Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, one of the most prominent economists of the world, in his widely known book, the End of Poverty, published last year, gives us a lengthy assessment how he could deal with Third World's poverty, especially that of Africa. Though I had read the book long ago, I did not have the opportunity to take my pen and give some critical remarks. Some of my countrymen have given their comments about the merits and the demerits of the book.
I thought, however, that it is still worth to give certain critical remarks on my side, which were not raised and discussed by them. Since I have been dealing with development economics for a long time which is a very erroneous and very misguiding field, I dear to say that I could have some illuminating idea that could open new avenue of development for our country which is the victim of poor understanding of human civilization, which has been practiced by Western educated technocrats, neo-colonial economic policy which has been practiced since the last five decades, and global economic order which is setup by Capitalist countries.
Due to his prominent position as a Professor in one of the best universities in the world, and a close adviser of the General Secretary of the United Nations, Mr. Koffi Annan, Prof. Sachs will have great influence on many governments of the Third World countries when he writes such a book.
The End of Poverty is a very lengthy analysis from a classical and neo-classical point of view which encompasses the most known facts, that poor people are poor because they are poor, and lack of saving vis-à-vis capital one of the causes of poverty, which are seen by most neo-liberal economists of our day who have great impacts in shaping our mode of thoughts and handlings.
In his approach of finding the real causes of poverty, Prof. Sachs uses as a methodology the differential diagnosis, which he has borrowed from medical science.
In his belief this is the only methodological approach to detect and study the real causes of the problem of poverty and give remedy once-for-all to eradicate underdevelopment. In order to come to a once-for-all panacea of alleviating poverty, he takes as an example the economic situations of Europe during the middle ages, and how Europe had overcome successfully poverty and dieses and developed science and technology which enables her to dominate the world.
For Europe to dominate the world technologically, Prof. Sachs sees that Europe has the ability or the opportunity which enable her to increase production and income and not because Europe or America have exploited the rest of the world. For the great success of technological revolution in Europe, especially in Great Britain,
Prof. Sachs is of the opinion that the openness of the English society and its favorable institutions are the main factors which enabled her to break itself from old norms which have arrested economic development for a long time. With no doubt the more open a society and its institutions are, people could emancipate themselves from old values and become the master of technology which is the basis of further development.
The openness of a given society depends on a variety of factors. Some individuals who see better than others that their society could not live any more by extolling old values and social orders which hamper technological innovation bring new ideas to illuminate the minds of the ruling classes or certain strata of the population. When certain groups who are enlightened enough are challenging old values and determined to introduce new norms and work methods which could serve as engine of social and economic development, the road to progress and social emancipation will be enhanced.
In this case the English society had the privilege to have very good institutions, not only in the late Middle Ages but also during the early feudal ages which helped it to introduce new social norms that could slowly eradicate old values and pave the way for creative activities based on individual freedom.
More than that: to take technological lead the favorable atmosphere of the English society during the 16th century and later on had invited many leading handy craft specialists from Antwerp and Italy and other European countries which enabled Great Britain to diffuse all these ideas which came from other countries.
In addition to this the education system which was solely based on rhetoric, language and philosophy, which was normal during that time in some European countries, opened the minds of the English society which is the basis of intellectual development of various sorts. This combined with the above factors have enabled the English society to break up itself from darkness and march towards technological mastery. The renaissance of the 14th and the 15th century had also great impacts in raising the cognitive powers of not only the English society but also most European countries which was more expressed in city buildings.
Far trade through which many innovative ideas came and the unequal exchange trade which were later on understood as the main causes of further accumulation had strengthened the economic basis of not only the English society but also many European counties. As Great Britain understood that extended capital accumulation was only possible when other nations became the sources of raw materials and agricultural products, it developed different devises to undermine development efforts in other countries.
Hence the development of the theory of International trade accentuated by liberal ideas is seen as the main engine of economic development in all countries. Adam Smith, and later on David Ricardo had developed the theory of absolute and comparative advantages successively to cement the English supremacy in technological fields and block innovations in other countries. Especially, Adam Smith fought the idea of mercantilism which until the 17th century enabled many absolutist states in Europe to develop home market by supporting active balance payment policies and through encouraging manufacture activities without which the idea of Europe as we see it today could not be formed and control the world.
The education system could not only open the minds of the English society; the society became also the real breeding ground of empiricist idea which poisoned many intellectuals in Europe and was systematically fought by Leibniz and others who were emerged in the footsteps of Plato and Cusanus, who saw in it the danger of egoism and continuous war.
More than other European countries some English intellectuals, like Hobbes, Locke, and other empiricists had understood to develop their own version of understanding the human mind and how they could manipulate it so that it could become the victim of oligarchic rules. Accordingly, human beings act and direct their behaviors by bringing forth their built-in egoistic motives which is the deriving force of maximizing their wishes or needs. Hence human needs are unlimited.
As Hobbes said individuals who are not guided by the motives of utility maximization behave like animals. On the other hand Leibniz believed that human beings are rational beings and could develop new ideas to shape their own fate. In order that they could behave and handle rationally, and see themselves as part of a given society they must be taught not by empiricist idea but by real idea which can be investigated by means of dialectics.
Starting the 17th century on wards we witness that there is an intense struggle between these schools of thoughts, namely those who uphold the idea of empiricism, first developed by the Greek Sophists, and by philosophers who believed that every human being is endowed by birth with idea, which is the source of true knowledge.
The clear understanding of the differences of these two schools of thought is the basis of any social and economic development. Without understanding these two divergent ideas, one cannot grasp the essence of economic underdevelopment in so many African countries, and the global economic order which is absorbing human and material resources to enrich few nations, and dislocating millions of people from their natural habitats by destroying their long history and culture.
The question why Europe could achieve industrial development and successfully dominate the world technologically cannot be understood in a manner as Adam Smith tries to teach us which Prof. Sachs quotes.
The so-called invisible hand and the division of labour of Adam Smith are outcomes of long historical and social processes which are unique in the European social formations. One cannot depict the achievement of Europe in the field of science and technology without tracing Europe's history to that of the Greek and the Egyptian civilization.
In this case Europe is the child of the Egyptian and the Greek civilization without which the concept of Europe as we see it today could not have been successful. As historical investigations prove that the transmission of the Greek knowledge which is borrowed from Egypt and philosophically improved to alleviate the cognitive power of the European mind in order to let it the Master of Science and technology was brought by the Arabs and the Jews to the then backward and impoverished Europe.
Thanks to the great efforts of Arab philosophers that had interpreted the Greek literatures into Latin which became the foundations of European civilization.
Various philosophers and Churchmen who came to the political scene after the 5th century A.D had intensively studied the secret of the Greek philosophy and fought in their capacity to change man's attitude towards nature and God. The appearance of critical minded Churchmen who were opposing the omnipotence of the catholic religion, which until the end of the middle ages had arrested the minds of the European people and made it the victim of disease and darkness, is very crucial indeed in changing the European society.
The revolt from within the church on one side, and the power struggle between the Monarchs and the Popes on the other hand at various times had given air to the development of different attitudes and began eroding the power structure of the clergy. City buildings starting the 13th century on wards and the concentration of people in certain areas and the rapid growth of hand craft activities and trade which culminated into the division of labour had by itself helped the emergence of new scientific ideas. Hence the Copernican revolution which was followed by those scientists like Galileo Galilee and others had totally changed the minds of the European society.
The 14th and the 15th century of renaissance which came to the scene by opposing darkness and poverty had illuminated the European mind and taught it that man is capable of changing his environment when he is scientifically guided. The reappearance of the Greek civilization was a new challenge to the then socially rigid European society which gave him new power to be ruled not any more by old norms and values which made him the victim of natural calamities but by reason and rational ideas.
The introduction of mathematical idea and the quantification of productive activities and registering them orderly give the European people the power of controlling nature. Nature is seen the source of everything which could be utilized in the proper way when the human mind nurtured with true knowledge. Hence man cannot be any more the victim of natural disorder but its master when he is equipped with true knowledge. Though we could witness that there were diverse ideas which were opposing diametrically in interpreting the development of idea, the reappearance of the Greek civilization is the clue of the success of European civilization.
Beginning the 16th century, the competition among the different European nations and the birth of the concept of the idea of nation-state gave the European people a unique dynamism which brought them together to live under one rule and law. Absolute states were determined to destroy everything which was barrier to nation-state building. They broke the old feudal and local administration structures which were obstacles to social movements from one region to the other; paved the way for the free movement of capital and labour.
They had destroyed all forms of internal regulations and taxes which were seen as the main hindrances for the emerging of home market. Only by effectively introducing new administration mechanisms which were supportive of market economic principles the development of the division of labour and it’s strengthening became fastened. Absolute Monarchies of the 16th and 17th centuries were aware of the need of constantly modifying their administration structures which they believed could improve technological development.
As the division of labour became the main engine of technological development, and the necessary of trade became as the main mechanism of fastening the valorization of capital, a new and dynamic class which was highly motivated and culturally advanced became to the political scene which began challenging the old orders. The intermarriage of different classes and the diffusion of ideas gave new dynamism which by itself paved the way to a coherent idea.
On the other side to read the economic development of Europe as a smooth process without social exploitation and peasant upheaval like Adam Smith had tried to teach us could not be compatible to the real social processes which had molded the European society, especially that of the English. More than other continents of the world, the economic exploitation of the masses in most European economies is well documented; and without the primitive accumulation of the masses which was extended to child labour, capital accumulation which helped economic development could not be understood.
The uniqueness of the European feudal social structure, which is well analyzed by the well known European historians, and which was not found in other social formations was a factor by itself for the disintegration of the system and pave the way for the capitalistic production system. The European serfdom which was known for its very exploitative nature was challenged by the peasant movements in most European countries, and the peasants gained bargaining power which improved their social status.
The introduction of far trade activities and the accumulation of money capital in the hands of the merchants and the debt mechanism which had arrested the feudal and the aristocratic class had loosened the social fabrics of the feudal system in Europe. The putting-out system which enabled the merchant class to dictate the hand craft activities of the rural population, and the improvement of technologies and hence production activities which enabled better productivity of consumption goods is a unique phenomena which could not be found in Africa or Asia.
Adding to this, allocation of slave labour for road building and city construction, and the flow of ideas among the different European countries had by itself helped raise the cultural activities of the masses. Without well-designed cities and without market halls and places the exchange of goods and services were practically impossible. Without allocating mass labour which is unique in the European history we could not have seen such gigantic cities and cathedrals.
These and the above factors have great impacts in shaping the economic development of Europe and the development of the social division of labour which was highlighted by Adam Smith but not taken as prerequisite for the development of technological and social division of labour. The fact that technological innovations and economic development were seen beyond the scope of time and space are one of the characteristic features in Smith's illustrations of the division of labour.
We could witness from this brief analysis that the unique social formation in the European history, and the intellectual and the social movements which Europe had the privilege to raise itself above other nations, and the development of idea which is emanated from the human mind, and which was well understood by the European intellectuals of the 14th to the 17th century were the main driving factors for the introduction of a science driven technological development in the European society.
The intellectual movement which is unique to the European society and the diffusion of diverse ideas and the scientific arguments forwarded by the different scholars to enhance their views gave a unique impetus to technological development. This is being the case, in areas where feudal social orders were the rule of the system, and social movements were restricted, the introduction of new technology and the break up of feudal administration structures were necessary factors which paved the way for industrialization.
Through the mirror of technological developments in Europe during the last 200 years, Prof. Sachs tries to investigate the causes of poverty in many African countries by applying differential diagnosis as means of detecting economic underdevelopment.
According to Prof. Sachs there are eight major factors which are the causes of poverty and underdevelopment in Africa. If one takes one by one and examines them most of the points are simply neo-liberal repetitions, and are effects and not the causes of poverty and real underdevelopment. The mysterious thing is how poverty becomes the cause of economic stagnation is not clear; though economic stagnation or technological backwardness by itself could be one of the main causes of poverty.
Again, if one applies the methodology of dialectical investigation, there are other factors which could be the causes of economic underdevelopment and poverty. Demographic problems, physical geography and the special climatic conditions which are exceptions of many tropical countries could in some way or the other hamper social developments if they are not tackled systematically and scientifically, and as such could not be the main causes of underdevelopment.
If we look at the history of Europe, especially during the middle and late Middle Ages, most European countries were breeding grounds of mosquitoes. Only drying the breeding grounds of mosquitoes, and plastered the earth with special stones and building well designed cities and market places, mosquitoes could disappear from most European countries. In the 1950s the Chinese did the same thing while they turned down the advices of European governments to spread DDT, which they saw clearly that DDT could not eradicate Malaria.
In this case, special climatic conditions which favored such kinds of Insects, when treated scientifically will be controlled and their total disappearance is a matter of further scientific investigation. From this perspective if we examine the situations in many African counties in the last 50 years, simply spreading DDT could not eradicate mosquitoes. We witness that mosquitoes have the ability to adapt themselves to DDT and could not be simply victimized by such measures.
Since most African governments are indifferent to scientifically based social and economic development and since they do not have any social responsibility they resort every time to old methods to tackle such kinds of Insects which hamper social progress. As Prof. Sachs and others are forwarding that mosquitoes could not be eradicated from the African soil by simply distributing bed nets.
In his analysis, Prof. Sachs tells us that through his new method of differential diagnosis he found the real causes of poverty and at the same time the instruments by which one could systematically eradicate poverty. Though he tells us here and there that he has gone through development theories, he has completely ignored all the theoretical debates of the 1950s to the 1980s which had great impacts in shaping development models in many Third World countries, and had failed for various reasons.
First of all the transformation of the European feudal society to capitalism, which were well studied and analysed by European and American economic historians are not of great concern for Prof. Sachs, though such kinds of discussions are parts of development economics and should not be rejected or neglected out rightly as if they did not take place. Secondly, the modernization theory which has focused on the problem of traditional societies and how one could overcome backwardness by means of growth poll which could be trickled down and overwhelms the entire society should had been discussed at length.
Thirdly, the answer to this modernization came especially from Third World Economists who have profound knowledge of European economic history. Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin, Arghiri Emmanuel, etc. to mention some, and the French structural school, mainly represented by Althuser and Balibar and other highly educated anthropologists with field work experiences, have influenced the development/underdevelopment debate.
Prof. Sachs ignores these facts, though they are parts of the economic development theory and obligations to be visited by development theory students. The above intellectuals have demonstrated well how Europe had exploited Africa, first of all through colonial trade by subjugating African peasants to specialize in certain agricultural products which are designed for European markets.
By building infrastructures to promote export products, the European colonialists have systematically sabotaged the development of the home market in many African countries. Extracting activities had connections to the mother countries, and could not serve as the basis of further capital accumulation from within. In addition to this the banking activities which were centered in many colonial cities had the purpose of financing trade and not industries and technological development in various African countries. These factors hampered economic development and disintegrated the African society.
Even more, the colonial administrations had destructed the divisions of labour which had existed until the arrival of colonialists, and the labour force was allocated in selected areas which are vital for European capital accumulation. With this the creative activity of the Africans came to a halt, and the exchange of commodities among Africans became very restricted.
To grasp more over the causes of poverty and the underdevelopment of the African economy, I try to analyse seven fundamental aspects which I think are very decisive indeed that have arrested economic and social developments in many African countries.
I. The absence of renaissance as a factor: first and foremost Africa was cut from the intellectual movements of Europe which has been going at least since the beginning of the 15th century. As I have tried to analyse above without studying the secret of the Greek civilization economic and social developments in Europe could not have been conceivable.
After the dark ages, the renaissance movement which was started in Italy could be expanded else where in other European countries and create favourable situations for wider intellectual discussions and social movements. While Greek knowledge moved towards Europe through different mechanisms and routs, Africa did not have the chance to participate in the intellectual discussions of Europe, though Africa was the source of the Greek civilization. As Greek philosophers have persistently taught us that the sources of knowledge and intellectual movement is to engage in scientific dialogs by upholding idea as the true source of knowledge.
II. Slave trade as a factor: slave trade which was started first of all by the Portuguese merchants and overtaken by Spain and other European countries had totally annihilated the social structures of many African countries. Estimations show that 30 to 90 million Africans were transported to oversee. While old men, women and children remained in their native countries, men with special knowledge who had developed wide range activities until the arrival of slave trade who were the basis of social and economic transformation were uprooted.
The negative consequence of this uprooting is the destruction of the social and the technological division of labour which many African countries had developed until the 15th century. Until today Africa could not be hilled from the wounds of this barbaric uprooting.
III. Colonialism as a factor: colonialism is the logical extension of slavery which had the power of undermining and extinction the remaining social and technological division of labour to hold down Africa permanently as the source of raw materials for capitalist accumulation in Europe.
As colonialism took firm positions in the African soil, Africans were compelled to abandon their long work practices and specializations, and were allocated in plantation activities which were designed for European markets. The colonial administration had the purpose to facilitate this mass exploitation and control the social movements of the African society.
IV. The post colonial structure as a factor: post colonial administration structures and the so called political independent had extended the old division of labour by means of new mechanisms which have deepened Africa's underdevelopment and poverty. After the Second World War, and after the new economic arrangements, dictated by the new emerging Imperial power, the United States of America, Africa was practically cut from participating in the world technological developments which is the basis of true social transformations.
In order to bind Africa into the new emerging international division of labour and trade, the African social transformation become a unique case which can be dealt by means of import-substitution-industrialization which is a part and parcel of the so-called modernization theory. The import-substitution-industrialization which is not based on machine-tool industries is entirely dependent for its reproduction on imported inputs, and as such it is vulnerable for internal and outside shocks.
It is not organically linked to the rest of the economic sectors; and has a very limited accumulation effect. The fact that it is detached from research and development, its capacity to expand and encompass the traditional economic sector, and transforms it to a dynamic economic sector is heavily restricted.
In the absence of development and research, and in the absence of machine-tool industries it is practically impossible to produce a coherent economic structure which could operate like a human body. Such an industry must inevitably push those economic forces in areas where the turnover of capital is very quick but the accumulation base and hence the multiplier effect is very limited.
This is the case in many African countries where import-substitution-industrialization has been taken as the only viable policy which could modernize the African economy. From this vantage point of view if we see the import-substitution-industrialization and the modernization policies, they are mechanisms of controlling the African economises not to take their natural paths. The consequence of such policies is as we see it today to destroy and to disturb the minds of the Africans by reducing them to the status of that of cattle.
Africans are not created to build well-designed cities; they cannot develop science and technology and must remain as animals without any social order and harmony which governs their handlings and gives them the capacity of creating new ideas. The school systems are special mechanisms which darkens the minds of the African elite not to see the world of science and technology and at the same time the world of aesthetic beyond once own lives.
V. The omnipotent state as a factor: the characteristic feature of the state in various African countries is that it lacks any theoretical and philosophical foundations by which it could organize the society around certain principles. In order that any society could exit as a society and reproduce itself economically and socially it needs certain philosophical frame works which serve as guidelines that bring the society together so that it could work in unison to build a dynamic and strong society.
From this point of view the state apparatus in all African countries which became independent in the 60s could not play as instrument of capitalist accumulation by creating favourable conditions for those dynamic forces from within. Since the state apparatus was moulded and structured by the colonial masters its mission was to distort internal accumulation and create conditions for the outflow of wealth to the capitalist centre. The indirect control of the African state structures by foreign forces and the incoherency of the state from within create an atmosphere of fear and suspicion among those forces that control the state apparatus.
Different foreign secret services that operate in various African countries to destabilize Africa use the various elements of the countries concerned to concentrate their work in information gathering rather than fulfil their constitutional duty for which they have sworn. Hence the bureaucratic apparatus must be strengthened to suppress democratic processes which are essential for the free flow of ideas and creative activity.
Foreign forces could fulfill their satanic mission only through the omnipotent state apparatus which they finance and advise. In this manner the state machines in all African countries serve as instrument of suppression rather than building a cultured economy which is based on science and technology.
On the other side if we see the role of the capitalist states starting the 16th century we witness that the state had progressive roles in creating conditions which favored internal accumulation. Without the intervention of the state capitalist accumulation and hence the development of science and technology could not have been developed as we see it today. After the Second World War all capitalist countries must continue to support internal accumulation by creating new devices, where as African governments are advised not to take any measure which could strengthen the economic base of their society.
The intervention of the state in the economy is seen as sin where as state intervention in all major capitalist countries become the exclusive rights of European governments. Such insane attitudes in many African countries have reduced the role of the state purely as instrument of suppression and internal economic distortion which canalizes wealth to the capitalist countries.
The political situation in Ethiopia is a vivid example why the civilized West sticks to the Meles regime, though the regime of Meles is engaged in mass killings and torture.
The country is turned to a play ground of Economic Hit Men which distort economic performance of the country by giving false advises. The acceptance of the regime the structural adjustment program (SAP) and its materialization, and its full fledged promises to introduce a market economy which is completely detached from science and technology, and the mafia type system which is spread within the circle of the state apparatus, and which is well financed by the World Bank and the IMF and certain Western governments is a clear example how Economic Hit Men are trying everything to hold Ethiopia down as a country which produces and reproduces poverty on a higher scale.
The expansion of flower plantation by Western firms and their engagements in those areas where they can make quick profits are examples why they are not ready to allow any democratic changes in Ethiopia. The EPRDF government is purely a puppet regime of imperialist forces which are waging direct war against the Ethiopian people so that they do not enjoy true freedom by developing science and technology.
It is therefore foolish to believe that the West will loose the control it has gained without gaining any guarantee from the opposition forces.
