i.-v. The latest portion, but pre-Christian. Chapter cv, which consists of only two verses, cannot be dated; while cviii. is in the nature of an appendix, probably added subsequently, to the whole work. While these dates may be regarded as approximately correct, it should be pointed out that differences of opinion exist among scholars on the subject. Schürer holds, for example, that, with the exception of chapters xxxvii.-lxxi. (the “Parables,” or “Similitudes”), the entire book belongs to the period 130-100 B.C.; the “Parables” he assigns to a time not earlier than Herod the Great. Beer thinks that the “Dream-Visions” (chapters lxxxiii.-xc.) belong to the time of John Hyrcanus (135-105 B.C.), and he includes under the pre-Maccabæan portions only xci. 12-17, xcii. xciii. 1-14; and holds that the rest of the book was written before 64 B.C. Dalman maintains that it cannot be proved that the important section xxxvii.-lxxi. (the “Similitudes”) is “the product of the pre-Christian period,” though he fully recognizes its Jewish character, Burkitt regards the writer as “almost contemporary” with the philosopher Posidonius (135-51 B.C.). There is thus some diversity of opinion as to the date of the book among leading authorities. That it is, as a whole, pre-Christian, may be regarded as definitely established. More difficult is the question whether any portions of it are pre-Maccabæan; Charles gives various reasons for his belief that considerable parts are pre-Maccabæan; we are inclined to agree with him, though it may be questioned whether the last word on the subject has been spoken. Authorship As the various parts of the book[4] clearly belong to different dates, diversity of authorship is what one is naturally led to expect; and of this there can, indeed, be no shadow of doubt. The author of the earliest portions was a Jew who lived, as Burkitt has shown, in northern Palestine, in the land of Dan, south-west of the Hermon range, near the head-waters of the Jordan. This is important, as it tends to show that the book, or books, is really Palestinian, and one which, therefore, circulated among Jews in Palestine. “If, moreover, the author came from the north, that helps to explain the influence the book had upon the Religion that was cradled in Galilee.”[5] Of the authors of the other three books of which “Enoch” is made up (viz. “The Dream-Visions,” “The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries,” and “The Similitudes”) we know nothing save what can be gathered from their writings as to their religious standpoint.