The LDS Story of Enoch as the Culminating Episode of a Temple Text

Authors

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Abstract

The story of Enoch might be understood as the culminating episode in a temple text cycle woven through the Book of Moses in the LDS Pearl of Great Price. A "temple text" is a sacred text that uses ceremony and commandments to allow a person to stand ritually in the presence of God. The Book of Moses reflects elements of temple architecture, furnishings, and ritual in the story of the Creation and the Fall. Like other scripture-based temple texts, the general structure of the second half of the Book of Moses follows a pattern exemplifying faithfulness and unfaithfulness to a specific sequence of covenants that is familiar to members of the LDS Church who have received the temple endowment. The story of Enoch and his people in these latter chapters of the Book of Moses provides a vivid demonstration of the final steps on the path that leads back to God and up to exaltation.

Recommended Citation

Bradshaw, Jeffrey M. (2014) "The LDS Story of Enoch as the Culminating Episode of a Temple Text," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 53: Iss. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol53/iss1/5