VI. The absence of intellectual discourse as a factor: we know that from the Greek philosophical discourse and dialectical method of conversation one could develop science if a society is engaged in intellectual discourse. Scientific discourses and hypothesis building are the basis of a science driven technological development.
The true understanding of the source of knowledge and the divergent ideas that had been developed by various schools of thought over the last 3000 years are the basis of any society if it could sustain as a society and make history in the true sense of the word. Any society must question itself what is the meaning of life in this world, from where it comes, what it is doing in this world, and where it is heading.
A society that does not pose such kinds of questions, its sustainability as a full functioning society will remain vague, and it does not understand in which direction it is marching. From this perspective the school systems in Africa lack any philosophical foundations. Colonial masters and their successors have deliberately formulated a school system which could arrest the minds of the students.
They have imposed a system which is not self reflective, and block any meaningful scientific discourse. A society which is not self-reflective, and can not questions the meanings of various policies it will be easily manipulated by outside forces. At the end such a society produces and reproduces gangster like politicians that sell their countries for foreign forces. This is what we see and witness in the present day Africa.
VII. Incoherent economic policy as a factor: the different policies followed after the modernization theories are nothing other than cementing the existing international division of labour and confusing the African society.
Whether the basic needs approach strategy, the Green Revolution or the Structural adjustment program that are mainly outlined by the World Bank and the IMF are seen as the real panacea for the African economic crises are nothing other than extending the old system of exploitation by adjusting the African economies to the changing international order which began in the beginning of the 70s and intensified in the 80s. Structural adjustment programs have the sole purpose of absorbing the African resources via debt mechanisms and intensify unequal trade where as Europe and America become richer and richer.
The known austerity program of the IMF, which is simply stated as unscientific by Prof. Sachs but could not be analysed further is another attempt of distorting the monetary mechanisms of the banking sector. According to the philosophy of the IMF, money must be drawn away from those unproductive social forces and allocated to those productive forces which behave like capitalists.
The true purpose of this policy is nothing other than strangulating the economy by cutting it from its monetary base and allocating the meagre resource to the export sector so that the African economies become more and more outward oriented.
As we see in the last 20 or more years by applying the bitter medicine of the IMF and the World Bank the African economies become more and more dependent on outside aid, and become strangulated so that Africa rotates within the vicious circles of debt mechanism, dependent on few exportable goods, which are becoming meaningless every year, and chaotic administration structures which become more and more suppressive and submissive to the outside forces.
Prof. Sachs criticizes here and there why politics and bad governance cannot explain the African underdevelopment and poverty. In this case he attacks both the rights and the lefts for their focusing exclusively on politics to explain the causes of the African poverty through the mirror of political discourse.
It is amazing how Prof. Sachs understands politics, though starting three thousand years the human social and economic development evolves around politics. The first Greek state men and philosophers had seen in politics the real mechanism in shaping social affairs. That is why they had studied in depth the meaning of metaphysics and its relation to politics.
Accordingly, only those who are guided by philosophical and rational principles have the capacity to give wise leadership and play historical roles in shaping a harmonious and developed society. On the other side those who lack these principles they rely solely on pure power and permanent war which ultimately destroy the society they govern.
Those who control state apparatus and hence shape politics have the ability to determine the movements of the different social forces within their boundaries. According to their social consciousness and understanding of the role of human beings political leaders either destroy the basis of the social reproduction capacities of their society or design them in such a way so that innovation, social reproduction and capital accumulation based on science and technology grow permanently.
Without politics and understanding the role of politics in shaping the social destiny of any given society, a society cannot exist as a social reproduction force where arts, city buildings, technological development and further innovation take place to sustain that particular society. Only politics, as the concentration of social process and an arena of ideological and economic struggle has the capacity in shaping the social well being of a given society or destroying it. In this case politics in many African counties cannot be the exception.
In order to understand the political roles of successive African governments and their leaders, one cannot see their handlings and their methodologies outside the scope of the colonial past, and the education system by which they are brought up, and the social formation in which they grew up. Though Africa had brilliant leaders, these leaders were chased and killed by Western intelligent services and their henchmen from within.
All the attempted murders and coup d` état were nothing but to prevent Africa from technological developments and science and to hold it down as permanent house of producing and reproducing poverty on a higher scale. All wars which have been taking in the last three or more decades on the African soil are wars orchestrated by the Western civilized states to destabilize Africa.
The economic policies of the IMF and the World Bank, and their applications by those Economic Hit Men as put by John Perkins in his well illuminating analysis demonstrates clearly how Africa and the rest of the Third World countries are being destroyed by those satanic forces who enjoy when they see that a part of humanity is permanently languishing under poverty and disease.
The globalization of the world economy which has been going since the last 15 years is worsening the economic and social situation of many African countries, and cannot be enlightened as Prof. Sachs makes us believe since by it self is the causes of permanent economic crises and destabilization. After all, how can such a system have the mission of enlightenment when its ideological tenet is neo-liberalism which is the antithesis of a science driven technological development.
After he has studied the causes of poverty through the mirror of his differential diagnosis Prof. Sachs came to the conclusion that poverty can be eliminated from the African soil if Western governments see it as their own problem and make efforts to help Africa.
The millennium 2015 is a part of this global attempt to reduce and eradicate poverty from the African soil. Only through the blessing attempts of donor countries is the hope and aspirations of millions of Africans lies. According to the belief of Prof. Sachs to think that Africa could come out of poverty by itself is not imaginable.
Though one cannot doubt the good intention of Prof. Sachs, to think that Western governments and their sophisticated institutions could solve the African economic crises is silly wise indeed, and at the same time an insult to the millions of Africans who become the victim of the global economic disorder instituted after the Second World War.
When Western capitalist countries are the problem of economic disequilibrium on the global scale and the causes of mass exodus by appropriating the African wealth how could they eradicate poverty from the African soil? Since
Prof. Sachs tries to analyze the economic crises of Africa from a false paradigm he must reach such kind of a conclusion which cannot be materialized. Even if part of it sees the light of the day this leads to more dependency and economic colonization. The policies which he had forwarded to Poland in the beginning of the 90s, to Bolivia to end hyperinflation and which it h
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, one of the most prominent economists of the world, in his widely known book, the End of Poverty, published last year, gives us a lengthy assessment how he could deal with Third World's poverty, especially that of Africa.
Though I had read the book long ago, I did not have the opportunity to take my pen and give some critical remarks. Some of my countrymen have given their comments about the merits and the demerits of the book. I thought, however, that it is still worth to give certain critical remarks on my side, which were not raised and discussed by them.
Since I have been dealing with development economics for a long time which is a very erroneous and very misguiding field, I dear to say that I could have some illuminating idea that could open new avenue of development for our country which is the victim of poor understanding of human civilization, which has been practiced by Western educated technocrats, neo-colonial economic policy which has been practiced since the last five decades, and global economic order which is setup by Capitalist countries.
Due to his prominent position as a Professor in one of the best universities in the world, and a close adviser of the General Secretary of the United Nations, Mr. Koffi Annan, Prof. Sachs will have great influence on many governments of the Third World countries when he writes such a book.
The End of Poverty is a very lengthy analysis from a classical and neo-classical point of view which encompasses the most known facts, that poor people are poor because they are poor, and lack of saving vis-à-vis capital one of the causes of poverty, which are seen by most neo-liberal economists of our day who have great impacts in shaping our mode of thoughts and handlings.
In his approach of finding the real causes of poverty, Prof. Sachs uses as a methodology the differential diagnosis, which he has borrowed from medical science.
In his belief this is the only methodological approach to detect and study the real causes of the problem of poverty and give remedy once-for-all to eradicate underdevelopment. In order to come to a once-for-all panacea of alleviating poverty, he takes as an example the economic situations of Europe during the middle ages, and how Europe had overcome successfully poverty and dieses and developed science and technology which enables her to dominate the world.
For Europe to dominate the world technologically, Prof. Sachs sees that Europe has the ability or the opportunity which enable her to increase production and income and not because Europe or America have exploited the rest of the world.
For the great success of technological revolution in Europe, especially in Great Britain, Prof. Sachs is of the opinion that the openness of the English society and its favorable institutions are the main factors which enabled her to break itself from old norms which have arrested economic development for a long time. With no doubt the more open a society and its institutions are, people could emancipate themselves from old values and become the master of technology which is the basis of further development.
The openness of a given society depends on a variety of factors. Some individuals who see better than others that their society could not live any more by extolling old values and social orders which hamper technological innovation bring new ideas to illuminate the minds of the ruling classes or certain strata of the population. When certain groups who are enlightened enough are challenging old values and determined to introduce new norms and work methods which could serve as engine of social and economic development, the road to progress and social emancipation will be enhanced.
In this case the English society had the privilege to have very good institutions, not only in the late Middle Ages but also during the early feudal ages which helped it to introduce new social norms that could slowly eradicate old values and pave the way for creative activities based on individual freedom. More than that: to take technological lead the favorable atmosphere of the English society during the 16th century and later on had invited many leading handy craft specialists from Antwerp and Italy and other European countries which enabled Great Britain to diffuse all these ideas which came from other countries.
In addition to this the education system which was solely based on rhetoric, language and philosophy, which was normal during that time in some European countries, opened the minds of the English society which is the basis of intellectual development of various sorts. This combined with the above factors have enabled the English society to break up itself from darkness and march towards technological mastery. The renaissance of the 14th and the 15th century had also great impacts in raising the cognitive powers of not only the English society but also most European countries which was more expressed in city buildings.
Far trade through which many innovative ideas came and the unequal exchange trade which were later on understood as the main causes of further accumulation had strengthened the economic basis of not only the English society but also many European counties. As Great Britain understood that extended capital accumulation was only possible when other nations became the sources of raw materials and agricultural products, it developed different devises to undermine development efforts in other countries.
Hence the development of the theory of International trade accentuated by liberal ideas is seen as the main engine of economic development in all countries. Adam Smith, and later on David Ricardo had developed the theory of absolute and comparative advantages successively to cement the English supremacy in technological fields and block innovations in other countries. Especially, Adam Smith fought the idea of mercantilism which until the 17th century enabled many absolutist states in Europe to develop home market by supporting active balance payment policies and through encouraging manufacture activities without which the idea of Europe as we see it today could not be formed and control the world.
The education system could not only open the minds of the English society; the society became also the real breeding ground of empiricist idea which poisoned many intellectuals in Europe and was systematically fought by Leibniz and others who were emerged in the footsteps of Plato and Cusanus, who saw in it the danger of egoism and continuous war.
More than other European countries some English intellectuals, like Hobbes, Locke, and other empiricists had understood to develop their own version of understanding the human mind and how they could manipulate it so that it could become the victim of oligarchic rules. Accordingly, human beings act and direct their behaviors by bringing forth their built-in egoistic motives which is the deriving force of maximizing their wishes or needs. Hence human needs are unlimited. As Hobbes said individuals who are not guided by the motives of utility maximization behave like animals. On the other hand Leibniz believed that human beings are rational beings and could develop new ideas to shape their own fate.
In order that they could behave and handle rationally, and see themselves as part of a given society they must be taught not by empiricist idea but by real idea which can be investigated by means of dialectics. Starting the 17th century on wards we witness that there is an intense struggle between these schools of thoughts, namely those who uphold the idea of empiricism, first developed by the Greek Sophists, and by philosophers who believed that every human being is endowed by birth with idea, which is the source of true knowledge.
The clear understanding of the differences of these two schools of thought is the basis of any social and economic development. Without understanding these two divergent ideas, one cannot grasp the essence of economic underdevelopment in so many African countries, and the global economic order which is absorbing human and material resources to enrich few nations, and dislocating millions of people from their natural habitats by destroying their long history and culture.
The question why Europe could achieve industrial development and successfully dominate the world technologically cannot be understood in a manner as Adam Smith tries to teach us which Prof. Sachs quotes. The so-called invisible hand and the division of labour of Adam Smith are outcomes of long historical and social processes which are unique in the European social formations. One cannot depict the achievement of Europe in the field of science and technology without tracing Europe's history to that of the Greek and the Egyptian civilization.
In this case Europe is the child of the Egyptian and the Greek civilization without which the concept of Europe as we see it today could not have been successful. As historical investigations prove that the transmission of the Greek knowledge which is borrowed from Egypt and philosophically improved to alleviate the cognitive power of the European mind in order to let it the Master of Science and technology was brought by the Arabs and the Jews to the then backward and impoverished Europe.
Thanks to the great efforts of Arab philosophers that had interpreted the Greek literatures into Latin which became the foundations of European civilization. Various philosophers and Churchmen who came to the political scene after the 5th century A.D had intensively studied the secret of the Greek philosophy and fought in their capacity to change man's attitude towards nature and God. The appearance of critical minded Churchmen who were opposing the omnipotence of the catholic religion, which until the end of the middle ages had arrested the minds of the European people and made it the victim of disease and darkness, is very crucial indeed in changing the European society.
The revolt from within the church on one side, and the power struggle between the Monarchs and the Popes on the other hand at various times had given air to the development of different attitudes and began eroding the power structure of the clergy. City buildings starting the 13th century on wards and the concentration of people in certain areas and the rapid growth of hand craft activities and trade which culminated into the division of labour had by itself helped the emergence of new scientific ideas.
Hence the Copernican revolution which was followed by those scientists like Galileo Galilee and others had totally changed the minds of the European society. The 14th and the 15th century of renaissance which came to the scene by opposing darkness and poverty had illuminated the European mind and taught it that man is capable of changing his environment when he is scientifically guided. The reappearance of the Greek civilization was a new challenge to the then socially rigid European society which gave him new power to be ruled not any more by old norms and values which made him the victim of natural calamities but by reason and rational ideas.
The introduction of mathematical idea and the quantification of productive activities and registering them orderly give the European people the power of controlling nature. Nature is seen the source of everything which could be utilized in the proper way when the human mind nurtured with true knowledge. Hence man cannot be any more the victim of natural disorder but its master when he is equipped with true knowledge. Though we could witness that there were diverse ideas which were opposing diametrically in interpreting the development of idea, the reappearance of the Greek civilization is the clue of the success of European civilization.
Beginning the 16th century, the competition among the different European nations and the birth of the concept of the idea of nation-state gave the European people a unique dynamism which brought them together to live under one rule and law. Absolute states were determined to destroy everything which was barrier to nation-state building.
They broke the old feudal and local administration structures which were obstacles to social movements from one region to the other; paved the way for the free movement of capital and labour. They had destroyed all forms of internal regulations and taxes which were seen as the main hindrances for the emerging of home market. Only by effectively introducing new administration mechanisms which were supportive of market economic principles the development of the division of labour and it’s strengthening became fastened. Absolute Monarchies of the 16th and 17th centuries were aware of the need of constantly modifying their administration structures which they believed could improve technological development.
As the division of labour became the main engine of technological development, and the necessary of trade became as the main mechanism of fastening the valorization of capital, a new and dynamic class which was highly motivated and culturally advanced became to the political scene which began challenging the old orders. The intermarriage of different classes and the diffusion of ideas gave new dynamism which by itself paved the way to a coherent idea.
On the other side to read the economic development of Europe as a smooth process without social exploitation and peasant upheaval like Adam Smith had tried to teach us could not be compatible to the real social processes which had molded the European society, especially that of the English. More than other continents of the world, the economic exploitation of the masses in most European economies is well documented; and without the primitive accumulation of the masses which was extended to child labour, capital accumulation which helped economic development could not be understood.
The uniqueness of the European feudal social structure, which is well analyzed by the well known European historians, and which was not found in other social formations was a factor by itself for the disintegration of the system and pave the way for the capitalistic production system. The European serfdom which was known for its very exploitative nature was challenged by the peasant movements in most European countries, and the peasants gained bargaining power which improved their social status. The introduction of far trade activities and the accumulation of money capital in the hands of the merchants and the debt mechanism which had arrested the feudal and the aristocratic class had loosened the social fabrics of the feudal system in Europe.
The putting-out system which enabled the merchant class to dictate the hand craft activities of the rural population, and the improvement of technologies and hence production activities which enabled better productivity of consumption goods is a unique phenomena which could not be found in Africa or Asia. Adding to this, allocation of slave labour for road building and city construction, and the flow of ideas among the different European countries had by itself helped raise the cultural activities of the masses. Without well-designed cities and without market halls and places the exchange of goods and services were practically impossible. Without allocating mass labour which is unique in the European history we could not have seen such gigantic cities and cathedrals.
These and the above factors have great impacts in shaping the economic development of Europe and the development of the social division of labour which was highlighted by Adam Smith but not taken as prerequisite for the development of technological and social division of labour. The fact that technological innovations and economic development were seen beyond the scope of time and space are one of the characteristic features in Smith's illustrations of the division of labour.
We could witness from this brief analysis that the unique social formation in the European history, and the intellectual and the social movements which Europe had the privilege to raise itself above other nations, and the development of idea which is emanated from the human mind, and which was well understood by the European intellectuals of the 14th to the 17th century were the main driving factors for the introduction of a science driven technological development in the European society.
The intellectual movement which is unique to the European society and the diffusion of diverse ideas and the scientific arguments forwarded by the different scholars to enhance their views gave a unique impetus to technological development. This is being the case, in areas where feudal social orders were the rule of the system, and social movements were restricted, the introduction of new technology and the break up of feudal administration structures were necessary factors which paved the way for industrialization.
Through the mirror of technological developments in Europe during the last 200 years, Prof. Sachs tries to investigate the causes of poverty in many African countries by applying differential diagnosis as means of detecting economic underdevelopment. According to Prof. Sachs there are eight major factors which are the causes of poverty and underdevelopment in Africa. If one takes one by one and examines them most of the points are simply neo-liberal repetitions, and are effects and not the causes of poverty and real underdevelopment.
The mysterious thing is how poverty becomes the cause of economic stagnation is not clear; though economic stagnation or technological backwardness by itself could be one of the main causes of poverty. Again, if one applies the methodology of dialectical investigation, there are other factors which could be the causes of economic underdevelopment and poverty.
Demographic problems, physical geography and the special climatic conditions which are exceptions of many tropical countries could in some way or the other hamper social developments if they are not tackled systematically and scientifically, and as such could not be the main causes of underdevelopment.
If we look at the history of Europe, especially during the middle and late Middle Ages, most European countries were breeding grounds of mosquitoes. Only drying the breeding grounds of mosquitoes, and plastered the earth with special stones and building well designed cities and market places, mosquitoes could disappear from most European countries. In the 1950s the Chinese did the same thing while they turned down the advices of European governments to spread DDT, which they saw clearly that DDT could not eradicate Malaria.
In this case, special climatic conditions which favored such kinds of Insects, when treated scientifically will be controlled and their total disappearance is a matter of further scientific investigation. From this perspective if we examine the situations in many African counties in the last 50 years, simply spreading DDT could not eradicate mosquitoes.
We witness that mosquitoes have the ability to adapt themselves to DDT and could not be simply victimized by such measures. Since most African governments are indifferent to scientifically based social and economic development, and since they do not have any social responsibility they resort every time to old methods to tackle such kinds of Insects which hamper social progress. As Prof. Sachs and others are forwarding that mosquitoes could not be eradicated from the African soil by simply distributing bed nets.
In his analysis, Prof. Sachs tells us that through his new method of differential diagnosis he found the real causes of poverty and at the same time the instruments by which one could systematically eradicate poverty. Though he tells us here and there that he has gone through development theories, he has completely ignored all the theoretical debates of the 1950s to the 1980s which had great impacts in shaping development models in many Third World countries, and had failed for various reasons.
First of all the transformation of the European feudal society to capitalism, which were well studied and analysed by European and American economic historians are not of great concern for Prof. Sachs, though such kinds of discussions are parts of development economics and should not be rejected or neglected out rightly as if they did not take place. Secondly, the modernization theory which has focused on the problem of traditional societies and how one could overcome backwardness by means of growth poll which could be trickled down and overwhelms the entire society should had been discussed at length.
Thirdly, the answer to this modernization came especially from Third World Economists who have profound knowledge of European economic history. Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin, Arghiri Emmanuel, etc. to mention some, and the French structural school, mainly represented by Althuser and Balibar and other highly educated anthropologists with field work experiences, have influenced the development/underdevelopment debate. Prof. Sachs ignores these facts, though they are parts of the economic development theory and obligations to be visited by development theory students.
The above intellectuals have demonstrated well how Europe had exploited Africa, first of all through colonial trade by subjugating African peasants to specialize in certain agricultural products which are designed for European markets. By building infrastructures to promote export products, the European colonialists have systematically sabotaged the development of the home market in many African countries. Extracting activities had connections to the mother countries, and could not serve as the basis of further capital accumulation from within. In addition to this the banking activities which were centered in many colonial cities had the purpose of financing trade and not industries and technological development in various African countries.
These factors hampered economic development and disintegrated the African society. Even more, the colonial administrations had destructed the divisions of labour which had existed until the arrival of colonialists, and the labour force was allocated in selected areas which are vital for European capital accumulation. With this the creative activity of the Africans came to a halt, and the exchange of commodities among Africans became very restricted.
To grasp more over the causes of poverty and the underdevelopment of the African economy, I try to analyse seven fundamental aspects which I think are very decisive indeed that have arrested economic and social developments in many African countries.
I. The absence of renaissance as a factor: first and foremost Africa was cut from the intellectual movements of Europe which has been going at least since the beginning of the 15th century.
