Thursday, June 24, 2010

El Shaddai and 1 Enoch

THE BOOK OF 1 ENOCH is getting some uncharacteristic attention due to the new computer game El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron:
El Shaddai: Ascension Of The Megatron Breathtaking Debut Trailers
By William Usher: 2010-06-23 14:27:15

The book of Enoch was one of the coolest books of the Bible no one ever got to read in the original KJV. Nevertheless, Ignition Entertainment is taking the missing book of Enoch and turning it into one kick-butt game called El Shaddai.

The book of Enoch is originally what spawned great works like The Divine Comedy, and subsequently, Dante’s Inferno. The new game based on the book follows Enoch’s journey to bring back the soul’s of the original Fallen Angels whose actions ultimately resulted in the great flood.

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Er, it's Metatron, not Megatron. That first sentence is a little garbled too, but I think it means to say (correctly) that the Book of Enoch was not part of the biblical canon found in the King James Version, but it is very cool nonetheless. The book is part of the canon of the Ethiopic Church, but nowhere else.

The second paragraph could use a little clarification as well. Dante's Divine Comedy is not directly inspired by the Book of Enoch, which was lost in the West in his time, apart from a few Byzantine Greek quotations. But Dante was influenced by the apocalyptic traditions ultimately inspired by Enochian and related apocalypses, most directly by the Apocalypse of Paul. The Inferno was the first work in Dante's trilogy, but I take it the author here is referring to the movie Dante's Inferno (which I haven't seen) or to some game I don't know about (maybe this one?).

It seems that El Shaddai involves Enoch trying to help the souls of the imprisoned Watchers, which does at least have some recognizable echoes of the Book of the Watchers in 1 Enoch.

Other accounts of the game are even more confused about the ancient sources and seem to think that the Book of Enoch is part of the Old Testament. Alas, no.

UPDATE: James McGrath points out on Facebook that Megatron is a Transformer.