It is a commonplace of scholarship on the epistle of Jude to lament the neglect from which the letter has suffered. However, despite the relative obscurity of the subject, a substantial number of commentaries do exist, and the major problems surrounding the epistle are clear: the nature of the heretics against whom the letter was directed, the relationship between Jude and II Peter, and the identity of the author – along with the related question of chronology. There is no unanimity in the literature, but the solutions proposed by Douglas Rowston represent a convincing resolution of the available evidence. He defines the heresy which prompted the letter as an anti-nomian gnosticism, a ‘lively libertinism’, interprets Jude as a source for II Peter, and attributes the letter to a Hellenized individual, conversant with Jewish literature, who wrote under the pseudonym of the Lord's brother in order to give his message apostolic weight in the post-apostolic age. Rowston accepts Werderman's approximate date of A.D. 80.

Amongst the many incidental issues raised by J. T. Milik in his edition of the Aramaic fragments of Enoch from Qumran1 that of the date of the Parables of Enoch is perhaps one of the most important. Although there has never been anything approaching a consensus as to the exact date of this work, I would think it fair to say that many scholars in this century, if not the majority, have taken the view that the Parables are Jewish in origin; many have also argued that they date from before A.D. 70.2 Milik's view that the Parables are Christian and date from around A.D. 270 has such enormous implications for our understanding of the development of intertestamental Judaism and of the use of the term ‘Son of Man’ in the gospels that it demands very careful consideration. It also suggests that the evidence on which the Jewish origin and pre-A.D. 70 dating has been based needs to be re-examined.

II Corinthians xii. 1–1O gives us a glimpse into the life of Paul the visionary and the resurgence of interest in transcendental experiences has brought new attention to Paul's experience of the third heaven. Research into drug-induced experiences sheds no greater light on Paul's account but, as might be expected, relating the episode to ‘charismatic’ experiences has proved more fruitful.

The parable of the scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven Most commentators who have attempted to analyse the structure of Matthew xiii have argued that in this chapter the evangelist has deliberately brought together seven parables,1 seven being one of his favourite numbers. This view, however, deserves to be questioned, since, although it has often not been recognized as such, the saying about the scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven in υ. 52 was probably intended by Matthew to be regarded as a parable. He thus has eight parables, not seven.2