Enoch the Prophet

In the Book of Moses, part of the Latter-day Saint scriptural canon known as the Pearl of Great Price, are what the Prophet Joseph Smith entitled “extracts from the prophecy of Enoch.” These scriptures, says the eminent LDS scholar Hugh Nibley, “supply us with the most valuable control yet on the bona fides of the Prophet. . . . We are to test. . . . ‘How does it compare with records known to be authentic?’ The excerpts offer the nearest thing to a perfectly foolproof test—neat, clear-cut, and decisive—of Joseph Smith’s claim to inspiration.”

In Enoch the Prophet, Dr. Nibley examines and defends that claim by examining Joseph Smith’s translations in the context of recently discovered apocryphal sources. This second volume in Nibley’s collected works includes four chapters: “Enoch the Prophet,” “The Enoch Figure,” “The Book of Enoch as Theodicy,” and “A Strange Thing in the Land: The Return of the Book of Enoch.”

About the Author

Hugh Nibley

A new "Nibley Library" page is currently under construction that will feature Nibley treasures untold. In the meantime, here's a list of Nibley's contributions to FARMS and the Maxwell Institute over the years. Hugh Nibley was one of the most gifted scholars in the LDS Church. He graduated summa cum laude from UCLA and completed his PhD as a University Fellow at UC Berkeley. He taught at Claremont College in California before serving in military intelligence in World War II. From 1946 until his death in 2005, he was associated with and taught at Brigham Young University.