hoping to find a creative development of the vision
in Isa11:6-9, but I found neither. That negative result
need not be the only conclusion to be drawn from the study,
however. I have already mentioned one, more positive result,
which is the suggestion that our usual impression of the
world-weariness and negativism of the apocalyptic books
ought to be modified in the
light of the very positive use
which is made of nature by many of these authors.
The other potentially positive result may come from
the awareness of how distinctive are passages such as Gen
3:17, Isa 11:6-9; 24, Rom 8 :19-23, Col 1 :1 S-20, etc.12 They
represent a thin strand of tradition in the Scriptures and did
not produce a strong response in the literature of the Inter-
102.

testamental Period or in the subsequent history of the syna-

gogue or the church.13 Remarkably enough, it seems that
only in the 1970's and 80's has it become possible for us to
realize how important they are. Could it be that the time
has finally come for tradition-building on this theme to begin
in earnest?

- NOTES -

1. E.g. M. Philonenko, "La cosmologie du livre des Secrets d'Hen-

och" Religions en Egypte helignistique et romaine (Paris: Presses Uni-
versitaires de France, 1969) 109-116; H. F. Weiss, Untersuchungen
zur Kosmologie des hellenstischen und palistinischen J udentums
(TUGAL 97; Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1966).

2. The most useful books on the subject have been written by theo-
logians : A. D. Galloway, The Cosmic Christ (New York: Harper and
Row, 1951); K. Heim, The World: Its Creation and Consummation
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1962); E. C. Rust, Nature and Man in
Biblical Thought (London: Lutterworth Press, 1953).

3- J. Barr, "Man and Nature - the Ecological Controversy and the

Old Testament" BJRL 55 (1972) 9-32; W. L. Humphries, "Pitfalls and
Promises of Biblical Texts as a Basis for a Theology of Nature," in
A New Ethic for a New Earth, ed. G. C. Stone (New York: Friendship
Press, 1971) 99-118; cf. B. W. Anderson, "Creation and Ecology" in
Creation in the Old Testament, ed. B. W. Anderson (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1984) 152-171. It was a theologian who focused on the
eschatological element: H. Schwarz, "The Eschatological Dimension of
Ecology" Zygon 9 (1974) 323-338.

4. D. E. Gowan, Eschatology in the Old Testament (Fortress Press,

1986), 97-120.

5. J. G. Gibbs, Creation and Redemption. A Study in Pauline

Theology (Leiden: Brill, 1971); and "Pauline Cosmic Christology and
Ecological Crisis" JBL 90 (1971) 466-479.
 103.

6. G. B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible (Philadel-

phia : Westminster Press, 1980), 242-271.

7. D. S. Russell, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic

(Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964), 280; cf. Rust, Nature and
Man, p. 234: "I n all this, St. Paul is quite in keeping with what we
have already discovered in the Old Testament and in Jewish thought.
The sub-human creation in some mysterious way is also suffering
from man's sin.""

8. Generalizations are drawn from the study of two very different

books by U. Luck, in "Das Weltverstandnis in der judischen Apoka-
lyptik, dargestellt am athiopischen Henoch und am 4. Esra" ZThK
73 (1976) 283-305.

9- Since it is generally recognized that the five parts of 1 Enoch are

the work of at least five different authors, they will be dealt with as
five separate documents.

10. There are textual problems at this point. Cf. A. Caquot,

than et Behemoth dans la troisieme 'Parable' d'Henoch" Semitica 25
(1975) 111-122.

11. Galloway's discussion of apocalyptic leads him away from the

material world and into angelology, The Cosmic Christ, pp. 21-39.

12. Note the very appropriate comments on Rom 8:19-21 by C.E.B.

Cranfield, in Romans: A Shorter Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1985) 198.

13. Some expectations may be found in the helpful survey by G. W.

Williams, "Christian Attitudes Toward Nature" Christian Scholar's
Review 2 (1971-72) 3-35, 112-126. See also D. S. Wallace-Hadrill,
The Greek Patristic View of Nature (Manchester Univ. Press, 1968).