Bible Review

Gnostic refers to the beliefs and practices of a variety of religious groups that relied on secret knowledge revealed only to a select few. Gnosis is the Greek word for this non-empirical insight.

In English, codex refers to an early handmade book; in Latin, codex means simply “book.”

Plus 13 works in the Supplement of Vol. 2

Relating to the end of time, the eschaton.

Relating to a disclosure of God’s final act in history sometime in the future.

This double dimension of the Nephilim need not disturb us once we understand the essential fluidity of mythological traditions. Just as Goliath can be killed by Elhanan or by David in different stories, so the Nephilim can be destroyed by the Flood or by the conquest. In either case, the semidivine Nephilim are no longer here in the present world. They are “the fallen ones.”

The crucial passage has recently been restored:

“Enki opened his mouth

and addressed Nintu, the birth-goddess,

‘[You], birth-goddess, creatress of destinies,

[create death] for the peoples.’ ”

The Hebrew form ÕeµliÆm is a variant form of ÕeûloµhiÆm, “God.” The -oµh- in ÕeûloµhiÆm is a particle that originally added an emphatic or particularizing quality to the plural form çeµliÆm.