As I have tried to analyse above without studying the secret of the Greek civilization economic and social developments in Europe could not have been conceivable. After the dark ages, the renaissance movement which was started in Italy could be expanded else where in other European countries and create favourable situations for wider intellectual discussions and social movements.
While Greek knowledge moved towards Europe through different mechanisms and routs, Africa did not have the chance to participate in the intellectual discussions of Europe, though Africa was the source of the Greek civilization. As Greek philosophers have persistently taught us that the sources of knowledge and intellectual movement is to engage in scientific dialogs by upholding idea as the true source of knowledge.
II. Slave trade as a factor: slave trade which was started first of all by the Portuguese merchants and overtaken by Spain and other European countries had totally annihilated the social structures of many African countries. Estimations show that 30 to 90 million Africans were transported to oversee.
While old men, women and children remained in their native countries, men with special knowledge who had developed wide range activities until the arrival of slave trade who were the basis of social and economic transformation were uprooted. The negative consequence of this uprooting is the destruction of the social and the technological division of labour which many African countries had developed until the 15th century. Until today Africa could not be hilled from the wounds of this barbaric uprooting.
III. Colonialism as a factor: colonialism is the logical extension of slavery which had the power of undermining and extinction the remaining social and technological division of labour to hold down Africa permanently as the source of raw materials for capitalist accumulation in Europe. As colonialism took firm positions in the African soil, Africans were compelled to abandon their long work practices and specializations, and were allocated in plantation activities which were designed for European markets. The colonial administration had the purpose to facilitate this mass exploitation and control the social movements of the African society.
IV. The post colonial structure as a factor: post colonial administration structures and the so called political independent had extended the old division of labour by means of new mechanisms which have deepened Africa's underdevelopment and poverty. After the Second World War, and after the new economic arrangements, dictated by the new emerging Imperial power, the United States of America, Africa was practically cut from participating in the world technological developments which is the basis of true social transformations. In order to bind Africa into the new emerging international division of labour and trade, the African social transformation become a unique case which can be dealt by means of import-substitution-industrialization which is a part and parcel of the so-called modernization theory.
The import-substitution-industrialization which is not based on machine-tool industries is entirely dependent for its reproduction on imported inputs, and as such it is vulnerable for internal and outside shocks. It is not organically linked to the rest of the economic sectors; and has a very limited accumulation effect.
The fact that it is detached from research and development, its capacity to expand and encompass the traditional economic sector, and transforms it to a dynamic economic sector is heavily restricted. In the absence of development and research, and in the absence of machine-tool industries it is practically impossible to produce a coherent economic structure which could operate like a human body. Such an industry must inevitably push those economic forces in areas where the turnover of capital is very quick but the accumulation base and hence the multiplier effect is very limited.
This is the case in many African countries where import-substitution-industrialization has been taken as the only viable policy which could modernize the African economy. From this vantage point of view if we see the import-substitution-industrialization and the modernization policies, they are mechanisms of controlling the African economises not to take their natural paths.
The consequence of such policies is as we see it today to destroy and to disturb the minds of the Africans by reducing them to the status of that of cattle. Africans are not created to build well-designed cities; they cannot develop science and technology and must remain as animals without any social order and harmony which governs their handlings and gives them the capacity of creating new ideas. The school systems are special mechanisms which darkens the minds of the African elite not to see the world of science and technology and at the same time the world of aesthetic beyond once own lives.
V. The omnipotent state as a factor: the characteristic feature of the state in various African countries is that it lacks any theoretical and philosophical foundations by which it could organize the society around certain principles. In order that any society could exit as a society and reproduce itself economically and socially it needs certain philosophical frame works which serve as guidelines that bring the society together so that it could work in unison to build a dynamic and strong society.
From this point of view the state apparatus in all African countries which became independent in the 60s could not play as instrument of capitalist accumulation by creating favourable conditions for those dynamic forces from within. Since the state apparatus was moulded and structured by the colonial masters its mission was to distort internal accumulation and create conditions for the outflow of wealth to the capitalist centre.
The indirect control of the African state structures by foreign forces and the incoherency of the state from within create an atmosphere of fear and suspicion among those forces that control the state apparatus. Different foreign secret services that operate in various African countries to destabilize Africa use the various elements of the countries concerned to concentrate their work in information gathering rather than fulfil their constitutional duty for which they have sworn. Hence the bureaucratic apparatus must be strengthened to suppress democratic processes which are essential for the free flow of ideas and creative activity.
Foreign forces could fulfill their satanic mission only through the omnipotent state apparatus which they finance and advise. In this manner the state machines in all African countries serve as instrument of suppression rather than building a cultured economy which is based on science and technology.
On the other side if we see the role of the capitalist states starting the 16th century we witness that the state had progressive roles in creating conditions which favored internal accumulation. Without the intervention of the state capitalist accumulation and hence the development of science and technology could not have been developed as we see it today. After the Second World War all capitalist countries must continue to support internal accumulation by creating new devices, where as African governments are advised not to take any measure which could strengthen the economic base of their society.
The intervention of the state in the economy is seen as sin where as state intervention in all major capitalist countries become the exclusive rights of European governments. Such insane attitudes in many African countries have reduced the role of the state purely as instrument of suppression and internal economic distortion which canalizes wealth to the capitalist countries.
The political situation in Ethiopia is a vivid example why the civilized West sticks to the Meles regime, though the regime of Meles is engaged in mass killings and torture.
The country is turned to a play ground of Economic Hit Men which distort economic performance of the country by giving false advises. The acceptance of the regime the structural adjustment program (SAP) and its materialization, and its full fledged promises to introduce a market economy which is completely detached from science and technology, and the mafia type system which is spread within the circle of the state apparatus, and which is well financed by the World Bank and the IMF and certain Western governments is a clear example how Economic Hit Men are trying everything to hold Ethiopia down as a country which produces and reproduces poverty on a higher scale.
The expansion of flower plantation by Western firms and their engagements in those areas where they can make quick profits are examples why they are not ready to allow any democratic changes in Ethiopia. The EPRDF government is purely a puppet regime of imperialist forces which are waging direct war against the Ethiopian people so that they do not enjoy true freedom by developing science and technology.
It is therefore foolish to believe that the West will loose the control it has gained without gaining any guarantee from the opposition forces.
VI. The absence of intellectual discourse as a factor: we know that from the Greek philosophical discourse and dialectical method of conversation one could develop science if a society is engaged in intellectual discourse. Scientific discourses and hypothesis building are the basis of a science driven technological development.
The true understanding of the source of knowledge and the divergent ideas that had been developed by various schools of thought over the last 3000 years are the basis of any society if it could sustain as a society and make history in the true sense of the word.
Any society must question itself what is the meaning of life in this world, from where it comes, what it is doing in this world, and where it is heading. A society that does not pose such kinds of questions, its sustainability as a full functioning society will remain vague, and it does not understand in which direction it is marching. From this perspective the school systems in Africa lack any philosophical foundations. Colonial masters and their successors have deliberately formulated a school system which could arrest the minds of the students.
They have imposed a system which is not self reflective, and block any meaningful scientific discourse. A society which is not self-reflective, and can not questions the meanings of various policies it will be easily manipulated by outside forces. At the end such a society produces and reproduces gangster like politicians that sell their countries for foreign forces. This is what we see and witness in the present day Africa.
VII. Incoherent economic policy as a factor: the different policies followed after the modernization theories are nothing other than cementing the existing international division of labour and confusing the African society.
Whether the basic needs approach strategy, the Green Revolution or the Structural adjustment program that are mainly outlined by the World Bank and the IMF are seen as the real panacea for the African economic crises are nothing other than extending the old system of exploitation by adjusting the African economies to the changing international order which began in the beginning of the 70s and intensified in the 80s. Structural adjustment programs have the sole purpose of absorbing the African resources via debt mechanisms and intensify unequal trade where as Europe and America become richer and richer.
The known austerity program of the IMF, which is simply stated as unscientific by Prof. Sachs but could not be analysed further is another attempt of distorting the monetary mechanisms of the banking sector. According to the philosophy of the IMF, money must be drawn away from those unproductive social forces and allocated to those productive forces which behave like capitalists. The true purpose of this policy is nothing other than strangulating the economy by cutting it from its monetary base and allocating the meagre resource to the export sector so that the African economies become more and more outward oriented.
As we see in the last 20 or more years by applying the bitter medicine of the IMF and the World Bank the African economies become more and more dependent on outside aid, and become strangulated so that Africa rotates within the vicious circles of debt mechanism, dependent on few exportable goods, which are becoming meaningless every year, and chaotic administration structures which become more and more suppressive and submissive to the outside forces.
Prof. Sachs criticizes here and there why politics and bad governance cannot explain the African underdevelopment and poverty. In this case he attacks both the rights and the lefts for their focusing exclusively on politics to explain the causes of the African poverty through the mirror of political discourse.
It is amazing how Prof. Sachs understands politics, though starting three thousand years the human social and economic development evolves around politics. The first Greek state men and philosophers had seen in politics the real mechanism in shaping social affairs. That is why they had studied in depth the meaning of metaphysics and its relation to politics. Accordingly, only those who are guided by philosophical and rational principles have the capacity to give wise leadership and play historical roles in shaping a harmonious and developed society.
On the other side those who lack these principles they rely solely on pure power and permanent war which ultimately destroy the society they govern. Those who control state apparatus and hence shape politics have the ability to determine the movements of the different social forces within their boundaries. According to their social consciousness and understanding of the role of human beings political leaders either destroy the basis of the social reproduction capacities of their society or design them in such a way so that innovation, social reproduction and capital accumulation based on science and technology grow permanently.
Without politics and understanding the role of politics in shaping the social destiny of any given society, a society cannot exist as a social reproduction force where arts, city buildings, technological development and further innovation take place to sustain that particular society. Only politics, as the concentration of social process and an arena of ideological and economic struggle has the capacity in shaping the social well being of a given society or destroying it. In this case politics in many African counties cannot be the exception.
In order to understand the political roles of successive African governments and their leaders, one cannot see their handlings and their methodologies outside the scope of the colonial past, and the education system by which they are brought up, and the social formation in which they grew up. Though Africa had brilliant leaders, these leaders were chased and killed by Western intelligent services and their henchmen from within. All the attempted murders and coup d` état were nothing but to prevent Africa from technological developments and science and to hold it down as permanent house of producing and reproducing poverty on a higher scale.
All wars which have been taking in the last three or more decades on the African soil are wars orchestrated by the Western civilized states to destabilize Africa. The economic policies of the IMF and the World Bank, and their applications by those Economic Hit Men as put by John Perkins in his well illuminating analysis demonstrates clearly how Africa and the rest of the Third World countries are being destroyed by those satanic forces who enjoy when they see that a part of humanity is permanently languishing under poverty and disease.
The globalization of the world economy which has been going since the last 15 years is worsening the economic and social situation of many African countries, and cannot be enlightened as Prof. Sachs makes us believe since by it self is the causes of permanent economic crises and destabilization. After all, how can such a system have the mission of enlightenment when its ideological tenet is neo-liberalism which is the antithesis of a science driven technological development.
After he has studied the causes of poverty through the mirror of his differential diagnosis Prof. Sachs came to the conclusion that poverty can be eliminated from the African soil if Western governments see it as their own problem and make efforts to help Africa. The millennium 2015 is a part of this global attempt to reduce and eradicate poverty from the African soil. Only through the blessing attempts of donor countries is the hope and aspirations of millions of Africans lies. According to the belief of Prof. Sachs to think that Africa could come out of poverty by itself is not imaginable.
Though one cannot doubt the good intention of Prof. Sachs, to think that Western governments and their sophisticated institutions could solve the African economic crises is silly wise indeed, and at the same time an insult to the millions of Africans who become the victim of the global economic disorder instituted after the Second World War.
When Western capitalist countries are the problem of economic disequilibrium on the global scale and the causes of mass exodus by appropriating the African wealth how could they eradicate poverty from the African soil? Since Prof. Sachs tries to analyze the economic crises of Africa from a false paradigm he must reach such kind of a conclusion which cannot be materialized. Even if part of it sees the light of the day this leads to more dependency and economic colonization.
The policies which he had forwarded to Poland in the beginning of the 90s, to Bolivia to end hyperinflation and which it has failed, and the privatization policy he had worked out for Russia are clear examples that his approaches are more conceptualized from a neo-liberal point of view which cannot solve the problem of economic crises once-for-all but postpone it and deepening the economic crises of those countries. Likewise his methodology and solution to end poverty from the African soil is another attempt to prolong the African misery, and thereby pave the way for the decolonization of Africa.
In order to end poverty from the African soil we must see the problem through the mirror of physical economic principles which is the only viable scientific instrument that brings real economic development in many African countries.
Since almost all African countries have never attempted to dissociate themselves from the destructive policies of the IMF and the World Bank, only the destruction of the ideological basis of this policy will have the power of redeeming the African people and use their natural creative power to develop a harmonious and well functioning society.
The eradication of poverty is possible when African governments are guided by this principle, and see poverty as a part of an over whole economic and social underdevelopment.
To see the problem of poverty outside the scope of technological, cultural, social and a generalized economic development is an erroneous thing which must be rejected from the outset.
Fekadu Bekele, PhD
March 20, 2006
Fekadu Bekele can be reached at bosenanegussie@alice-dsl.de
Asrat Tilahun
Public Relation Associate
UNDP Ethiopia
Tel. 251-11-544-4275; 251-11-551-5177; 251-91-120-2726
Fax.251-11-551-4599,551-5147
E-mail:asrat.tilahun@undp.org
Addis Ababa,Ethiopia
as failed, and the privatization policy he had worked out for Russia are clear examples that his approaches are more conceptualized from a neo-liberal point of view which cannot solve the problem of economic crises once-for-all but postpone it and deepening the economic crises of those countries. Likewise his methodology and solution to end poverty from the African soil is another attempt to prolong the African misery, and thereby pave the way for the decolonization of Africa.
In order to end poverty from the African soil we must see the problem through the mirror of physical economic principles which is the only viable scientific instrument that brings real economic development in many African countries. Since almost all African countries have never attempted to dissociate themselves from the destructive policies of the IMF and the World Bank, only the destruction of the ideological basis of this policy will have the power of redeeming the African people and use their natural creative power to develop a harmonious and well functioning society. The eradication of poverty is possible when African governments are guided by this principle, and see poverty as a part of an over whole economic and social underdevelopment. To see the problem of poverty outside the scope of technological, cultural, social and a generalized economic development is an erroneous thing which must be rejected from the outset.
Fekadu Bekele, PhD
March 20, 2006
Fekadu Bekele can be reached at bosenanegussie@alice-dsl.de
Asrat Tilahun
Public Relation Associate
UNDP Ethiopia
Tel. 251-11-544-4275; 251-11-551-5177; 251-91-120-2726
Fax.251-11-551-4599,551-5147
E-mail:asrat.tilahun@undp.org
Addis Ababa,Ethiopia
Friday, March 21, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Goood Elections Vs Good Governance
Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity
Via Win-Win Partnerships of all stakeholders Via the Synergy of 7Es:
Education+Empowerment+Emotion+Ecology+Economy and Enterprises
The concept of Orange Revolution is a new way of re-establishing Communism and Dictatorship via the back door.
The Eastern Europeans tried revolt to advance justice in the face of communist dictatorships. The Russians led the way via Captain Yeltsin who literally bombed his parliament building to take over power from Gorbachev in 1991.
Since then a series of small mini communist states have thought to change color from Communist Red to Green Democracy by going via the colour orange. Orange Code in the US, is the highest form of danger alert that the Homeland Security has been using about the terror of Islamo-fascism and AlQaeda operatives in western Europe and Northern America.
Now, a series of East African countries have been trying to use the Orange Code or to be exact the 'Orange Revolution" to usurp power via a combination of mass unrest and outright criminal activities that includes Genocide.
The recent 2005 post election fiasco in Ethiopia was led by misguided Marxist and Communist Cadres trying to take over power via misguided understanding of elections and their processes. A group of left oriented Marxist Cadres from Universities and abroad managed to register as candidates under the banner of a Coalition that was formed to create havoc. A Coalition that did not have even bylaws, rules, regulations and even protocol for managing change within the coalition. It was hastily put together for the sole purpose of creating havoc in Ethiopia.
Over 20,0000 activists gathered in the Capital Addis Ababa to create havoc and ethnic based genocide under the cover of election fraud. Fortunately, the Ethiopians were clever by allowing this fools to speak their mind under the banner of election campaigns. Their views, plans and strategies were published in a book and then articulated by the Orange Revolution Cadres via television, print and electronic media. Then their text messages via cell phones were identified as the command and control center for creating havoc and genocide in the city.
The savy and wise Ethiopian Intelligence then moven in the night before the D-Day (Destruction Day) and rounded up all the Orange Cadres of Doom and took them to the forest to collect their own version of "Seeds of oranges in Ethiopian forests"! Lo! and behold, there was no revolution and no genocide the next day. The captains of the Revolution were taken one by one to the nearby Kaliti prison and were prosecuted under "Treason and Genocide" with a series of rolls of evidence from their own meeting both public and private.
At last, after almost two years of prosecution, and the evidence weighted in and were all given life in prisonment. As the international media and especially the foolish Congress Payne and Chris Smith were going to defend the indefensible via their series of HR 2228. 5680 and 2003, the new Ethiopian Millennium arrived with its transformational agenda of peace and reconciliation. The Ethiopian elder's council led by Professor Issac of {Princeton) managed to negotiate the release of the hooligan Orange Revolution leaders who promptly went to their masters in the Diaspora and even testified in Congressional Hearing but soon turned the orange revolution on each other.
What they tried to do on the Ethiopian people in 2005, they managed to exercise among themselves in Diaspora especially in the USA under the watchful eyes of US media and weekly radio stations. Now, they are licking their wounds of the demonic orange revolution and planning a new tack via their surrogates in Asmara and Ogaden and Somalia and Congressman Terrorist Enabler, Donald Payne has just returned from Asmara the capital of "Horn Terrorist Network" to plan yet another series of terrorist enabler HRs. Unfortunately, the US Presidential elections is keeping the race and gender card alive with Obama and Clinton doing their mudslinging and potential race and gender riots in the USA, no one is listening to another mad terrorist enabler Donald Payne, who might be impeached and lose his seats all together as Ethiopian and Somali Americans want to punish him for his terrorist activities and betrayal of the US national interest where he was dining and winning with those who bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania some decades ago.
As he faces his potential impeachment and all his congressional aides like Ted Dagne and VOA Africa Director are being scrutinized by GAO (General Accounting Office) for their conduct unbecoming, aiding and abating with terrorists, the Kenyan Orange Revolutionaries are at it again.
This time, the Kenyans Orange Revolutionaries succeeded what the Ethiopian and Diaspora Marxist Terrorist failed. The story below is a sad commentary of "Orange Revolutionaries" at their best creating havoc and genocide on the unsuspecting Kenyans under their usual cover of "Election Fraud".
Ethiopia is lucky to have a 7,500 years old history of good governance, wher people of different cultures, religion and ethnic backgrounds have lived in peace and harmony with well developed social and personal code of honor and practice that saved it from the Red and White Terror activists who have now re-invented themselves as "Orange Revolutionaries"
Kenya has not been fortunate. Here is the sad story of our fellow Kenyans who are crying for help.
Let us learn from Ethiopia and Kenya and keep the extremists masquerading under the banner of Orange Revolution to create havoc, unrest and genocide.
The lesson is that we need to have an aggressive "Proactive and Pre-emptive Security Strategy supported with Proactive Promotion of Sustainable Development and Prosperity.
In the mean time, please read the tragedy of Kenya below.
with regards and seeking your alternative suggestions
I remain
Dr B
Glolbal Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity
www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
C: 703.933.8737; globalbelai@yahoo.com
Dear Patriotic
Annan hits out at Kenya 'abuses'
The Rift Valley town of Nakuru has seen some of the worst violence
Former UN head Kofi Annan has condemned "gross and systematic abuses of human rights" in Kenya, after a visit to violence-hit parts of the country.
Mr Annan said conflict may have been triggered by disputed elections, but it had evolved into "something else".
The facts had to be established and those responsible held to account, Mr Annan said on his return to Nairobi.
On Saturday, police brought 16 badly burnt bodies to the mortuary in Nakuru, the capital of Rift Valley province.
Mr Annan - in Kenya to mediate attempts for a political solution - was flown over Nakuru on Saturday as part of a tour that also included visits to Eldoret and Molo district.
Inter-ethnic strife in Nakuru
In pictures: Nakuru violence
Press sees long road ahead
Send us your comments
Hospital staff in Nakuru said they had received the bodies of nine more people, hacked by machetes or killed by arrows.
Earlier the authorities had imposed an overnight curfew across the city in the wake of renewed inter-ethnic conflict.
Rival gangs of young men battled with machetes, metal bars, bows and arrows, while thick smoke billowed up from burning buildings.
The violence came despite hopes of progress after President Mwai Kibaki met opposition leader Raila Odinga for the first time on Thursday since December's disputed polls.
Burnt forests
Mr Annan set off from Nairobi shortly after first light on Saturday to see for himself some of the destruction and human misery caused by more than three weeks of violence.
On Friday Mr Annan held talks with religious leaders
He visited some of the thousands of people in Eldoret whose homes have been destroyed or who moved to the town to try to find shelter.
The former UN chief also boarded a helicopter to fly to Molo district where many have been killed.
Speaking in the capital, Nairobi, Mr Annan said: "What we saw was rather tragic. We visited several IDP [internally displaced persons] camps, we saw people pushed from their homes, from their farms, grandmothers, children, families uprooted.
