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Reflections on the Origins and Impact of the Legend of The Watchers

Beaver, Joseph Norman
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7234-4633
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=walshhonors1619542309062878

Abstract Details

2021, Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, Honors.
Culture and society in the ancient world were shaped by the mythological beliefs of individual civilizations. The Watchers tradition, an Ancient Near Eastern myth present in the Hebrew Bible as well as in non-canonical books such as The Book of the Watchers, contains some of the least understood elements within the mythology of the Jewish people. These sources reveal myths to be dynamic reflections of changing cultural values. Between the first references to the Watchers in Hebrew mythology and their elaboration during the Hellenistic period six centuries later, the Watchers tradition developed from a reference in passing in the Book of Genesis to an in-depth exploration of Good and Evil in The Book of the Watchers. This development warrants discussion, as do its cultural and historic contexts. If the transformation of the Watchers myth was influenced by Jewish experience of Hellenistic rule, that invites further reflection on how the idea of supernatural evil entered into Judaism and would influence the later idea of fallen angels in Western civilization.
Chris Seeman (Advisor)
34 p.
Folklore; History; Literature; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Literature; Regional Studies; Religion
Watchers; Nephilim; Theology; History; Translation; Hellenistic; Literature Review; Symbolic Resistance

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Beaver, J. N. (2021). Reflections on the Origins and Impact of the Legend of The Watchers [Undergraduate thesis, Walsh University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=walshhonors1619542309062878

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Beaver, Joseph. Reflections on the Origins and Impact of the Legend of The Watchers . 2021. Walsh University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=walshhonors1619542309062878.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Beaver, Joseph. "Reflections on the Origins and Impact of the Legend of The Watchers ." Undergraduate thesis, Walsh University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=walshhonors1619542309062878

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

walshhonors1619542309062878
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This open access ETD is published by Walsh University Honors Theses and OhioLINK.