Abstract
No scholar exceeds John J. Collins’s influence upon our contemporary thinking about apocalyptic literature. Famous particularly for defining the literary genre of an apocalypse, a task he shared with others, Collins here revisits that question in greater detail. This collection of essays begins by exploring the boundaries of apocalyptic literature in order to define it more closely, then proceeds to trace some of its literary themes, the ubiquity of pseudonymity, and its social ethos. Although almost all of these essays have already been published, this volume’s value consists in its sustained attention to refining our understanding of precisely what we mean when we speak of apocalyptic literature.
Framed as an introduction, Chapter one directly revisits the 1979 Society of Biblical Literature Apocalypse Working Group definition of an apocalypse. Here Collins provides thicker theoretical engagement with the question of genre and suggests a paradigmatic approach in which membership in a genre is a matter of degree as opposed to a set of rigid boundaries. This model accounts for a growing self-awareness among authors within a genre’s historical development and appropriation. I would like to see Collins develop this insight through engagement with non-literary, or ‘popular’ apocalyptic discourse. Collins maintains the distinction between ‘historical’ and ‘otherworldly’ apocalypses that has been called into question by recent interpreters. I still find that distinction helpful.
In further chapters Collins continues to explore the boundaries of apocalyptic literature. In Chapter two, Zechariah 1–8 may share important literary features with the apocalypses, but its messianic eschatology is not distinctively apocalyptic because it lacks a cosmic scope. Chapter three investigates the destruction of the world, a concept that occurs fairly late in the apocalypses. ‘Proto-apocalyptic’ passages in the prophets use cosmic language for this-worldly political upheavals. And Chapter four further traces the permeable boundaries between prophetic and apocalyptic literature, arguing that the distinction involves both literary (the role of supernatural agents in apocalyptic narratives) and theological (a looming final judgment) features.
The essays in Part II investigate developments within apocalyptic traditions, often beyond the literary apocalypses themselves. In Chapter five Collins argues that, yes, Enochic literature represents a movement that has some points of resonance with the Essenes, but no, the movements were not identical. Enochic Judaism did not revolve around the Torah, as did Essene life. In Chapter six Collins treats Jubilees as residing on the blurry boundaries of two genres, rewritten scripture and apocalypse. Collins sees a more remote connection between the Sibylline Oracles and the apocalypses, as the Sibyllines share some concerns with the apocalypses but reflect cultural influences from Persia and Greece rather than from Enoch and Daniel. Chapters eight and nine depart somewhat from the theme of generic concerns. Collins argues that the fragmentary Hazon Gabriel inscription may indeed represent an apocalyptic vision and that it does attest to expectation of a Davidic messiah late in the first century BCE, but it does not concern a messiah who suffers, dies, and rises. In 4 Ezra Collins perceives a tension between the emerging belief in individual judgment and the book’s commitment to the election of Israel, then grapples with theological and ethical problems attending 4 Ezra’s election theology.
Collins devotes the book’s third part to thematic issues. Surveying a broad range of apocalyptic and related literature, Chapter ten outlines a pervasive longing for a ‘better’ temple in apocalyptic literature. During the Second Temple period, this longing is grounded in dissatisfaction with the present temple; after the First Revolt it reflects the temple’s absence. In either case, apocalyptic literature tends to imagine a new temple, whether in this age or in a heavenly temple come down to earth. Chapter 11’s study of heavenly journeys in pre-Christian Jewish apocalypses reveals developments in the motif. More importantly, however, this survey confirms Collins’s longstanding argument that Jewish ascents all reflect concern with the fate of the dead. Collins presses this point farther in Chapter 12, identifying ‘hope for a differentiated afterlife’ (p. 208) as a key component of the apocalyptic outlook, albeit a hope adapted in response to diverse surrounding cultures.
Part IV takes on questions related to pseudepigraphy. Tracking movements associated with Enoch, Daniel, and Moses, Collins calls attention to how the literary device can contribute to group formation by ‘predicting’ (ex eventu prophecy) a group’s identity and significance (Chapter 13). Chapter 14’s comparison of Enoch and Ezra reveals the sophisticated literary treatment of Ezra, whose point of view undergoes reconfiguration. And Collins regards the Jewish Sibylline Oracles as genuine forgeries, meant to set contemporary Jewish history within a larger sweep of history (Chapter 15).
One might characterize Part V, ‘Ethics and Politics,’ as Collins’s replies to common misconstruals of apocalyptic literature. Chapter 16 shows the diverse social and religious commitments of the apocalypses, especially with respect to the role of Torah. Here Collins replies to proposals for a single outlook common to the apocalypses. In chapter 17, Collins acknowledges the prominent role resistance to empire plays in the apocalypses. Dissenting from Richard A. Horsley, however, he insists that politics does not outrank right living and afterlife hope in the apocalypses’ set of priorities. Chapter 18 is more speculative: Does monotheism lead to violence, as some charge? Eschatological violence in the apocalypses is more likely to discourage violence than to promote it, Collins argues, and apocalyptic dualism tends to qualify monotheism. A final chapter also resists the common tendency to link apocalypticism too directly with violence. Collins acknowledges the desire for violence in the apocalypses, but he also points out that apocalyptic violence serves a cathartic function, that it often aims to foster justice, and that apocalyptic eschatology frequently demonstrates concern for the poor.
As one who works primarily in early Christian literature, I would like to see Collins work beyond the boundaries of ‘apocalyptic literature’ to less literary expressions of apocalyptic discourse as we find in Pauline literature and the Jesus traditions. But of course that is not his purpose.
Collins’s work stands out for its formidable erudition but also for the humility and openness he displays. Collins states his opinions directly, but he frequently acknowledges areas in which his previous work needs further articulation, issues concerning which he has changed his mind, and insights he has gleaned from other interpreters. Few of us will attain his accomplishments, but we can all emulate these virtues.