"And I think it is important that all Kenyans respond with sympathy and understanding, and not try to revenge."
He also said there needed to be fundamental changes to Kenya's institutions to prevent a repetition.
"We cannot accept that periodically, every five years or so, this sort of incident takes place and no-one is held to account. Impunity cannot be allowed to stand," Mr Annan added.
Tanzania's former President, Benjamin Mkapa, travelling with Mr Annan, said: "The political crisis in the country [has caused] a state of agony and despair. We console the people."
On Friday Mr Annan held talks with Kenyan election officials and religious leaders in Nairobi, urging them to use their leadership to encourage people to work for peace.
"The leaders may not be able to do it alone. We all need to play our part," he said.
Barricade
Nakuru is said to be relatively quiet following the overnight curfew. But there has been sporadic gunfire in the city on Saturday.
The BBC's Adam Mynott says that some protesters erected a barricade across the main road and many homes have been burnt in the town.
Hundreds of people have sought refuge in churches or friends' homes.
There are also reports of truckloads of many young men being moved overnight to a village on the outskirts of the town.
The unrest triggered by the election on 27 December has driven 250,000 people from their homes. Mr Odinga says he was robbed of the presidency.
Via Win-Win Partnerships of all stakeholders Via the Synergy of 7Es:
Education+Empowerment+Emotion+Ecology+Economy and Enterprises
The concept of Orange Revolution is a new way of re-establishing Communism and Dictatorship via the back door.
The Eastern Europeans tried revolt to advance justice in the face of communist dictatorships. The Russians led the way via Captain Yeltsin who literally bombed his parliament building to take over power from Gorbachev in 1991.
Since then a series of small mini communist states have thought to change color from Communist Red to Green Democracy by going via the colour orange. Orange Code in the US, is the highest form of danger alert that the Homeland Security has been using about the terror of Islamo-fascism and AlQaeda operatives in western Europe and Northern America.
Now, a series of East African countries have been trying to use the Orange Code or to be exact the 'Orange Revolution" to usurp power via a combination of mass unrest and outright criminal activities that includes Genocide.
The recent 2005 post election fiasco in Ethiopia was led by misguided Marxist and Communist Cadres trying to take over power via misguided understanding of elections and their processes. A group of left oriented Marxist Cadres from Universities and abroad managed to register as candidates under the banner of a Coalition that was formed to create havoc. A Coalition that did not have even bylaws, rules, regulations and even protocol for managing change within the coalition. It was hastily put together for the sole purpose of creating havoc in Ethiopia.
Over 20,0000 activists gathered in the Capital Addis Ababa to create havoc and ethnic based genocide under the cover of election fraud. Fortunately, the Ethiopians were clever by allowing this fools to speak their mind under the banner of election campaigns. Their views, plans and strategies were published in a book and then articulated by the Orange Revolution Cadres via television, print and electronic media. Then their text messages via cell phones were identified as the command and control center for creating havoc and genocide in the city.
The savy and wise Ethiopian Intelligence then moven in the night before the D-Day (Destruction Day) and rounded up all the Orange Cadres of Doom and took them to the forest to collect their own version of "Seeds of oranges in Ethiopian forests"! Lo! and behold, there was no revolution and no genocide the next day. The captains of the Revolution were taken one by one to the nearby Kaliti prison and were prosecuted under "Treason and Genocide" with a series of rolls of evidence from their own meeting both public and private.
At last, after almost two years of prosecution, and the evidence weighted in and were all given life in prisonment. As the international media and especially the foolish Congress Payne and Chris Smith were going to defend the indefensible via their series of HR 2228. 5680 and 2003, the new Ethiopian Millennium arrived with its transformational agenda of peace and reconciliation. The Ethiopian elder's council led by Professor Issac of {Princeton) managed to negotiate the release of the hooligan Orange Revolution leaders who promptly went to their masters in the Diaspora and even testified in Congressional Hearing but soon turned the orange revolution on each other.
What they tried to do on the Ethiopian people in 2005, they managed to exercise among themselves in Diaspora especially in the USA under the watchful eyes of US media and weekly radio stations. Now, they are licking their wounds of the demonic orange revolution and planning a new tack via their surrogates in Asmara and Ogaden and Somalia and Congressman Terrorist Enabler, Donald Payne has just returned from Asmara the capital of "Horn Terrorist Network" to plan yet another series of terrorist enabler HRs. Unfortunately, the US Presidential elections is keeping the race and gender card alive with Obama and Clinton doing their mudslinging and potential race and gender riots in the USA, no one is listening to another mad terrorist enabler Donald Payne, who might be impeached and lose his seats all together as Ethiopian and Somali Americans want to punish him for his terrorist activities and betrayal of the US national interest where he was dining and winning with those who bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania some decades ago.
As he faces his potential impeachment and all his congressional aides like Ted Dagne and VOA Africa Director are being scrutinized by GAO (General Accounting Office) for their conduct unbecoming, aiding and abating with terrorists, the Kenyan Orange Revolutionaries are at it again.
This time, the Kenyans Orange Revolutionaries succeeded what the Ethiopian and Diaspora Marxist Terrorist failed. The story below is a sad commentary of "Orange Revolutionaries" at their best creating havoc and genocide on the unsuspecting Kenyans under their usual cover of "Election Fraud".
Ethiopia is lucky to have a 7,500 years old history of good governance, wher people of different cultures, religion and ethnic backgrounds have lived in peace and harmony with well developed social and personal code of honor and practice that saved it from the Red and White Terror activists who have now re-invented themselves as "Orange Revolutionaries"
Kenya has not been fortunate. Here is the sad story of our fellow Kenyans who are crying for help.
Let us learn from Ethiopia and Kenya and keep the extremists masquerading under the banner of Orange Revolution to create havoc, unrest and genocide.
The lesson is that we need to have an aggressive "Proactive and Pre-emptive Security Strategy supported with Proactive Promotion of Sustainable Development and Prosperity.
In the mean time, please read the tragedy of Kenya below.
with regards and seeking your alternative suggestions
I remain
Dr B
Glolbal Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity
www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
C: 703.933.8737; globalbelai@yahoo.com
Dear Patriotic
Annan hits out at Kenya 'abuses'
The Rift Valley town of Nakuru has seen some of the worst violence
Former UN head Kofi Annan has condemned "gross and systematic abuses of human rights" in Kenya, after a visit to violence-hit parts of the country.
Mr Annan said conflict may have been triggered by disputed elections, but it had evolved into "something else".
The facts had to be established and those responsible held to account, Mr Annan said on his return to Nairobi.
On Saturday, police brought 16 badly burnt bodies to the mortuary in Nakuru, the capital of Rift Valley province.
Mr Annan - in Kenya to mediate attempts for a political solution - was flown over Nakuru on Saturday as part of a tour that also included visits to Eldoret and Molo district.
Inter-ethnic strife in Nakuru
In pictures: Nakuru violence
Press sees long road ahead
Send us your comments
Hospital staff in Nakuru said they had received the bodies of nine more people, hacked by machetes or killed by arrows.
Earlier the authorities had imposed an overnight curfew across the city in the wake of renewed inter-ethnic conflict.
Rival gangs of young men battled with machetes, metal bars, bows and arrows, while thick smoke billowed up from burning buildings.
The violence came despite hopes of progress after President Mwai Kibaki met opposition leader Raila Odinga for the first time on Thursday since December's disputed polls.
Burnt forests
Mr Annan set off from Nairobi shortly after first light on Saturday to see for himself some of the destruction and human misery caused by more than three weeks of violence.
On Friday Mr Annan held talks with religious leaders
He visited some of the thousands of people in Eldoret whose homes have been destroyed or who moved to the town to try to find shelter.
The former UN chief also boarded a helicopter to fly to Molo district where many have been killed.
Speaking in the capital, Nairobi, Mr Annan said: "What we saw was rather tragic. We visited several IDP [internally displaced persons] camps, we saw people pushed from their homes, from their farms, grandmothers, children, families uprooted.
"And I think it is important that all Kenyans respond with sympathy and understanding, and not try to revenge."
He also said there needed to be fundamental changes to Kenya's institutions to prevent a repetition.
"We cannot accept that periodically, every five years or so, this sort of incident takes place and no-one is held to account. Impunity cannot be allowed to stand," Mr Annan added.
Tanzania's former President, Benjamin Mkapa, travelling with Mr Annan, said: "The political crisis in the country [has caused] a state of agony and despair. We console the people."
On Friday Mr Annan held talks with Kenyan election officials and religious leaders in Nairobi, urging them to use their leadership to encourage people to work for peace.
"The leaders may not be able to do it alone. We all need to play our part," he said.
Barricade
Nakuru is said to be relatively quiet following the overnight curfew. But there has been sporadic gunfire in the city on Saturday.
The BBC's Adam Mynott says that some protesters erected a barricade across the main road and many homes have been burnt in the town.
Hundreds of people have sought refuge in churches or friends' homes.
There are also reports of truckloads of many young men being moved overnight to a village on the outskirts of the town.
The unrest triggered by the election on 27 December has driven 250,000 people from their homes. Mr Odinga says he was robbed of the presidency.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Freedomhouse.org report on Ethiopia & Eritrea
1. http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=140&edition=8&ccrpage=37&ccrcountry=155
2. http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=140&edition=8&ccrpage=37&ccrcountry=156
The complete reports of both reports are available at PDF Version link. Individual chapters can be opened as internet pages directly from this email through the individual links at the top and bottom.
Source: Freedom House: Countries at the Crossroads 2007
1. Country Report - Eritrea
PDF Version
Previous | Introduction | Accountability and Public Voice | Civil Liberties | Rule of Law | Anticorruption and Transparency | Author | Notes | Next
Capital: Asmara
Population: 4,600,000
GDP: 200
Scores:
Accountability and Public Voice: 0.44
Civil Liberties: 0.95
Rule of Law: 0.71
Anticorruption and Transparency: 0.86
(Scores are based on a scale of 0 to 7, with 0 representing weakest and 7 representing strongest performance.)
Introduction
Eritrea showed considerable promise upon winning its de facto independence in May 1991 after a 30-year war against successive U.S.- and Soviet-backed Ethiopian governments that had laid claim to the former Italian colony.
Eritrea formalized its status as Africa’s newest nation in a near unanimous vote for sovereignty (99.8 percent) in a United Nations-monitored referendum in which 98.5 percent of the 1,125,000 registered voters participated.1
Over the next three years, the transitional government established new state institutions—executive, legislative, and judicial branches presiding over a three-tiered administration (national, regional, local); a streamlined civil service; professional armed forces; and new police and security forces, while also managing a highly participatory constitution-making process.
However, the leadership of the independence movement was deeply divided in its commitment to democratic governance. Regime hardliners, who got the upper hand during a series of regional conflicts capped in 1998-2000 by a bloody border war with Ethiopia, plunged the new country into a cycle of military mobilization and political repression that stymied the country’s development prospects and reversed progress toward democracy.
This situation worsened in 2006 with an increase in politically motivated arrests, torture and deaths of political prisoners, persecution of religious minorities, and tightened restrictions on nongovernmental organizations and aid agencies.
The victorious Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF)—renamed the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) in 1994—today rules with an iron fist under the leadership of former military commander, now president, Isaias Afwerki.
The constitution, ratified in 1997, has yet to be implemented; national elections, repeatedly postponed, have yet to be held. Meanwhile, other political parties and independent nongovernmental organizations are prohibited, and what few private media emerged in the immediate post-independence years have been shut down.
Thousands of people have been detained for political offenses ranging from public dissent to noncompliance with open-ended national service requirements. Among the more prominent political prisoners are 11 former independence movement leaders and government ministers—dubbed the Group of 15—jailed in September 2001 after publicly criticizing the president’s undemocratic practices.
Detainees also include journalists, mid-level officials, merchants, businessmen, young people resisting conscription, and church leaders and parishioners associated with banned religious organizations.
Eritrea is a nation in a perpetual state of emergency, under siege by its own leaders, with a population denied the most basic freedoms of speech, assembly, press, and religious practice.
The continuing confrontation with Ethiopia not only dominates the political discourse to the point where all dissent is branded as treason, it also provides cover for militarizing the new state from top to bottom and for exporting instability to neighboring states—among them Sudan and Somalia—in an effort to weaken Ethiopia.
The unresolved border conflict serves as justification for President Isaias to maintain a near-total monopoly on all forms of domestic political and economic power.
The absence of any independent media and the complete suppression of civil society preclude the development of a legal opposition within the country—or of any organized public discussion of what such an opposition might look like, were it to be permitted.
The ruling party itself is largely a shell through which the president exercises one-man rule that he shows no sign of relinquishing voluntarily. Under these conditions, national elections, when eventually conducted, will only serve to confirm the current dictatorship.
Previous | Introduction | Accountability and Public Voice | Civil Liberties | Rule of
__________
Source: Freedom House: Countries at the Crossroads 2007
2. Country Report - Ethiopia
PDF Version
Previous | Introduction | Accountability and Public Voice | Civil Liberties | Rule of Law | Anticorruption and Transparency | Author | Notes | Next
Capital: Addis Ababa
Population: 74,800,000
GDP: 180
Scores:
Accountability and Public Voice: 1.85
Civil Liberties: 2.85
Rule of Law: 2.35
Anticorruption and Transparency: 2.36
(Scores are based on a scale of 0 to 7, with 0 representing weakest and 7 representing strongest performance.)
Introduction
In May 2005, Ethiopia held its third-ever multiparty parliamentary elections. The first had been held in 1995, four years after the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) succeeded in toppling the Marxist-Leninist regime that had ruled the country since 1974.
Over the past decade and a half, the EPRDF regime has made substantial progress in transforming Ethiopian society, but further steps are required. While in some respects the political system is much more open than at any other time in Ethiopia’s history, it is far from resembling a liberal democracy.
When it came to power in 1991, the EPRDF organized a conference that led to the implementation of a transitional charter and government. This was achieved by means of pact-making among the leaders of thirty-one different political movements, most of them based on ethnicity and region.
A Council of Representatives in the Transitional Government was created in which the EPRDF had the largest single bloc (thirty-two seats out of a total of eighty-seven), followed by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) with twelve seats. The aim of the body was to secure the support of the leadership of the most significant ethnic groups in Ethiopia so that this multiethnic state could hold together.
Initially, the most significant ethnic groups in society were given both a stake in the new regime and more regional autonomy than at any time in modern history. However, over the next year the ruling coalition narrowed further until it finally included only the EPRDF and ethnically based regional parties beholden to it, so-called People’s Democratic Organizations (PDOs).
This was fueled in part by the EPRDF’s sense of insecurity; the core of the party is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and the Tigray people make up less than ten percent of the country’s population.
Despite a public pronouncement that it was committed to redressing past inequities and injustices toward various ethnic communities, the EPRDF chose to deal with non-Tigray groups only through the PDOs. In retrospect, the EPRDF’s decision not to compromise with other leaders, who at the time were perceived as threats, was a grave error.
Very early in its rule, the EPRDF initiated policies designed to demonstrate that it was dedicated to social justice and respect for the country’s ethnic diversity. Examples of this could be seen in the creation of a federal system based on what are at least nominally ethnically based states as well as a constitutional provision allowing for “self-determination up to and including separation.”1
Coupled with this was the creation of mechanisms to devolve administrative and political authority from the center to the regional states and subregional governments, including a revenue-sharing formula based on a system of block grants. Notably, the World Bank saw the merits of such a strategy and has over the years been one of the strongest supporters of Ethiopia’s decentralization and social-equity policies.
However, politics continues to serve as a significant drag on rapid and steady socioeconomic and political development. For instance, the regime benefited from widespread support during its 1998 to 2000 war with Eritrea, but after a ceasefire was declared, support turned to criticism.
Many in Ethiopian society wanted nothing less than the total defeat of the Eritreans. Hardliners in the TPLF threatened Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his supporters from within, while other groups, some today represented in the formal opposition parties Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), criticized the regime from without.
Over the past decade and a half, three nominally democratic national elections have been held in Ethiopia. However, until May 2005, the opposition did not present a formidable challenge to the EPRDF. In the latest elections, opposition parties were able to secure 173 out of a total of 546 seats in the unicameral parliament, the House of Peoples’ Representatives,2 up considerably from the meager twelve they held in the previous parliament.
This electoral success seems to have emboldened certain members of the opposition, who to this day continue to cry fraud in reference to the May 2005 balloting, arguing that they should have gained even more seats. The EPRDF has consequently cracked down on internal opposition and seems to be again on a war footing over the situation on the Eritrean border.
The EPRDF regime also feels threatened by the designs of Somali Islamists on Ethiopia’s southeastern border. Late in 2006, Ethiopia launched a massive invasion in support of the fragile transitional government of Somalia, routing the Union of Islamic Courts forces that had come to control most of southern Somalia.3
Armed opposition to the regime generally manifests itself in low-intensity warfare in regions like the Somali state and parts of Oromia. However, the government has recently become increasingly concerned with the activities of a group calling itself the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front that operates primarily in the Gondar area of the Amhara state and parts of the Gambella region. The movement is in the early stages of development, and it is unclear whether it will present a formidable military challenge.4
Despite the country’s continuing political instability, there are prospects in 2007 for important political reforms. For example, in response to the demands of the opposition following the 2005 elections, the parliament is presently considering an amendment of the proclamation regarding the composition and work of the National Elections Board that would make it more broadly representative.
Other proclamations, such as those regulating nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and land-related issues, will also be presented to parliament for discussion. Additionally, the parliament is expected to enact a new press law, though critics expect more restrictions rather than an expansion of press freedom.
Previous | Introduction | Accountability and Public Voice | Civil Liberties | Rule of Law | Anticorruption and Transparency | Author | Notes | Next
Accountability and Public...
Go to Site
Search the Web
2. http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=140&edition=8&ccrpage=37&ccrcountry=156
The complete reports of both reports are available at PDF Version link. Individual chapters can be opened as internet pages directly from this email through the individual links at the top and bottom.
Source: Freedom House: Countries at the Crossroads 2007
1. Country Report - Eritrea
PDF Version
Previous | Introduction | Accountability and Public Voice | Civil Liberties | Rule of Law | Anticorruption and Transparency | Author | Notes | Next
Capital: Asmara
Population: 4,600,000
GDP: 200
Scores:
Accountability and Public Voice: 0.44
Civil Liberties: 0.95
Rule of Law: 0.71
Anticorruption and Transparency: 0.86
(Scores are based on a scale of 0 to 7, with 0 representing weakest and 7 representing strongest performance.)
Introduction
Eritrea showed considerable promise upon winning its de facto independence in May 1991 after a 30-year war against successive U.S.- and Soviet-backed Ethiopian governments that had laid claim to the former Italian colony.
Eritrea formalized its status as Africa’s newest nation in a near unanimous vote for sovereignty (99.8 percent) in a United Nations-monitored referendum in which 98.5 percent of the 1,125,000 registered voters participated.1
Over the next three years, the transitional government established new state institutions—executive, legislative, and judicial branches presiding over a three-tiered administration (national, regional, local); a streamlined civil service; professional armed forces; and new police and security forces, while also managing a highly participatory constitution-making process.
However, the leadership of the independence movement was deeply divided in its commitment to democratic governance. Regime hardliners, who got the upper hand during a series of regional conflicts capped in 1998-2000 by a bloody border war with Ethiopia, plunged the new country into a cycle of military mobilization and political repression that stymied the country’s development prospects and reversed progress toward democracy.
This situation worsened in 2006 with an increase in politically motivated arrests, torture and deaths of political prisoners, persecution of religious minorities, and tightened restrictions on nongovernmental organizations and aid agencies.
The victorious Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF)—renamed the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) in 1994—today rules with an iron fist under the leadership of former military commander, now president, Isaias Afwerki.
The constitution, ratified in 1997, has yet to be implemented; national elections, repeatedly postponed, have yet to be held. Meanwhile, other political parties and independent nongovernmental organizations are prohibited, and what few private media emerged in the immediate post-independence years have been shut down.
Thousands of people have been detained for political offenses ranging from public dissent to noncompliance with open-ended national service requirements. Among the more prominent political prisoners are 11 former independence movement leaders and government ministers—dubbed the Group of 15—jailed in September 2001 after publicly criticizing the president’s undemocratic practices.
Detainees also include journalists, mid-level officials, merchants, businessmen, young people resisting conscription, and church leaders and parishioners associated with banned religious organizations.
Eritrea is a nation in a perpetual state of emergency, under siege by its own leaders, with a population denied the most basic freedoms of speech, assembly, press, and religious practice.
The continuing confrontation with Ethiopia not only dominates the political discourse to the point where all dissent is branded as treason, it also provides cover for militarizing the new state from top to bottom and for exporting instability to neighboring states—among them Sudan and Somalia—in an effort to weaken Ethiopia.
The unresolved border conflict serves as justification for President Isaias to maintain a near-total monopoly on all forms of domestic political and economic power.
The absence of any independent media and the complete suppression of civil society preclude the development of a legal opposition within the country—or of any organized public discussion of what such an opposition might look like, were it to be permitted.
The ruling party itself is largely a shell through which the president exercises one-man rule that he shows no sign of relinquishing voluntarily. Under these conditions, national elections, when eventually conducted, will only serve to confirm the current dictatorship.
