Dr Anthony Alcock writes to say that he has made a new English translation of the Coptic text of the Apocalypse of Elijah.[1] This is a curious text. There is a fragmentary Jewish version and it was probably rewritten as a Christian apocryphon in the 3rd century A.D. Some have suggested syncretism with ancient Egyptian ideas as well.[2] Charlesworth’s notes on this text may be found at the Early Jewish Writings site here.[3]
Here is a PDF of the new translation.
I think we may all be grateful to Dr Alcock for translating it and making it accessible to us. More please!
- [1]I find a previous translation online here, although I am unclear where this comes from. Charlesworth refers to ↩
- [2]Abstract of paper by Oliver Jackson, here.↩
- [3]From The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, pp. 95-97: “
Two works bear this name and should be distinguished as 1 Elijah and 2 Elijah. The first is extant in Coptic fragments which were edited by G. Steindorff (Die Apokalypse des Elias [TU 17] Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) and translated into English by H. P. Houghton (“The Coptic Apocalypse. Part III, Akhmimice: ‘The Apocalypse of Elias,'” Aegyptus 39 [1959] 179-210). There are also a few minor excerpts and fragments in Greek which are reprinted by A.-M. Denis (no. 23, pp. 103f.). In its present form the pseudepigraphon is Christian and dates from the third century. Most scholars concur that it derives from an earlier Jewish work, and J.-M. Rosenstiehl (no. 706, pp. 9, 75f.) concludes that the Grundschrift was composed in Egypt during the first century B.C.”↩