Previous | Introduction | Accountability and Public Voice | Civil Liberties | Rule of
__________
Source: Freedom House: Countries at the Crossroads 2007
2. Country Report - Ethiopia
PDF Version
Previous | Introduction | Accountability and Public Voice | Civil Liberties | Rule of Law | Anticorruption and Transparency | Author | Notes | Next
Capital: Addis Ababa
Population: 74,800,000
GDP: 180
Scores:
Accountability and Public Voice: 1.85
Civil Liberties: 2.85
Rule of Law: 2.35
Anticorruption and Transparency: 2.36
(Scores are based on a scale of 0 to 7, with 0 representing weakest and 7 representing strongest performance.)
Introduction
In May 2005, Ethiopia held its third-ever multiparty parliamentary elections. The first had been held in 1995, four years after the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) succeeded in toppling the Marxist-Leninist regime that had ruled the country since 1974.
Over the past decade and a half, the EPRDF regime has made substantial progress in transforming Ethiopian society, but further steps are required. While in some respects the political system is much more open than at any other time in Ethiopia’s history, it is far from resembling a liberal democracy.
When it came to power in 1991, the EPRDF organized a conference that led to the implementation of a transitional charter and government. This was achieved by means of pact-making among the leaders of thirty-one different political movements, most of them based on ethnicity and region.
A Council of Representatives in the Transitional Government was created in which the EPRDF had the largest single bloc (thirty-two seats out of a total of eighty-seven), followed by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) with twelve seats. The aim of the body was to secure the support of the leadership of the most significant ethnic groups in Ethiopia so that this multiethnic state could hold together.
Initially, the most significant ethnic groups in society were given both a stake in the new regime and more regional autonomy than at any time in modern history. However, over the next year the ruling coalition narrowed further until it finally included only the EPRDF and ethnically based regional parties beholden to it, so-called People’s Democratic Organizations (PDOs).
This was fueled in part by the EPRDF’s sense of insecurity; the core of the party is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and the Tigray people make up less than ten percent of the country’s population.
Despite a public pronouncement that it was committed to redressing past inequities and injustices toward various ethnic communities, the EPRDF chose to deal with non-Tigray groups only through the PDOs. In retrospect, the EPRDF’s decision not to compromise with other leaders, who at the time were perceived as threats, was a grave error.
Very early in its rule, the EPRDF initiated policies designed to demonstrate that it was dedicated to social justice and respect for the country’s ethnic diversity. Examples of this could be seen in the creation of a federal system based on what are at least nominally ethnically based states as well as a constitutional provision allowing for “self-determination up to and including separation.”1
Coupled with this was the creation of mechanisms to devolve administrative and political authority from the center to the regional states and subregional governments, including a revenue-sharing formula based on a system of block grants. Notably, the World Bank saw the merits of such a strategy and has over the years been one of the strongest supporters of Ethiopia’s decentralization and social-equity policies.
However, politics continues to serve as a significant drag on rapid and steady socioeconomic and political development. For instance, the regime benefited from widespread support during its 1998 to 2000 war with Eritrea, but after a ceasefire was declared, support turned to criticism.
Many in Ethiopian society wanted nothing less than the total defeat of the Eritreans. Hardliners in the TPLF threatened Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his supporters from within, while other groups, some today represented in the formal opposition parties Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), criticized the regime from without.
Over the past decade and a half, three nominally democratic national elections have been held in Ethiopia. However, until May 2005, the opposition did not present a formidable challenge to the EPRDF. In the latest elections, opposition parties were able to secure 173 out of a total of 546 seats in the unicameral parliament, the House of Peoples’ Representatives,2 up considerably from the meager twelve they held in the previous parliament.
This electoral success seems to have emboldened certain members of the opposition, who to this day continue to cry fraud in reference to the May 2005 balloting, arguing that they should have gained even more seats. The EPRDF has consequently cracked down on internal opposition and seems to be again on a war footing over the situation on the Eritrean border.
The EPRDF regime also feels threatened by the designs of Somali Islamists on Ethiopia’s southeastern border. Late in 2006, Ethiopia launched a massive invasion in support of the fragile transitional government of Somalia, routing the Union of Islamic Courts forces that had come to control most of southern Somalia.3
Armed opposition to the regime generally manifests itself in low-intensity warfare in regions like the Somali state and parts of Oromia. However, the government has recently become increasingly concerned with the activities of a group calling itself the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front that operates primarily in the Gondar area of the Amhara state and parts of the Gambella region. The movement is in the early stages of development, and it is unclear whether it will present a formidable military challenge.4
Despite the country’s continuing political instability, there are prospects in 2007 for important political reforms. For example, in response to the demands of the opposition following the 2005 elections, the parliament is presently considering an amendment of the proclamation regarding the composition and work of the National Elections Board that would make it more broadly representative.
Other proclamations, such as those regulating nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and land-related issues, will also be presented to parliament for discussion. Additionally, the parliament is expected to enact a new press law, though critics expect more restrictions rather than an expansion of press freedom.
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Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Enoch Calendar and Ethiopian testimony of Chirst
Enoch Calendar Testifies of Christ
by John P. Pratt
Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (Sept. 11, 2001)
©2001 by John P. Pratt. All rights reserved.
Index, Home
Contents 1. Christ Quotes Enoch
2. Enoch's Astronomy
3. Enoch Calendar
4. Life of Christ
5. Enoch Fixed Calendar
5.1 Mercury Witness
5.2 Modern Witnesses
6. Conclusion
Notes
Jesus Christ quoted often from the Book of Enoch, indirectly testifying of its authenticity. Now it has been discovered that Enoch returns the favor because the key dates in the life of Christ are "holy days" on the Enoch Calendar. Thus, Enoch, who prophesied of the Elect One, indirectly witnessed that the Messiah would be none other than Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ and his apostles quoted from the Book of Enoch (also called 1 Enoch) as authentic scripture. It was once in the Bible and was accepted as having been written by Enoch himself, the majestic antediluvian prophet who was translated into heaven without tasting death (Heb. 11:5). During the Third and Fourth Centuries AD the book fell into disfavor and was removed from sacred canon, destined to become one of the "lost books" of the Bible. It was rediscovered in 1773 in Ethiopia and is now readily available in English, but is still largely unappreciated. Before looking at the calendar it describes, let us briefly review how it contains doctrines or phrases of the Savior, which are apparently examples of the Savior quoting Enoch.
1. Christ Quotes Enoch
The one direct quote in the New Testament is by Jude, a brother of Jesus Christ:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
"To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 1:14-15, quoting Enoch 1:9 {2:1} [1].)
While that is the only referenced quotation in the Bible, there are many indirect references which involve striking similarities. The scholar and translator R.H. Charles declared, "The influence of 1 Enoch on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other apocryphal and pseudepigraphical books taken together."[2] Another expert noted that "Its influence is apparent in no less than 128 places in the New Testament."[3] The following table compares a few from the introduction to Archbishop Richard Laurence's original translation [4], in which the Savior apparently alludes to the Book of Enoch.
Jesus Christ Enoch
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Mat 5:5) The elect shall possess light, joy and peace, and they shall inherit the earth. (Enoch 5:7 {6:9})
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son (John 5:22). the principal part of the judgment was assigned to him, the Son of man. (Enoch 69:27 {68:39})
shall inherit everlasting life (Mat. 19:29) those who will inherit eternal life (Enoch 40:9 {40:9})
"Wo unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. (Luke 6:24) Woe to you who are rich, for in your riches have you trusted; but from your riches you shall be removed. (Enoch 94:8 {93:7}).
Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Mat. 19:28) I will place each of them on a throne of glory (Enoch 108:12 {105:26})
Woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born. (Mat. 26:24) Where will the habitation of sinners be . . . who have rejected the Lord of spirits. It would have been better for them, had they never been born. (Enoch 38:2 {38:2})
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. (Luke 16:26) by a chasm . . . [are] their souls are separated (Enoch 22: 9,11{22:10,12})
In my Father's house are many mansions (John 14:2) In that day shall the Elect One sit upon a throne of glory, and shall choose their conditions and countless habitations. (Enoch 45:3 {45:3})
that ye may be called the children of light (John 12:36) the good from the generation of light (Enoch 108:11 {105: 25})
the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14) all the thirsty drank, and were filled with wisdom, having their habitation with the righteous, the elect, and the holy. (Enoch 48:1 {48:1})
History. The Book of Enoch was dropped from the Jewish scriptures shortly after Christ, most likely because it apparently referred to him as the Messiah. It was quoted as scripture by the early Christian Church fathers until the middle of the third century AD, accepted as a divine work having been written by Enoch himself.[5] It then fell into disrepute and was banned from the canon of scripture in the fourth century, partly because it didn't agree with how Christianity came to be redefined after the death of the apostles.
The book also doubtlessly raised questions with its unusual imagery, referring to things such as "the stone which supports the corners of the earth" and "the four winds, which bear up the earth" (Enoch 18:2 {18:2-3}).
That may have sounded primitive to the sophisticated science of the fourth century, but that is the same imagery used by many great prophets. For example, John the Revelator states, "I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth" (Rev. 7:1; compare imagery of Isa. 11:12, Jer. 49:36, Ezek. 37:9, Dan. 7:2, Mat. 24:31). As is discussed later in this article, often what appears to be primitive science in the scriptures turns out to be the sophisticated concepts of God simplified for us. Note that the prophets have 100% chance of success when predicting the weather, so those angels may have more to do with the wind than we might suppose.
Thus, for a variety of reasons, the Book of Enoch was systematically purged from the scriptures until it became a "lost book" of the Bible. In 1773 the famous explorer James Bruce discovered it in Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia), and brought back three copies. Fortunately, the Ethiopians had kept it in their Bible, where it was located immediately after the Book of Job.[6]
One of the three copies was presented to the Oxford library. The first English translation was published in 1821 by Archbishop Richard Laurence, who had been a Professor of Hebrew at Oxford. Later translations included that of George Schodde in 1881, of R.H. Charles in 1913, and by E. Isaac in 1983.[7] The first three translations are now available on the internet. Quotations and links in this article are to the original Laurence translation, because it still appears to be the best overall translation.
Date of Origin. Modern scholars, beginning with Laurence, all date the origin of the book to the first or second century before Christ, hence it is assigned to the "pseudepigrapha," meaning it is not believed to have been written by the named author.
It is dated using standard "scholarly" methods. One rule of dating used by modern scholars, is that if anything is prophesied which turns out to be correct, it must have been written after the event, because otherwise the author would really have to have been a prophet! This complete rejection of the entire concept of revelation forced Laurence to put the authorship of the Book of Enoch extremely late because he saw that it prophesied not only the existence of Parthia (250 BC), but even the reign of King Herod the Great, which began in 37 BC. On the other hand, it was quoted by the Savior and his apostles so it must have been written before their time.
Thus Laurence inferred that the book had been written "before the rise of Christianity; most probably at an early period of the reign of Herod."[8] More modern scholarship has concluded that the book was probably written by several authors over the period of about 180-64 BC.[9] This extremely recent authorship date of course raises the question of how such a late forgery could have been so totally accepted as genuine in just a few decades, which has never been adequately explained.
In this article, let us consider the outrageous possibility that the work was actually originally written by the prophet Enoch long before the Great Flood and contains many genuine revelations.[10] It probably also contains some interpolations of men, and has suffered from mistakes introduced by the many hand-made transcriptions. But for the purposes of this article, when it says that an angel revealed to Enoch a divine calendar, those statements will be taken at face value. One scientific way to test a hypothesis is to assume it is true and examine the consequences. Let us now apply that method to the astronomy contained in the Book of Enoch.
2. Enoch's Astronomy
To my knowledge there has been no thorough study published of the astronomy contained in the eleven chapters of the Book of Enoch referred to as "Book III: The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries" (chapters 72-82 {71-81}).
The reason appears obvious: the astronomy therein appears to be hopelessly primitive. Perhaps the most glaring error is that the angel reveals to Enoch that the solar year only contains 364 days. That calendar of 364 days is claimed to keep synchronized with the seasons.
It doesn't take much calculation to determine that if a calendar is 1 1/4 days short of a year, it would very quickly drift through the seasons. In only 32 years it would be already be 40 days short, which would be noticeable by everyone. Thus, the calendar is usually dismissed in a footnote reminding us that the author must surely have been aware even at that time that the year has 365 1/4 days[11]. The idea that an angel could be so far in error has discredited the "scientific" portion of the Book of Enoch.
In 45 BC Julius Caesar introduced the "Julian" calendar which averages 365.25 days per year. The Savior and his apostles lived in the Roman Empire where the Julian calendar had been used for decades and was known to be accurate. How could any book be accepted as authentic scripture by them when it contained such a glaring error?
And yet the calendar of Book of Enoch was taken very seriously indeed. Both the Qumran Calendar described in the Dead Sea Scrolls and also the calendar of the Book of Jubilees had 364 days. The Book of Jubilees, dating to about the 2nd century BC, strongly emphasizes that the calendar is to have exactly 364 days.[12]
Could a calendar with 364 days actually be useful? Could it be more sophisticated than our modern-day Gregorian calendar? Could it really be a calendar which God might use?
3. The Enoch Calendar
The calendar described in the Book of Enoch has many excellent features. One of the best is that it has a very simple, elegant pattern. My understanding of the text is that it has twelve months of 30 days and 4 other days which are quarter-year markers for the four seasons. Thus it totals exactly 364 days.[13] The names of the months are not given, but it is clear that each season is to be reckoned as the three months following the day heralding that season. Figure 1 illustrates the pattern, complete with suggested names.
Figure 1. The Enoch Calendar. There are several appealing aspects to such a scheme. Not only is it very structured with the same number of days every month, but every quarter-year contains 91 days, which is exactly 13 weeks. That would mean that every quarter would start on the same day of the week. It would also mean that a year would comprise exactly 52 weeks, instead of being one or two days in excess.
Modern Calendar Reform. It turns out that the biggest complaint against our modern Gregorian calendar is that the commercial community would much prefer that every quarter start on the same day of the week. The big feature of the so-called World Calendar which was proposed from 1931-1955 was that every quarter has 91 days, just like the Enoch Calendar.
The difference was that the World Calendar adds one or two extra days annually which were simply not reckoned in the week or year at all, in order to attain the needed average of 365.24 to keep aligned with the seasons. That was unacceptable to Christians, Hebrews, and Muslims alike, all of whom believe that the week is sacred and should be an unbroken cycle. Hence the World Calendar was not adopted.[14]
Thus, modern calendar reform has been advocating the very features of the calendar of Enoch. The only problem is that the Enoch Calendar purports to keep aligned with the seasons, even describing the place of sunrise during different seasons and also specifying the amount of the lengthening of the day in summer months and its shortening during the winter months.
Astronomers would also like the calendar of Enoch because it emphasizes the four natural divisions of the year. The phrases "first day of spring," summer, autumn and winter are commonly used to denote what astronomers call the spring and autumn equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices. The equinoxes are the two days each year on which the sun rises most nearly due east, making the days and nights of equal length.
The solstices occur when the sun rises at the farthest point north or south, causing the longest and shortest days of the year. Surely the idea of having those four days be emphasized on the calendar would be appealing to astronomers who would like to keep the public aware that the calendar is indeed tied to astronomy.
Intercalation. So what about those extra days needed to keep aligned with the seasons? Nowhere does the Book of Enoch forbid intercalation, meaning inserting extra "leap days" into the year to keep it aligned with the seasons.
It does, however, seem to imply that the week should be an unbroken cycle, because surely one of the main reasons for choosing a 364-day year length is that it is exactly 52 weeks. Thus, the possibility arises of inserting an entire extra week every few years to bring the average to the needed 365.24 days. That would fulfill both the purpose of keeping aligned with the seasons and yet keeping the week an unbroken cycle of 7 days.
Actually, the Book of Enoch does appear to suggest an intercalation method which has been largely overlooked.[15] In discussing the motion of the moon, the angel tells Enoch what I believe to be the secret of when to insert the extra weeks:
"The moon brings on all the years exactly, that their stations may come neither too forwards nor too backwards a single day; but that the years may be changed with correct precision in 364 days. In three years the days are 1,092; . . . To the moon alone belong in three years 1,062 days . . . So that the moon has thirty days less than the sun and stars. . . . The year then becomes truly complete according to the station of the moons and the station of the sun . . ." (Enoch 74:11-17 {73:13-14, 12, 16})
In other words, it is the moon which "brings on all the years exactly," meaning that intercalation is to be done such that the new year (at the spring equinox) approximately aligns with the new moon.
That will only be possible in certain years, but it provides a guideline for when to insert the extra one-week intervals. The angel seems to be pointing out that, in addition to its primary goal of aligning with the seasons of the sun, a secondary purpose of the Enoch Calendar is to keep aligned with the moon also. That makes it surprisingly similar to the Hebrew calendar, which has the primary goal of aligning with the moon, and a secondary goal of aligning with the sun.
Note also that the angel points out another excellent reason for the choice of 364 days. The lunar year of 354 days is 10 days short of 364 days, so in three years the lunar cycle is 30 days short of three 364-day Enoch years.
The Hebrew calendar inserts an extra 30-day lunar month about every three years to keep aligned with the sun. Thus, during many three year intervals, the Hebrew and Enoch year align perfectly with no intercalation.[16] There is an excellent example of this very alignment of Hebrew and Enoch calendars during the life of Christ, discussed below.
An unexpected feature of the 364-day year is that it results in an average year length even more accurate than our modern Gregorian calendar. The actual length of the year is now 365.2422 days. The Gregorian calendar averages 365.2425 days which is much closer than the former Julian calendar which averaged 365.25 days. But if 52 weeks are intercalated every 293 years into the calendar of Enoch, then it averages 365.2423 days which is extremely accurate.
It is very surprising that such accuracy can be obtained by intercalating an entire week at a time over so short a time period. In contrast, our Gregorian calendar intercalates one day at a time over a 400-year cycle and achieves less long-term accuracy.[17] A 364-day calendar based on an intercalated Enoch calendar has been proposed.[18]
Alignment with Week. Because every quarter of the Enoch Calendar will always begin on the same day of the week, we need to know what weekday begins each quarter. One big clue is that this calendar is holy, having been revealed by an angel, and therefore most likely tied to days which God has declared holy. Both the first and last day of the week have been declared holy: the seventh day (Saturday) was the sabbath day before the resurrection of Jesus Christ, after which the first day of the week (Sunday) became the day of worship for those who accept him as the Messiah (Acts 20:7).
The most obvious alignment is that each quarter should begin on a Sunday just as each week begins on a Sunday. Let us try that hypothesis and see what fruit it bears.[19]
Beginning of Day. Another important point is to define when each day begins. The Book of Enoch is apparently mute on this subject, but it may imply that the day begins at dawn for several reasons. First, the description of the solar calendar begins with the sun rising. Second, day is consistently mentioned as occurring before night, as opposed to Genesis where the evening always precedes the morning (as in the Hebrew day).
And finally, as a rule, calendars usually begin both days and years on the same part of the light/dark cycle. That is, calendars on which the year begins in the spring also have the day begin at dawn; if the day begins in the evening, then the year begins in the fall. Even on our Gregorian calendar, the day begins at midnight and the year in mid winter. Thus, let us proceed with the tentative proposal that the day on the Enoch calendar begins at dawn.
4. Key Dates in the Life of Christ
Now let us see if this definition of the Enoch Calendar has any usefulness for events that an angel would consider important. The first obvious target in searching for such a date is to consider the key dates in the life of Jesus Christ. Over the last two decades, this author has published his proposed dates for four major events in the life of Jesus Christ: his birth, baptism, beginning of public ministry, and resurrection.[20] In preparation for appreciating the coincidences with the Enoch Calendar, let us review the symbolism of those dates.
The proposed dates in the life of the Savior were calculated from the Judean calendar, which was the version of the Hebrew calendar used at that time in Jerusalem. It is now clear after the fact to Christians that many of the rites of the law of Moses were symbolic of the events in the life of Christ. For example, the Passover lamb symbolized Christ who would be sacrificed (John 1:29, 1 Cor. 5:7).
It is important to note that the very time at which the Savior was being crucified on Fri 1 Apr AD 33, the Passover lambs were also being slaughtered according to the Judean calendar. On the next day, Passover, which celebrates the liberation of the captive Israelites from Egypt at the Exodus, Jesus Christ was in the spirit world preaching liberation to the captives there (1 Peter 3:18-20, Isa. 61:1). Similarly, there is the Sheaf Offering of the firstfruits from the ground that was made on Sun 3 Apr AD 33, shortly after the Redeemer was resurrected and became the firstfruits of them that slept (1 Cor 15:20).
One correlation which has not been so obvious is that the feast of the Passover, that is, the joyous celebration, was really the Savior's birthday party, who would be liberated from the captivity of the womb and be born on the same day that the nation of Israel was born. Thus the timing of the various rites of the law of Moses all pointed to Christ as being the Messiah (Gal. 3:24).
Those dates, along with the dates of the Savior's baptism (on the day of Atonement) and the beginning of his public ministry (on Passover) are illustrated in Figure 2. Note the perfection of the astronomical timing. The Savior began his ministry exactly on his 30th birthday, even as the Levites began their temple service at age 30 (Num. 4:3).
His public ministry lasted exactly three years, so that his life from birth to death was within a few hours of exactly 33 Hebrew years, having been born at 15 Nisan began and died as 14 Nisan ended. Thus it appears that his life was planned according to the Hebrew calendar, including the day of his death. Because of the foreknowledge of God, the Israelites had been commanded to sacrifice lambs for well over a thousand years on the very day each year on which the Lamb of God would also be slain.
Figure 2. Key events in Christ's life occurred on ritual days on the Hebrew Calendar.
Now let us consider those same dates on the Enoch Calendar, remembering that the dates were derived by fitting to the ritual days on the Hebrew calendar. First, let us just consider the intervals between the dates. The period from the Savior's baptism to the beginning of his ministry was 182 days, exactly half a year on the Enoch calendar.
Moreover, from his public ministry beginning on Sat 6 Apr AD 30 to his resurrection was exactly 3 Enoch years of 364 days. That is the very interval alignment already quoted from the Book of Enoch, namely, that after a three year period the Hebrew and Enoch calendars align with each other. Note that on our calendar the separation of those two dates is four days short of three years, but on the Hebrew calendar it is exactly three years, both days occurring on the Hebrew day 15 Nisan (Passover).
Those two dates are also separated by exactly 1,092 days as described in the Book of Enoch, both days being the same day on the Enoch Calendar. Thus, the mathematical coincidence which allows these two dates in the life of Christ to fall on the same days on both the Hebrew and Enoch Calendar is explicitly stated in the Book of Enoch.
Correlation. Let us now consider the precise correlation of the Enoch calendar during the life of Christ to our calendar. The goal of the Enoch Calendar is to have the day of the Spring Equinox day (always a Saturday) fall near the new moon (1 Nisan or New Year on the Hebrew Calendar) and also near the actual spring equinox (20/21 March).
The two years AD 30 and AD 33 are ideal models of the desired positions because 1 Nisan fell on Sat 23 Mar AD 30 and Sat 19 Mar AD 33, each only two days away from the equinox. Thus, although we don't know just when the Enoch Calendar would be intercalated, we can be sure that it would not be in, nor between, these two years because they are already perfectly aligned.
To see how unusual that is, note that in the years within two decades of AD 30 and 33, there is not even one other year in which 1 Nisan falls on a Saturday between 17 Mar and 25 March. Thus, it is ideal that these two dates are so centered around the true equinox.
Enoch Calendar Holy Days. No holy days are specified in the Book of Enoch, but the same ones can be proposed to fall on days on the Enoch Calendar which are equivalent to the Hebrew. For example, Passover is supposed to be on the night of the full moon of spring, being 14 days after the new moon on or after the spring equinox. On the Hebrew calendar, that is the evening beginning the day 15 Nisan. On the Enoch Calendar, the equinox occurs on the day 0 Spring, so 14 days later is 14 Spring.
Similarly, the feast of Tabernacles (15 Tishri on Hebrew) would be on 14 Autumn, both of which would always fall on a Saturday. The Sheaf Offering (Hebrew equivalent of Easter) would always fall on Sun 15 Spring and Pentecost would always fall on Sun 4 Late Spring.[21]
Now consider the key dates for the Savior on the Enoch Calendar. Because the Hebrew and Enoch calendars are perfectly aligned during the Savior's entire ministry, the day he began his public ministry was Passover on both the Hebrew and Enoch calendars.
Similarly, the day of his resurrection was the Sheaf Offering on the Hebrew calendar, and either on Passover or Sheaf Offering on the Enoch calendar, depending on the time of the beginning of the Enoch day. The day of his baptism was on the day of Atonement on the Hebrew calendar (Sat 10 Tishri) and on the feast of Tabernacles on the Enoch calendar (Sat 14 Autumn).[22] So three of the four key dates in the Savior's life fell on holy days on both the Enoch and Hebrew Calendars.
Savior's Birth. But what about the Savior's birth date after sunset on Wed 5 Apr 1 BC.? In the year 1 BC., the day 1 Nisan did not fall on a Saturday as in AD 30 and 33, so the Enoch Calendar was not aligned with the Hebrew. While Christ was born right at the time of the Passover Feast on the Hebrew Calendar (the evening preceding Passover, Thu 6 Apr), it would have been either 11 Spring or 18 Spring on the Enoch calendar, depending on when the intercalation week is added. Thus, the Savior's birth date does not appear to fit the pattern.[23] Let us consider an alternate symbolism.
5. The Enoch Fixed Calendar
If three of the four key dates in the Savior's life are holy on the Enoch calendar, and if it really was revealed by an angel, the we would expect a pattern to be fulfilled that the Savior's birthday would also be represented. The day of the Savior's birth was more important than that of his baptism or public ministry, for even a star had heralded his birth. A little research reveals that there is a very likely substitute "birth date" on a variation of the Enoch calendar.
Note that intercalating 52 extra weeks over the period of 293 years as described above amounts to adding exactly one extra year of 364 days in that interval. That would be the same as 294 fixed 364-day years, which happens to equal 6 jubilees of 49 years each (6 x 49 = 294). [24] This suggests that there may actually be two different calendars implied by Enoch. The first, which could be called simply the "Enoch Calendar" would intercalate 52 weeks every 293 years and would keep aligned with the seasons as described in the text.
The second could be called the "Enoch Fixed Calendar" and would consist of a straight 364-day count, never having any leap days or weeks added. It would rotate through the seasons; that is, its "first day of spring" would sometimes occur in summer, autumn or winter, but it would serve the purpose of accurately keeping track of the total number of weeks which had passed. After every 293 Enoch years (or 294 Enoch fixed years), the two calendars would again be perfectly aligned for a few years. Let's consider it more closely both because it is simpler and also because it appears to explain how the birth of Jesus Christ ties to the Enoch Calendar.
Presentation at the Temple. As noted above, during the 33-year life of the Savior, the Enoch Fixed Calendar would fall short of the usual solar year by 40 days. The law of Moses required that on the fortieth day after the birth of a son, the mother should present the child and an offering to the priest at the temple (Lev. 12:2-4). The boy's birthday was counted as the first day, so the offering was actually made 39 days after the birth. That means that the day of presentation at the temple fell on Sunday, 14 May 1 BC. Because the Savior lived 33 years, that means the time from the presentation at the temple to his death was very close to 33 Enoch fixed years. When we do the calculation precisely, we see that it is exactly 33 years of 364 days from the Savior's presentation at the temple not to his death, but to his resurrection.
Correlation. We have seen that the Enoch Calendar and the Hebrew Calendar were aligned during the years of the Savior's public ministry and resurrection. The question arises of how to align the proposed 364-day Enoch Fixed Calendar with the other calendars.
After all, it rotates through the seasons and so we need to determine where it was on at least one day in history in order to determine it for all time. The most obvious choice is to choose to align it to be identical with the seasonal Enoch Calendar during the three years of the Savior's ministry. If we do that, then the date of the offering of the firstborn of God at the temple would fall right on the day of the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits to God (15 Spring). That is such a symbolic match that it confirms our hunch that the choice of alignment is correct. So it is proposed that the Enoch and Enoch Fixed calendars were identical during the three years of the Savior's ministry. These relationships are illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Key events in Christ's life occurred on holy days on the Enoch Fixed Calendar.
Let us now consider some witnesses that this 364-day calendar actually exists, and might still be used by angels. After all, from what we've seen so far, it was only suggested to explain the birth like event for the Savior on the Enoch calendar.
5.1 Mercury Calendar Witness
Mercury Calendar. The "birth" symbolism of the presentation at the temple finds a second witness in the Mercury calendar, which has been described elsewhere.[25] The "birth" of the planet Mercury occurs when it rises as an evening star, on the day "1 Birth" on the Mercury calendar. That day always occurs exactly 39 days after the day "1 Creation" on that calendar, which is the beginning of the Mercury cycle. The Savior was born on the day 1 Creation on the Mercury calendar. Sun 14 May 1 BC was the day 1 Birth on the Mercury calendar, a second witness to the birth symbolism of that day.[26]
Moreover, there is another witness that this 40-day interval (counting inclusively) on the Mercury calendar is indeed important in the Savior's life. The other 40-day interval mentioned during the life of Jesus Christ is his 40-day fast which commenced at his baptism (Mat. 4:2, Mark 1:12-13). The proposed date for the Savior's baptism, Sat 6 Oct AD 29 was the last day of the Mercury cycle (called 0 Creation), so 40 days later, Thu 15 Nov AD 29, again fell right on 1 Birth on the Mercury calendar. The fact that both of the 40-day periods in the life of Christ occurred during the exact same interval on the Mercury calendar attests both of the correctness of the dates as well as of the importance of the precise 40-day intervals. Perhaps that day could be considered the beginning of the Savior's preparatory ministry.[27]
Three and a half years. One more alignment ties the Mercury calendar to the calendar of Enoch. The period of the evening/morning star cycle of the planet Mercury averages 115.88 days. That means 11 Mercury cycles equals 1274 days which is exactly three and a half Enoch fixed years (3.5 x 364 = 1274). The three and a half year interval from the Savior's baptism until his resurrection exactly fits the Mercury cycle, with the resurrection occurring on the day 1 Creation of the Mercury cycle. Note that the Savior's birth also occurred on the day 1 Creation on the Mercury cycle, so that from birth to resurrection spanned exactly 104 Mercury cycles. (See Fig. 4).
Figure 4. Key events in Christ's life occurred on holy days on the Mercury Calendar.
Table 1 summarizes the multiple holy day alignments during the life of Jesus Christ.
Event Gregorian Hebrew <>Sacred Round Venus Mercury Enoch Fixed
Birth Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm* Passover
(15 Nisan) 1 Reed 1 Creation 1 Creation
Temple Offering Sun 14 May 1 BC 1 Grass 1 Birth Sheaf
(15 Spring)
Baptism Sat 6 Oct 29 Atonement
(10 Tishri) 13 Water 0 Prime 0 Creation Tabernacles
(14 Autumn)
Preparatory Ministry Thu 15 Nov 29 1 Water 1 Birth
Public Ministry Sat 6 Apr 30 Passover
(15 Nisan) 13 Monkey Passover
(14 Spring)
Resurrection Sun 3 Apr 33 am* Sheaf
(16 Nisan) 13 Temple 1 Resurrection 1 Creation Passover
(14 Spring)
Table 1. Celestial Timing of the Life of Christ. The proposed dates of key events in the life of Jesus Christ occurred on holy days on five different sacred calendars. Only holy days on those calendars are listed.
5.2 Modern Day Witnesses
So far we have only seen examples from the life of Jesus Christ indicating that there may indeed be a fixed calendar of 364 days which angels might actually employ. Is there any reason that we should believe that such a calendar has actually been used over a long period of time? Are there any events from modern history that could attest that this calendar is still actually used?
What are some events in our time that might qualify as being interesting to angels? There are some, but not a huge variety to choose from. The following two examples, chosen from the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not offered as proof, but only as supporting evidence for such a calendar.
L.D.S. Day of Pentecost. There was one day in the history of the L.D.S. Church which has sometimes been called the L.D.S. "Day of Pentecost" because of the similarity to events which occurred on the Day of Pentecost shortly after the Savior's resurrection. It was the day on which the temple at Kirtland, Ohio was dedicated: Sun 27 Mar 1836. In order to appreciate the similarity, let us first review the events of the archetypal Day of Pentecost, which occurred on Sun, 22 May AD 33. That day was the day of Pentecost on the Hebrew, the Enoch, and the Enoch Fixed calendars, so it was a triple pentecostal alignment.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
Thus, there was a great outpouring of spiritual events, which were witnessed by many people who had gathered according to the law of Moses from many nations for this annual feast. Note three features in particular: the sound of a mighty wind, cloven tongues of fire, and the gift of tongues.
Now compare these events to those at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. Here is what one L.D.S. authority includes in his entry under the heading "Day of Pentecost":
"On Sunday, March 27, 1836, in the dedicatory service itself, an almost exact repetition of the events of the New Testament day of Pentecost took place. 'Brother George A. Smith arose and began to prophesy,' the prophet recorded, 'when a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place.'" (History of the Church, vol. 2, p. 428.)[28]
This was surely a great outpouring of spiritual events. Note that it included all three of the distinguishing characteristics of the former Pentecost, namely, the sound of the mighty wind, the cloven tongues of fire and the gift of tongues. Moreover, angels were actually seen by many, so there is no question that this was an event which might have been a red-letter day on their calendar. Until now, no mention has been made of the calendrical significance of that day, other than the fact that the events of the week beginning that day seemed to parallel the last week of the Savior's life.[29]
Let us consider the date of the L.D.S. Day of Pentecost on the Enoch Fixed Calendar. It turns out that it occurred on the very of Pentecost on that calendar, being 4 Late Spring. That is the same day that the Pentecost of Sun 22 May AD 33 also occurred on that calendar.[30] This coincidence seems significant because it was not just any holiday on the Enoch Fixed Calendar, but on the very one on which a similar experience occurred.
After this article was supposedly completed, it occurred to me that the power of a scientific theory is found in its ability to predict new results that were not known at the time the theory was developed. We have seen that the most important days on the Enoch fixed calendar during the Savior's life occurred on its Passover feast day. So let's see what happened in L.D.S. church history on Sat 6 Feb 1836, which was 14 Spring (Passover) on the Enoch Fixed Calendar in the year of the above Pentecost experience. This was a date that was entirely new to me. Here is what the Prophet Joseph Smith recorded for that day:
"Called the anointed together to receive the seal of all their blessings. . . . to bring them to the order which God had shown me, . . . all the quorums were to shout with one accord a solemn hosanna to God and the Lamb . . . and if any obtain a prophecy or vision, to rise and speak that all may be edified and rejoice together.
". . . the quorum of the Seventy enoyed a great flow of the Holy Spirit. Many arose and spoke, testifying that they were filled with the Holy Ghost, which was like fire in their bones, so that they could not hold their peace, but were constrained to cry hosanna to God and the Lamb, and glory in the highest. . . . And others were filled with the Spirit and spake in tongues and prophesied. This was a time of rejoicing long to be remembered. Praise the Lord." (History of the Church, 2:391-2)
The reader can judge how well these events qualify as events appropriate for a holy day on a calendar of God. It appears that a thorough study of dates using the Enoch Fixed Calendar might prove very interesting.
Gathering of Israel. The day on which President Brigham Young led the L.D.S. people into the valley of the Great Salt Lake was Sat 24 Jul 1847. That day is celebrated as a Utah state holiday every year, and is very important to members of the L.D.S. Church. It turns out that the day was also the Feast of Tabernacles on the Fixed Enoch Calendar (14 Autumn). Again, the particular holiday involved may be significant, because the Feast of Tabernacles is associated with events of the latter-days. It is also called the Feast of Ingatherings and seems to be symbolic of the gathering of scattered Israel in the last days. Indeed, the L.D.S. people believed they were to gather Israel to that area, and it commenced at that time. Thus these dates serve as two witnesses that the Enoch Fixed Calendar really exists and is still in use.
6. Conclusion
The Book of Enoch contains some advanced astronomical descriptions of calendars which merit further investigation. The volume was accepted as scripture by the Savior and still appears to be authentic. The combined witness of many calendars shows us how the birth, atonement, and resurrection of Jesus Christ had been carefully scheduled long ago and that a "record in heaven" has been kept for us in the motion of the sun, moon and planets. This is a strong witness of the correctness of these dates and that at least some of these calendars were important in the timing of key events in the life of Jesus Christ.
Notes
Quotations in this article from the Book of Enoch are from the original translation of Richard Laurence, The Book of Enoch the Prophet (reprinted by Wizards Bookshelf, Minneapolis, 1976) because he translates astronomical text the best. Since his time many other manuscripts have been discovered and the chapter/verse notation is now different. Laurence's notation is included in braces { }, complete with internet links.
Charles, R.H., The Book of Enoch (London: Oxford U. Press, 1913), p. xcv. His chapter and verse notation is the first one listed in quotations in this article. The entire text is easily accessible on the internet.
Nibley, Hugh, "A Strange Thing in the Land: The Return of the Book of Enoch," The Ensign (Oct. 1975), reprinted in Hugh Nibley, Enoch the Prophet, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS), 1986, p. 95.
Laurence, pp. xxv-xxxiii.
The introduction to the Laurence translation summarizes: "Reverting to the second century of Christianity, we find Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria citing the Book of Enoch without questioning its sacred character. . . . Tertullian, who flourished at the close of the first and at the beginning of the second century, . . . speaks of the author as 'the most ancient prophet, Enoch' an of the book as the divinely inspired autograph of that immortal patriarch, preserved by Noah in the ark. . . . Tertullian adds [that it was] 'disavowed by the Jews like all other scripture which speaks of Christ.' . . . Origen (AD 254) assigns to the Book of Enoch the same authority as to the Psalms [but] affirms that the work of the antediluvian patriarch was not accepted in the Churches as Divine." (Laurence, pp. iv-v).
Thus, by the third century the work was beginning to be questioned. R.H. Charles notes that "from the fourth century of our era onward it fell into discredit; and under the ban of such authorities as Hilary, Jerome and Augustine, it gradually passed out of circulation, and became lost to the knowledge of Western Christendom . . ." (The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913, vol. 2, p. 163.)
Laurence, p. vii.
Laurence and Charles are referenced in footnotes 1 and 2. The translation by George H. Schodde, (Andover: Warren R. Draper, 1881) is also on the internet. Isaac's translation is in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth, (New York, Doubleday, 1983), vol I, pp. 5-89.
Laurence, p. x.
Charlesworth, p. 7.
Nibley also suggests this possibility: "Instead of ever seeking for sources to Enoch, which never turn up, why not do the sensible thing and accept Enoch himself as the source, as the writers of Jubilees and the XII Patriarchs do?" (Nibley, p. 123).
As does Charles in footnote 8 on p. 238.
Jubilees 6:36-38. (Charles, p. 23).
The four season markers are technically the 31st day of the last month of each quarter (Enoch 72:19 {71:17}), but Enoch tells us not to count them as such, but to consider them as special seasonal markers (Enoch 82:5 {81:5}), on which the sun rises with the star which will rule for 91 days. Hence that day is counted as part of the season it heralds. That makes sense astronomically because the season marker would be the day of the actual equinox or solstice, and the first day of the new month and quarter would be the first full day of the new season. The transition day is counted in the season it begins, hence it would seem improper to number it as the 31st day in the last season. I propose the notation "0 Spring" for the spring equinox, the 0 emphasizing it is really the last day of the last month, and Spring emphasizing the quarter to which it belongs.
A good discussion of six variations of the World Calendar can be found in Mapping Time, E.G. Richards (Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 1998), pp. 177-120.
The author is indebted to John Lefgren for sharing his discovery that the Qumran calendar used this method, contrary to a common interpretation that no days were intercalated into that 364-day calendar (personal communication of 12 Feb 2000). He had not, however, noticed that this very procedure is described in the Book of Enoch. It only became apparent to me after the first draft of this article was complete, so this section was rewritten to include this discovery.
In support of this interpretation, note that the text quoted from Enoch also speaks of alignments in five and eight years. Those are both intervals in the Hebrew calendar which approximately align with the solar year, and also with the fixed Enoch year. In those intervals, however, the agreement is not to the very day, as with the three-year period, suggesting that those might be good intervals for intercalating one full week to achieve both years which average 365.24 years and also approximately align with the moon. An extra week is needed on the average every 5.6 years.
Our Gregorian Calendar intercalates a leap day in years evenly divisible by four, but skips years divisible by 100, unless they are also divisible by 400. Thus 1896 was a leap year, 1900 was not (divisible by 100), 1904 was, 1996 was, and 2000 was (divisible by 400).
Pratt, John P., "Mapping Time," American Mathematical Monthly (Jan. 2000), pp. 92-99, (section 6). The scheme proposed in that article is not very clever because it sometimes intercalates two weeks in a row, which means it gets unreasonably out of sync with the seasons. It was suggested only as an example of how accurate the calendar is.
The Qumran calendar is based on the first day of each quarter beginning on a Wednesday, because the greater light appeared on the fourth day of creation.
The proposed Resurrection date was published in "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part 1: Dating the First Easter,"Ensign 15, No. 6 (June, 1985), pp. 59-68. Dates for the Savior's birth and beginning of public ministry were published in " Passover: Was it Symbolic of His Coming,"The Ensign 24, 1 (Jan, 1994), pp 38-45. The date of his baptism is in "What Every Mormon Should Know About Astronomy," Meridian Magazine (12 May 2000).
The date of the Sheaf Offering was a point of contention between the Pharisee and Sadducee sects at the time of Christ, based on different interpretations of Lev. 23:11. The text says the waving of the sheaf (of barley) should occur on the day after the sabbath. The Sadducees interpreted that to mean that the offering should always be on a Sunday, the day after Saturday, the weekly sabbath. That is the same as we now celebrate the equivalent Christian holiday: Easter always occurs on a Sunday. But the Pharisees interpreted "sabbath" to mean the special holy day of Passover (15 Nisan).
Thus they offered the sheaf on 16 Nisan, no matter what day of the week it was (the same as on the modern Hebrew Calendar). In the year AD 33 of the Resurrection, both agreed because 16 Nisan fell on Easter Sunday. These results also affect the date of Pentecost (Feast of Firstfruits or Feast of Weeks) because that festival always fell exactly 7 weeks after the Sheaf Offering (Lev. 23:15).
Thus the Pharisees held it on 6 Sivan and the Sadducees held it seven Sundays after the Sheaf Offering. Again, both agreed in AD 33 because 6 Sivan was on Sun 22 May. (See Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Grand Rapids, Mich., Zondervan, 1977, pp. 83-4). On the proposed Enoch Calendar, there would be no debate because Passover would always be on a Saturday, and hence the Sheaf Offering would always be Sun 15 Spring and Pentecost on Sun 4 Late Spring.
The reason that the date is on 10 Tishri, rather than 15 Tishri, is that it falls half a solar year before the public ministry, but the Hebrew calendar uses lunar years of an average of 354 days. Thus, half a solar year (182 days) is five days more than half a lunar year (177 days), so it fell five days earlier than 15 Tishri.
The day 10 Nisan is a minor holy day on the Hebrew calendar, the day on which the Passover lamb is chosen (Ex. 12:3). It could possibly correspond to 11 Spring, but that seems unlikely, and would need more evidence to justify declaring that 11 Spring was the day to set apart the lamb on the Enoch Calendar.
The jubilee is a Hebrew unit of 7 "weeks" of years, or 7 x 7 = 49 years. It is often mistakenly thought to have been a fifty year cycle, because the fiftieth year was celebrated (Lev. 25:10). But the fiftieth was the same as the first, so there were only 49 years in the cycle.
Pratt, John P. " A Native American Easter: How the Ancient American Calendar Testifies of Christ," Meridian Magazine (28 Mar 2001), section 3.
Another witness of the date Sun 14 May 33 being correct is that it was 1 Grass on the Sacred Round of the Native Americans (discussed in the article referenced in footnote 25). Grass was the symbol of the Resurrection (grass growing out of a skull), which was a symbol of the Savior. An important feature of these many calendrical alignments is not only that they were holy days (all days numbered 1 were holy on the Sacred Round) but also the meaning of the specific day seems to be important. This is a very difficult area to quantify for statistical studies, but it is still possible.
Note also that the Native American Sacred Round emphasizes the importance of the 40-day interval by even having a special name for it, the "foot." When one counts by feet on the Sacred Round, the day name advances by one on the 13-day trecena count. For example, 40-days after the day 1 Water, is 2 Water. The Savior was baptized on the day 13 Water on the Sacred Round. Forty days later was the day 1 Water, on Thu 15 Nov AD 29. The day 1 Water seems to support the proposal that the day began the preparatory ministry because "water" may represent "living water."
McConkie, Bruce R., Mormon Doctrine, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1966) "Day of Pentecost", p. 182.
Pratt, John P., "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part 2: Symbolism of Passover and of Elijah's Return," Ensign 15, No. 7 (July, 1985), p. 64 (section 4.3).
Astronomers employ what is called the Julian Day, which is simply a continuous day count, to facilitate such calculations. The Julian Day number of 22 May AD 33 was 1,733,255 and of 27 Mar 1836 was 2,391,731. The difference between them of 658,476 days is exactly 1,809 years of 364 days each.
by John P. Pratt
Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (Sept. 11, 2001)
©2001 by John P. Pratt. All rights reserved.
Index, Home
Contents 1. Christ Quotes Enoch
2. Enoch's Astronomy
3. Enoch Calendar
4. Life of Christ
5. Enoch Fixed Calendar
5.1 Mercury Witness
5.2 Modern Witnesses
6. Conclusion
Notes
Jesus Christ quoted often from the Book of Enoch, indirectly testifying of its authenticity. Now it has been discovered that Enoch returns the favor because the key dates in the life of Christ are "holy days" on the Enoch Calendar. Thus, Enoch, who prophesied of the Elect One, indirectly witnessed that the Messiah would be none other than Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ and his apostles quoted from the Book of Enoch (also called 1 Enoch) as authentic scripture. It was once in the Bible and was accepted as having been written by Enoch himself, the majestic antediluvian prophet who was translated into heaven without tasting death (Heb. 11:5). During the Third and Fourth Centuries AD the book fell into disfavor and was removed from sacred canon, destined to become one of the "lost books" of the Bible. It was rediscovered in 1773 in Ethiopia and is now readily available in English, but is still largely unappreciated. Before looking at the calendar it describes, let us briefly review how it contains doctrines or phrases of the Savior, which are apparently examples of the Savior quoting Enoch.
1. Christ Quotes Enoch
The one direct quote in the New Testament is by Jude, a brother of Jesus Christ:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
"To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 1:14-15, quoting Enoch 1:9 {2:1} [1].)
While that is the only referenced quotation in the Bible, there are many indirect references which involve striking similarities. The scholar and translator R.H. Charles declared, "The influence of 1 Enoch on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other apocryphal and pseudepigraphical books taken together."[2] Another expert noted that "Its influence is apparent in no less than 128 places in the New Testament."[3] The following table compares a few from the introduction to Archbishop Richard Laurence's original translation [4], in which the Savior apparently alludes to the Book of Enoch.
Jesus Christ Enoch
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Mat 5:5) The elect shall possess light, joy and peace, and they shall inherit the earth. (Enoch 5:7 {6:9})
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son (John 5:22). the principal part of the judgment was assigned to him, the Son of man. (Enoch 69:27 {68:39})
shall inherit everlasting life (Mat. 19:29) those who will inherit eternal life (Enoch 40:9 {40:9})
"Wo unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. (Luke 6:24) Woe to you who are rich, for in your riches have you trusted; but from your riches you shall be removed. (Enoch 94:8 {93:7}).
Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Mat. 19:28) I will place each of them on a throne of glory (Enoch 108:12 {105:26})
Woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born. (Mat. 26:24) Where will the habitation of sinners be . . . who have rejected the Lord of spirits. It would have been better for them, had they never been born. (Enoch 38:2 {38:2})
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. (Luke 16:26) by a chasm . . . [are] their souls are separated (Enoch 22: 9,11{22:10,12})
In my Father's house are many mansions (John 14:2) In that day shall the Elect One sit upon a throne of glory, and shall choose their conditions and countless habitations. (Enoch 45:3 {45:3})
that ye may be called the children of light (John 12:36) the good from the generation of light (Enoch 108:11 {105: 25})
the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14) all the thirsty drank, and were filled with wisdom, having their habitation with the righteous, the elect, and the holy. (Enoch 48:1 {48:1})
History. The Book of Enoch was dropped from the Jewish scriptures shortly after Christ, most likely because it apparently referred to him as the Messiah. It was quoted as scripture by the early Christian Church fathers until the middle of the third century AD, accepted as a divine work having been written by Enoch himself.[5] It then fell into disrepute and was banned from the canon of scripture in the fourth century, partly because it didn't agree with how Christianity came to be redefined after the death of the apostles.
The book also doubtlessly raised questions with its unusual imagery, referring to things such as "the stone which supports the corners of the earth" and "the four winds, which bear up the earth" (Enoch 18:2 {18:2-3}).
That may have sounded primitive to the sophisticated science of the fourth century, but that is the same imagery used by many great prophets. For example, John the Revelator states, "I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth" (Rev. 7:1; compare imagery of Isa. 11:12, Jer. 49:36, Ezek. 37:9, Dan. 7:2, Mat. 24:31). As is discussed later in this article, often what appears to be primitive science in the scriptures turns out to be the sophisticated concepts of God simplified for us. Note that the prophets have 100% chance of success when predicting the weather, so those angels may have more to do with the wind than we might suppose.
Thus, for a variety of reasons, the Book of Enoch was systematically purged from the scriptures until it became a "lost book" of the Bible. In 1773 the famous explorer James Bruce discovered it in Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia), and brought back three copies. Fortunately, the Ethiopians had kept it in their Bible, where it was located immediately after the Book of Job.[6]
One of the three copies was presented to the Oxford library. The first English translation was published in 1821 by Archbishop Richard Laurence, who had been a Professor of Hebrew at Oxford. Later translations included that of George Schodde in 1881, of R.H. Charles in 1913, and by E. Isaac in 1983.[7] The first three translations are now available on the internet. Quotations and links in this article are to the original Laurence translation, because it still appears to be the best overall translation.
Date of Origin. Modern scholars, beginning with Laurence, all date the origin of the book to the first or second century before Christ, hence it is assigned to the "pseudepigrapha," meaning it is not believed to have been written by the named author.
It is dated using standard "scholarly" methods. One rule of dating used by modern scholars, is that if anything is prophesied which turns out to be correct, it must have been written after the event, because otherwise the author would really have to have been a prophet! This complete rejection of the entire concept of revelation forced Laurence to put the authorship of the Book of Enoch extremely late because he saw that it prophesied not only the existence of Parthia (250 BC), but even the reign of King Herod the Great, which began in 37 BC. On the other hand, it was quoted by the Savior and his apostles so it must have been written before their time.
Thus Laurence inferred that the book had been written "before the rise of Christianity; most probably at an early period of the reign of Herod."[8] More modern scholarship has concluded that the book was probably written by several authors over the period of about 180-64 BC.[9] This extremely recent authorship date of course raises the question of how such a late forgery could have been so totally accepted as genuine in just a few decades, which has never been adequately explained.
In this article, let us consider the outrageous possibility that the work was actually originally written by the prophet Enoch long before the Great Flood and contains many genuine revelations.[10] It probably also contains some interpolations of men, and has suffered from mistakes introduced by the many hand-made transcriptions. But for the purposes of this article, when it says that an angel revealed to Enoch a divine calendar, those statements will be taken at face value. One scientific way to test a hypothesis is to assume it is true and examine the consequences. Let us now apply that method to the astronomy contained in the Book of Enoch.
2. Enoch's Astronomy
To my knowledge there has been no thorough study published of the astronomy contained in the eleven chapters of the Book of Enoch referred to as "Book III: The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries" (chapters 72-82 {71-81}).
The reason appears obvious: the astronomy therein appears to be hopelessly primitive. Perhaps the most glaring error is that the angel reveals to Enoch that the solar year only contains 364 days. That calendar of 364 days is claimed to keep synchronized with the seasons.
It doesn't take much calculation to determine that if a calendar is 1 1/4 days short of a year, it would very quickly drift through the seasons. In only 32 years it would be already be 40 days short, which would be noticeable by everyone. Thus, the calendar is usually dismissed in a footnote reminding us that the author must surely have been aware even at that time that the year has 365 1/4 days[11]. The idea that an angel could be so far in error has discredited the "scientific" portion of the Book of Enoch.
In 45 BC Julius Caesar introduced the "Julian" calendar which averages 365.25 days per year. The Savior and his apostles lived in the Roman Empire where the Julian calendar had been used for decades and was known to be accurate. How could any book be accepted as authentic scripture by them when it contained such a glaring error?
And yet the calendar of Book of Enoch was taken very seriously indeed. Both the Qumran Calendar described in the Dead Sea Scrolls and also the calendar of the Book of Jubilees had 364 days. The Book of Jubilees, dating to about the 2nd century BC, strongly emphasizes that the calendar is to have exactly 364 days.[12]
Could a calendar with 364 days actually be useful? Could it be more sophisticated than our modern-day Gregorian calendar? Could it really be a calendar which God might use?
3. The Enoch Calendar
The calendar described in the Book of Enoch has many excellent features. One of the best is that it has a very simple, elegant pattern. My understanding of the text is that it has twelve months of 30 days and 4 other days which are quarter-year markers for the four seasons. Thus it totals exactly 364 days.[13] The names of the months are not given, but it is clear that each season is to be reckoned as the three months following the day heralding that season. Figure 1 illustrates the pattern, complete with suggested names.
Figure 1. The Enoch Calendar. There are several appealing aspects to such a scheme. Not only is it very structured with the same number of days every month, but every quarter-year contains 91 days, which is exactly 13 weeks. That would mean that every quarter would start on the same day of the week. It would also mean that a year would comprise exactly 52 weeks, instead of being one or two days in excess.
Modern Calendar Reform. It turns out that the biggest complaint against our modern Gregorian calendar is that the commercial community would much prefer that every quarter start on the same day of the week. The big feature of the so-called World Calendar which was proposed from 1931-1955 was that every quarter has 91 days, just like the Enoch Calendar.
The difference was that the World Calendar adds one or two extra days annually which were simply not reckoned in the week or year at all, in order to attain the needed average of 365.24 to keep aligned with the seasons. That was unacceptable to Christians, Hebrews, and Muslims alike, all of whom believe that the week is sacred and should be an unbroken cycle. Hence the World Calendar was not adopted.[14]
Thus, modern calendar reform has been advocating the very features of the calendar of Enoch. The only problem is that the Enoch Calendar purports to keep aligned with the seasons, even describing the place of sunrise during different seasons and also specifying the amount of the lengthening of the day in summer months and its shortening during the winter months.
Astronomers would also like the calendar of Enoch because it emphasizes the four natural divisions of the year. The phrases "first day of spring," summer, autumn and winter are commonly used to denote what astronomers call the spring and autumn equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices. The equinoxes are the two days each year on which the sun rises most nearly due east, making the days and nights of equal length.
The solstices occur when the sun rises at the farthest point north or south, causing the longest and shortest days of the year. Surely the idea of having those four days be emphasized on the calendar would be appealing to astronomers who would like to keep the public aware that the calendar is indeed tied to astronomy.
Intercalation. So what about those extra days needed to keep aligned with the seasons? Nowhere does the Book of Enoch forbid intercalation, meaning inserting extra "leap days" into the year to keep it aligned with the seasons.
It does, however, seem to imply that the week should be an unbroken cycle, because surely one of the main reasons for choosing a 364-day year length is that it is exactly 52 weeks. Thus, the possibility arises of inserting an entire extra week every few years to bring the average to the needed 365.24 days. That would fulfill both the purpose of keeping aligned with the seasons and yet keeping the week an unbroken cycle of 7 days.
Actually, the Book of Enoch does appear to suggest an intercalation method which has been largely overlooked.[15] In discussing the motion of the moon, the angel tells Enoch what I believe to be the secret of when to insert the extra weeks:
"The moon brings on all the years exactly, that their stations may come neither too forwards nor too backwards a single day; but that the years may be changed with correct precision in 364 days. In three years the days are 1,092; . . . To the moon alone belong in three years 1,062 days . . . So that the moon has thirty days less than the sun and stars. . . . The year then becomes truly complete according to the station of the moons and the station of the sun . . ." (Enoch 74:11-17 {73:13-14, 12, 16})
In other words, it is the moon which "brings on all the years exactly," meaning that intercalation is to be done such that the new year (at the spring equinox) approximately aligns with the new moon.
That will only be possible in certain years, but it provides a guideline for when to insert the extra one-week intervals. The angel seems to be pointing out that, in addition to its primary goal of aligning with the seasons of the sun, a secondary purpose of the Enoch Calendar is to keep aligned with the moon also. That makes it surprisingly similar to the Hebrew calendar, which has the primary goal of aligning with the moon, and a secondary goal of aligning with the sun.
Note also that the angel points out another excellent reason for the choice of 364 days. The lunar year of 354 days is 10 days short of 364 days, so in three years the lunar cycle is 30 days short of three 364-day Enoch years.
The Hebrew calendar inserts an extra 30-day lunar month about every three years to keep aligned with the sun. Thus, during many three year intervals, the Hebrew and Enoch year align perfectly with no intercalation.[16] There is an excellent example of this very alignment of Hebrew and Enoch calendars during the life of Christ, discussed below.
An unexpected feature of the 364-day year is that it results in an average year length even more accurate than our modern Gregorian calendar. The actual length of the year is now 365.2422 days. The Gregorian calendar averages 365.2425 days which is much closer than the former Julian calendar which averaged 365.25 days. But if 52 weeks are intercalated every 293 years into the calendar of Enoch, then it averages 365.2423 days which is extremely accurate.
It is very surprising that such accuracy can be obtained by intercalating an entire week at a time over so short a time period. In contrast, our Gregorian calendar intercalates one day at a time over a 400-year cycle and achieves less long-term accuracy.[17] A 364-day calendar based on an intercalated Enoch calendar has been proposed.[18]
Alignment with Week. Because every quarter of the Enoch Calendar will always begin on the same day of the week, we need to know what weekday begins each quarter. One big clue is that this calendar is holy, having been revealed by an angel, and therefore most likely tied to days which God has declared holy. Both the first and last day of the week have been declared holy: the seventh day (Saturday) was the sabbath day before the resurrection of Jesus Christ, after which the first day of the week (Sunday) became the day of worship for those who accept him as the Messiah (Acts 20:7).
The most obvious alignment is that each quarter should begin on a Sunday just as each week begins on a Sunday. Let us try that hypothesis and see what fruit it bears.[19]
Beginning of Day. Another important point is to define when each day begins. The Book of Enoch is apparently mute on this subject, but it may imply that the day begins at dawn for several reasons. First, the description of the solar calendar begins with the sun rising. Second, day is consistently mentioned as occurring before night, as opposed to Genesis where the evening always precedes the morning (as in the Hebrew day).
And finally, as a rule, calendars usually begin both days and years on the same part of the light/dark cycle. That is, calendars on which the year begins in the spring also have the day begin at dawn; if the day begins in the evening, then the year begins in the fall. Even on our Gregorian calendar, the day begins at midnight and the year in mid winter. Thus, let us proceed with the tentative proposal that the day on the Enoch calendar begins at dawn.
4. Key Dates in the Life of Christ
Now let us see if this definition of the Enoch Calendar has any usefulness for events that an angel would consider important. The first obvious target in searching for such a date is to consider the key dates in the life of Jesus Christ. Over the last two decades, this author has published his proposed dates for four major events in the life of Jesus Christ: his birth, baptism, beginning of public ministry, and resurrection.[20] In preparation for appreciating the coincidences with the Enoch Calendar, let us review the symbolism of those dates.
The proposed dates in the life of the Savior were calculated from the Judean calendar, which was the version of the Hebrew calendar used at that time in Jerusalem. It is now clear after the fact to Christians that many of the rites of the law of Moses were symbolic of the events in the life of Christ. For example, the Passover lamb symbolized Christ who would be sacrificed (John 1:29, 1 Cor. 5:7).
It is important to note that the very time at which the Savior was being crucified on Fri 1 Apr AD 33, the Passover lambs were also being slaughtered according to the Judean calendar. On the next day, Passover, which celebrates the liberation of the captive Israelites from Egypt at the Exodus, Jesus Christ was in the spirit world preaching liberation to the captives there (1 Peter 3:18-20, Isa. 61:1). Similarly, there is the Sheaf Offering of the firstfruits from the ground that was made on Sun 3 Apr AD 33, shortly after the Redeemer was resurrected and became the firstfruits of them that slept (1 Cor 15:20).
One correlation which has not been so obvious is that the feast of the Passover, that is, the joyous celebration, was really the Savior's birthday party, who would be liberated from the captivity of the womb and be born on the same day that the nation of Israel was born. Thus the timing of the various rites of the law of Moses all pointed to Christ as being the Messiah (Gal. 3:24).
Those dates, along with the dates of the Savior's baptism (on the day of Atonement) and the beginning of his public ministry (on Passover) are illustrated in Figure 2. Note the perfection of the astronomical timing. The Savior began his ministry exactly on his 30th birthday, even as the Levites began their temple service at age 30 (Num. 4:3).
His public ministry lasted exactly three years, so that his life from birth to death was within a few hours of exactly 33 Hebrew years, having been born at 15 Nisan began and died as 14 Nisan ended. Thus it appears that his life was planned according to the Hebrew calendar, including the day of his death. Because of the foreknowledge of God, the Israelites had been commanded to sacrifice lambs for well over a thousand years on the very day each year on which the Lamb of God would also be slain.
Figure 2. Key events in Christ's life occurred on ritual days on the Hebrew Calendar.
Now let us consider those same dates on the Enoch Calendar, remembering that the dates were derived by fitting to the ritual days on the Hebrew calendar. First, let us just consider the intervals between the dates. The period from the Savior's baptism to the beginning of his ministry was 182 days, exactly half a year on the Enoch calendar.
Moreover, from his public ministry beginning on Sat 6 Apr AD 30 to his resurrection was exactly 3 Enoch years of 364 days. That is the very interval alignment already quoted from the Book of Enoch, namely, that after a three year period the Hebrew and Enoch calendars align with each other. Note that on our calendar the separation of those two dates is four days short of three years, but on the Hebrew calendar it is exactly three years, both days occurring on the Hebrew day 15 Nisan (Passover).
Those two dates are also separated by exactly 1,092 days as described in the Book of Enoch, both days being the same day on the Enoch Calendar. Thus, the mathematical coincidence which allows these two dates in the life of Christ to fall on the same days on both the Hebrew and Enoch Calendar is explicitly stated in the Book of Enoch.
Correlation. Let us now consider the precise correlation of the Enoch calendar during the life of Christ to our calendar. The goal of the Enoch Calendar is to have the day of the Spring Equinox day (always a Saturday) fall near the new moon (1 Nisan or New Year on the Hebrew Calendar) and also near the actual spring equinox (20/21 March).
The two years AD 30 and AD 33 are ideal models of the desired positions because 1 Nisan fell on Sat 23 Mar AD 30 and Sat 19 Mar AD 33, each only two days away from the equinox. Thus, although we don't know just when the Enoch Calendar would be intercalated, we can be sure that it would not be in, nor between, these two years because they are already perfectly aligned.
To see how unusual that is, note that in the years within two decades of AD 30 and 33, there is not even one other year in which 1 Nisan falls on a Saturday between 17 Mar and 25 March. Thus, it is ideal that these two dates are so centered around the true equinox.
Enoch Calendar Holy Days. No holy days are specified in the Book of Enoch, but the same ones can be proposed to fall on days on the Enoch Calendar which are equivalent to the Hebrew. For example, Passover is supposed to be on the night of the full moon of spring, being 14 days after the new moon on or after the spring equinox. On the Hebrew calendar, that is the evening beginning the day 15 Nisan. On the Enoch Calendar, the equinox occurs on the day 0 Spring, so 14 days later is 14 Spring.
Similarly, the feast of Tabernacles (15 Tishri on Hebrew) would be on 14 Autumn, both of which would always fall on a Saturday. The Sheaf Offering (Hebrew equivalent of Easter) would always fall on Sun 15 Spring and Pentecost would always fall on Sun 4 Late Spring.[21]
Now consider the key dates for the Savior on the Enoch Calendar. Because the Hebrew and Enoch calendars are perfectly aligned during the Savior's entire ministry, the day he began his public ministry was Passover on both the Hebrew and Enoch calendars.
Similarly, the day of his resurrection was the Sheaf Offering on the Hebrew calendar, and either on Passover or Sheaf Offering on the Enoch calendar, depending on the time of the beginning of the Enoch day. The day of his baptism was on the day of Atonement on the Hebrew calendar (Sat 10 Tishri) and on the feast of Tabernacles on the Enoch calendar (Sat 14 Autumn).[22] So three of the four key dates in the Savior's life fell on holy days on both the Enoch and Hebrew Calendars.
Savior's Birth. But what about the Savior's birth date after sunset on Wed 5 Apr 1 BC.? In the year 1 BC., the day 1 Nisan did not fall on a Saturday as in AD 30 and 33, so the Enoch Calendar was not aligned with the Hebrew. While Christ was born right at the time of the Passover Feast on the Hebrew Calendar (the evening preceding Passover, Thu 6 Apr), it would have been either 11 Spring or 18 Spring on the Enoch calendar, depending on when the intercalation week is added. Thus, the Savior's birth date does not appear to fit the pattern.[23] Let us consider an alternate symbolism.
5. The Enoch Fixed Calendar
If three of the four key dates in the Savior's life are holy on the Enoch calendar, and if it really was revealed by an angel, the we would expect a pattern to be fulfilled that the Savior's birthday would also be represented. The day of the Savior's birth was more important than that of his baptism or public ministry, for even a star had heralded his birth. A little research reveals that there is a very likely substitute "birth date" on a variation of the Enoch calendar.
Note that intercalating 52 extra weeks over the period of 293 years as described above amounts to adding exactly one extra year of 364 days in that interval. That would be the same as 294 fixed 364-day years, which happens to equal 6 jubilees of 49 years each (6 x 49 = 294). [24] This suggests that there may actually be two different calendars implied by Enoch. The first, which could be called simply the "Enoch Calendar" would intercalate 52 weeks every 293 years and would keep aligned with the seasons as described in the text.
The second could be called the "Enoch Fixed Calendar" and would consist of a straight 364-day count, never having any leap days or weeks added. It would rotate through the seasons; that is, its "first day of spring" would sometimes occur in summer, autumn or winter, but it would serve the purpose of accurately keeping track of the total number of weeks which had passed. After every 293 Enoch years (or 294 Enoch fixed years), the two calendars would again be perfectly aligned for a few years. Let's consider it more closely both because it is simpler and also because it appears to explain how the birth of Jesus Christ ties to the Enoch Calendar.
Presentation at the Temple. As noted above, during the 33-year life of the Savior, the Enoch Fixed Calendar would fall short of the usual solar year by 40 days. The law of Moses required that on the fortieth day after the birth of a son, the mother should present the child and an offering to the priest at the temple (Lev. 12:2-4). The boy's birthday was counted as the first day, so the offering was actually made 39 days after the birth. That means that the day of presentation at the temple fell on Sunday, 14 May 1 BC. Because the Savior lived 33 years, that means the time from the presentation at the temple to his death was very close to 33 Enoch fixed years. When we do the calculation precisely, we see that it is exactly 33 years of 364 days from the Savior's presentation at the temple not to his death, but to his resurrection.
Correlation. We have seen that the Enoch Calendar and the Hebrew Calendar were aligned during the years of the Savior's public ministry and resurrection. The question arises of how to align the proposed 364-day Enoch Fixed Calendar with the other calendars.
After all, it rotates through the seasons and so we need to determine where it was on at least one day in history in order to determine it for all time. The most obvious choice is to choose to align it to be identical with the seasonal Enoch Calendar during the three years of the Savior's ministry. If we do that, then the date of the offering of the firstborn of God at the temple would fall right on the day of the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits to God (15 Spring). That is such a symbolic match that it confirms our hunch that the choice of alignment is correct. So it is proposed that the Enoch and Enoch Fixed calendars were identical during the three years of the Savior's ministry. These relationships are illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Key events in Christ's life occurred on holy days on the Enoch Fixed Calendar.
Let us now consider some witnesses that this 364-day calendar actually exists, and might still be used by angels. After all, from what we've seen so far, it was only suggested to explain the birth like event for the Savior on the Enoch calendar.
5.1 Mercury Calendar Witness
Mercury Calendar. The "birth" symbolism of the presentation at the temple finds a second witness in the Mercury calendar, which has been described elsewhere.[25] The "birth" of the planet Mercury occurs when it rises as an evening star, on the day "1 Birth" on the Mercury calendar. That day always occurs exactly 39 days after the day "1 Creation" on that calendar, which is the beginning of the Mercury cycle. The Savior was born on the day 1 Creation on the Mercury calendar. Sun 14 May 1 BC was the day 1 Birth on the Mercury calendar, a second witness to the birth symbolism of that day.[26]
Moreover, there is another witness that this 40-day interval (counting inclusively) on the Mercury calendar is indeed important in the Savior's life. The other 40-day interval mentioned during the life of Jesus Christ is his 40-day fast which commenced at his baptism (Mat. 4:2, Mark 1:12-13). The proposed date for the Savior's baptism, Sat 6 Oct AD 29 was the last day of the Mercury cycle (called 0 Creation), so 40 days later, Thu 15 Nov AD 29, again fell right on 1 Birth on the Mercury calendar. The fact that both of the 40-day periods in the life of Christ occurred during the exact same interval on the Mercury calendar attests both of the correctness of the dates as well as of the importance of the precise 40-day intervals. Perhaps that day could be considered the beginning of the Savior's preparatory ministry.[27]
Three and a half years. One more alignment ties the Mercury calendar to the calendar of Enoch. The period of the evening/morning star cycle of the planet Mercury averages 115.88 days. That means 11 Mercury cycles equals 1274 days which is exactly three and a half Enoch fixed years (3.5 x 364 = 1274). The three and a half year interval from the Savior's baptism until his resurrection exactly fits the Mercury cycle, with the resurrection occurring on the day 1 Creation of the Mercury cycle. Note that the Savior's birth also occurred on the day 1 Creation on the Mercury cycle, so that from birth to resurrection spanned exactly 104 Mercury cycles. (See Fig. 4).
Figure 4. Key events in Christ's life occurred on holy days on the Mercury Calendar.
Table 1 summarizes the multiple holy day alignments during the life of Jesus Christ.
Event Gregorian Hebrew <>Sacred Round Venus Mercury Enoch Fixed
Birth Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm* Passover
(15 Nisan) 1 Reed 1 Creation 1 Creation
Temple Offering Sun 14 May 1 BC 1 Grass 1 Birth Sheaf
(15 Spring)
Baptism Sat 6 Oct 29 Atonement
(10 Tishri) 13 Water 0 Prime 0 Creation Tabernacles
(14 Autumn)
Preparatory Ministry Thu 15 Nov 29 1 Water 1 Birth
Public Ministry Sat 6 Apr 30 Passover
(15 Nisan) 13 Monkey Passover
(14 Spring)
Resurrection Sun 3 Apr 33 am* Sheaf
(16 Nisan) 13 Temple 1 Resurrection 1 Creation Passover
(14 Spring)
Table 1. Celestial Timing of the Life of Christ. The proposed dates of key events in the life of Jesus Christ occurred on holy days on five different sacred calendars. Only holy days on those calendars are listed.
5.2 Modern Day Witnesses
So far we have only seen examples from the life of Jesus Christ indicating that there may indeed be a fixed calendar of 364 days which angels might actually employ. Is there any reason that we should believe that such a calendar has actually been used over a long period of time? Are there any events from modern history that could attest that this calendar is still actually used?
What are some events in our time that might qualify as being interesting to angels? There are some, but not a huge variety to choose from. The following two examples, chosen from the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not offered as proof, but only as supporting evidence for such a calendar.
L.D.S. Day of Pentecost. There was one day in the history of the L.D.S. Church which has sometimes been called the L.D.S. "Day of Pentecost" because of the similarity to events which occurred on the Day of Pentecost shortly after the Savior's resurrection. It was the day on which the temple at Kirtland, Ohio was dedicated: Sun 27 Mar 1836. In order to appreciate the similarity, let us first review the events of the archetypal Day of Pentecost, which occurred on Sun, 22 May AD 33. That day was the day of Pentecost on the Hebrew, the Enoch, and the Enoch Fixed calendars, so it was a triple pentecostal alignment.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
Thus, there was a great outpouring of spiritual events, which were witnessed by many people who had gathered according to the law of Moses from many nations for this annual feast. Note three features in particular: the sound of a mighty wind, cloven tongues of fire, and the gift of tongues.
Now compare these events to those at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. Here is what one L.D.S. authority includes in his entry under the heading "Day of Pentecost":
"On Sunday, March 27, 1836, in the dedicatory service itself, an almost exact repetition of the events of the New Testament day of Pentecost took place. 'Brother George A. Smith arose and began to prophesy,' the prophet recorded, 'when a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place.'" (History of the Church, vol. 2, p. 428.)[28]
This was surely a great outpouring of spiritual events. Note that it included all three of the distinguishing characteristics of the former Pentecost, namely, the sound of the mighty wind, the cloven tongues of fire and the gift of tongues. Moreover, angels were actually seen by many, so there is no question that this was an event which might have been a red-letter day on their calendar. Until now, no mention has been made of the calendrical significance of that day, other than the fact that the events of the week beginning that day seemed to parallel the last week of the Savior's life.[29]
Let us consider the date of the L.D.S. Day of Pentecost on the Enoch Fixed Calendar. It turns out that it occurred on the very of Pentecost on that calendar, being 4 Late Spring. That is the same day that the Pentecost of Sun 22 May AD 33 also occurred on that calendar.[30] This coincidence seems significant because it was not just any holiday on the Enoch Fixed Calendar, but on the very one on which a similar experience occurred.
After this article was supposedly completed, it occurred to me that the power of a scientific theory is found in its ability to predict new results that were not known at the time the theory was developed. We have seen that the most important days on the Enoch fixed calendar during the Savior's life occurred on its Passover feast day. So let's see what happened in L.D.S. church history on Sat 6 Feb 1836, which was 14 Spring (Passover) on the Enoch Fixed Calendar in the year of the above Pentecost experience. This was a date that was entirely new to me. Here is what the Prophet Joseph Smith recorded for that day:
"Called the anointed together to receive the seal of all their blessings. . . . to bring them to the order which God had shown me, . . . all the quorums were to shout with one accord a solemn hosanna to God and the Lamb . . . and if any obtain a prophecy or vision, to rise and speak that all may be edified and rejoice together.
". . . the quorum of the Seventy enoyed a great flow of the Holy Spirit. Many arose and spoke, testifying that they were filled with the Holy Ghost, which was like fire in their bones, so that they could not hold their peace, but were constrained to cry hosanna to God and the Lamb, and glory in the highest. . . . And others were filled with the Spirit and spake in tongues and prophesied. This was a time of rejoicing long to be remembered. Praise the Lord." (History of the Church, 2:391-2)
The reader can judge how well these events qualify as events appropriate for a holy day on a calendar of God. It appears that a thorough study of dates using the Enoch Fixed Calendar might prove very interesting.
Gathering of Israel. The day on which President Brigham Young led the L.D.S. people into the valley of the Great Salt Lake was Sat 24 Jul 1847. That day is celebrated as a Utah state holiday every year, and is very important to members of the L.D.S. Church. It turns out that the day was also the Feast of Tabernacles on the Fixed Enoch Calendar (14 Autumn). Again, the particular holiday involved may be significant, because the Feast of Tabernacles is associated with events of the latter-days. It is also called the Feast of Ingatherings and seems to be symbolic of the gathering of scattered Israel in the last days. Indeed, the L.D.S. people believed they were to gather Israel to that area, and it commenced at that time. Thus these dates serve as two witnesses that the Enoch Fixed Calendar really exists and is still in use.
6. Conclusion
The Book of Enoch contains some advanced astronomical descriptions of calendars which merit further investigation. The volume was accepted as scripture by the Savior and still appears to be authentic. The combined witness of many calendars shows us how the birth, atonement, and resurrection of Jesus Christ had been carefully scheduled long ago and that a "record in heaven" has been kept for us in the motion of the sun, moon and planets. This is a strong witness of the correctness of these dates and that at least some of these calendars were important in the timing of key events in the life of Jesus Christ.
Notes
Quotations in this article from the Book of Enoch are from the original translation of Richard Laurence, The Book of Enoch the Prophet (reprinted by Wizards Bookshelf, Minneapolis, 1976) because he translates astronomical text the best. Since his time many other manuscripts have been discovered and the chapter/verse notation is now different. Laurence's notation is included in braces { }, complete with internet links.
Charles, R.H., The Book of Enoch (London: Oxford U. Press, 1913), p. xcv. His chapter and verse notation is the first one listed in quotations in this article. The entire text is easily accessible on the internet.
Nibley, Hugh, "A Strange Thing in the Land: The Return of the Book of Enoch," The Ensign (Oct. 1975), reprinted in Hugh Nibley, Enoch the Prophet, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS), 1986, p. 95.
Laurence, pp. xxv-xxxiii.
The introduction to the Laurence translation summarizes: "Reverting to the second century of Christianity, we find Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria citing the Book of Enoch without questioning its sacred character. . . . Tertullian, who flourished at the close of the first and at the beginning of the second century, . . . speaks of the author as 'the most ancient prophet, Enoch' an of the book as the divinely inspired autograph of that immortal patriarch, preserved by Noah in the ark. . . . Tertullian adds [that it was] 'disavowed by the Jews like all other scripture which speaks of Christ.' . . . Origen (AD 254) assigns to the Book of Enoch the same authority as to the Psalms [but] affirms that the work of the antediluvian patriarch was not accepted in the Churches as Divine." (Laurence, pp. iv-v).
Thus, by the third century the work was beginning to be questioned. R.H. Charles notes that "from the fourth century of our era onward it fell into discredit; and under the ban of such authorities as Hilary, Jerome and Augustine, it gradually passed out of circulation, and became lost to the knowledge of Western Christendom . . ." (The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913, vol. 2, p. 163.)
Laurence, p. vii.
Laurence and Charles are referenced in footnotes 1 and 2. The translation by George H. Schodde, (Andover: Warren R. Draper, 1881) is also on the internet. Isaac's translation is in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth, (New York, Doubleday, 1983), vol I, pp. 5-89.
Laurence, p. x.
Charlesworth, p. 7.
Nibley also suggests this possibility: "Instead of ever seeking for sources to Enoch, which never turn up, why not do the sensible thing and accept Enoch himself as the source, as the writers of Jubilees and the XII Patriarchs do?" (Nibley, p. 123).
As does Charles in footnote 8 on p. 238.
Jubilees 6:36-38. (Charles, p. 23).
The four season markers are technically the 31st day of the last month of each quarter (Enoch 72:19 {71:17}), but Enoch tells us not to count them as such, but to consider them as special seasonal markers (Enoch 82:5 {81:5}), on which the sun rises with the star which will rule for 91 days. Hence that day is counted as part of the season it heralds. That makes sense astronomically because the season marker would be the day of the actual equinox or solstice, and the first day of the new month and quarter would be the first full day of the new season. The transition day is counted in the season it begins, hence it would seem improper to number it as the 31st day in the last season. I propose the notation "0 Spring" for the spring equinox, the 0 emphasizing it is really the last day of the last month, and Spring emphasizing the quarter to which it belongs.
A good discussion of six variations of the World Calendar can be found in Mapping Time, E.G. Richards (Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 1998), pp. 177-120.
The author is indebted to John Lefgren for sharing his discovery that the Qumran calendar used this method, contrary to a common interpretation that no days were intercalated into that 364-day calendar (personal communication of 12 Feb 2000). He had not, however, noticed that this very procedure is described in the Book of Enoch. It only became apparent to me after the first draft of this article was complete, so this section was rewritten to include this discovery.
In support of this interpretation, note that the text quoted from Enoch also speaks of alignments in five and eight years. Those are both intervals in the Hebrew calendar which approximately align with the solar year, and also with the fixed Enoch year. In those intervals, however, the agreement is not to the very day, as with the three-year period, suggesting that those might be good intervals for intercalating one full week to achieve both years which average 365.24 years and also approximately align with the moon. An extra week is needed on the average every 5.6 years.
Our Gregorian Calendar intercalates a leap day in years evenly divisible by four, but skips years divisible by 100, unless they are also divisible by 400. Thus 1896 was a leap year, 1900 was not (divisible by 100), 1904 was, 1996 was, and 2000 was (divisible by 400).
Pratt, John P., "Mapping Time," American Mathematical Monthly (Jan. 2000), pp. 92-99, (section 6). The scheme proposed in that article is not very clever because it sometimes intercalates two weeks in a row, which means it gets unreasonably out of sync with the seasons. It was suggested only as an example of how accurate the calendar is.
The Qumran calendar is based on the first day of each quarter beginning on a Wednesday, because the greater light appeared on the fourth day of creation.
The proposed Resurrection date was published in "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part 1: Dating the First Easter,"Ensign 15, No. 6 (June, 1985), pp. 59-68. Dates for the Savior's birth and beginning of public ministry were published in " Passover: Was it Symbolic of His Coming,"The Ensign 24, 1 (Jan, 1994), pp 38-45. The date of his baptism is in "What Every Mormon Should Know About Astronomy," Meridian Magazine (12 May 2000).
The date of the Sheaf Offering was a point of contention between the Pharisee and Sadducee sects at the time of Christ, based on different interpretations of Lev. 23:11. The text says the waving of the sheaf (of barley) should occur on the day after the sabbath. The Sadducees interpreted that to mean that the offering should always be on a Sunday, the day after Saturday, the weekly sabbath. That is the same as we now celebrate the equivalent Christian holiday: Easter always occurs on a Sunday. But the Pharisees interpreted "sabbath" to mean the special holy day of Passover (15 Nisan).
Thus they offered the sheaf on 16 Nisan, no matter what day of the week it was (the same as on the modern Hebrew Calendar). In the year AD 33 of the Resurrection, both agreed because 16 Nisan fell on Easter Sunday. These results also affect the date of Pentecost (Feast of Firstfruits or Feast of Weeks) because that festival always fell exactly 7 weeks after the Sheaf Offering (Lev. 23:15).
Thus the Pharisees held it on 6 Sivan and the Sadducees held it seven Sundays after the Sheaf Offering. Again, both agreed in AD 33 because 6 Sivan was on Sun 22 May. (See Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Grand Rapids, Mich., Zondervan, 1977, pp. 83-4). On the proposed Enoch Calendar, there would be no debate because Passover would always be on a Saturday, and hence the Sheaf Offering would always be Sun 15 Spring and Pentecost on Sun 4 Late Spring.
The reason that the date is on 10 Tishri, rather than 15 Tishri, is that it falls half a solar year before the public ministry, but the Hebrew calendar uses lunar years of an average of 354 days. Thus, half a solar year (182 days) is five days more than half a lunar year (177 days), so it fell five days earlier than 15 Tishri.
The day 10 Nisan is a minor holy day on the Hebrew calendar, the day on which the Passover lamb is chosen (Ex. 12:3). It could possibly correspond to 11 Spring, but that seems unlikely, and would need more evidence to justify declaring that 11 Spring was the day to set apart the lamb on the Enoch Calendar.
The jubilee is a Hebrew unit of 7 "weeks" of years, or 7 x 7 = 49 years. It is often mistakenly thought to have been a fifty year cycle, because the fiftieth year was celebrated (Lev. 25:10). But the fiftieth was the same as the first, so there were only 49 years in the cycle.
Pratt, John P. " A Native American Easter: How the Ancient American Calendar Testifies of Christ," Meridian Magazine (28 Mar 2001), section 3.
Another witness of the date Sun 14 May 33 being correct is that it was 1 Grass on the Sacred Round of the Native Americans (discussed in the article referenced in footnote 25). Grass was the symbol of the Resurrection (grass growing out of a skull), which was a symbol of the Savior. An important feature of these many calendrical alignments is not only that they were holy days (all days numbered 1 were holy on the Sacred Round) but also the meaning of the specific day seems to be important. This is a very difficult area to quantify for statistical studies, but it is still possible.
Note also that the Native American Sacred Round emphasizes the importance of the 40-day interval by even having a special name for it, the "foot." When one counts by feet on the Sacred Round, the day name advances by one on the 13-day trecena count. For example, 40-days after the day 1 Water, is 2 Water. The Savior was baptized on the day 13 Water on the Sacred Round. Forty days later was the day 1 Water, on Thu 15 Nov AD 29. The day 1 Water seems to support the proposal that the day began the preparatory ministry because "water" may represent "living water."
McConkie, Bruce R., Mormon Doctrine, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1966) "Day of Pentecost", p. 182.
Pratt, John P., "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part 2: Symbolism of Passover and of Elijah's Return," Ensign 15, No. 7 (July, 1985), p. 64 (section 4.3).
Astronomers employ what is called the Julian Day, which is simply a continuous day count, to facilitate such calculations. The Julian Day number of 22 May AD 33 was 1,733,255 and of 27 Mar 1836 was 2,391,731. The difference between them of 658,476 days is exactly 1,809 years of 364 days each.
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