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When refering to the Old Testament, Protestant Christians use the term Apocrypha to refer to a different set of books from what Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians do, who accept a fuller canon based on the Septuagint Greek version of the Old Testament in use by Greek-speaking Jews in the time of Jesus. The differences cover 7 books: Tobias, Judith, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, First and Second Maccabees; and also certain additions to Esther and Daniel. Protesants call the books that they reject but Catholics and Orthodox Christians accept "Apocrypha", while they call books accepted by none of these groups "Pseudipigrapha". This applies only to the Old Testament; in New Testament studies the two terms are used interchangeably. We start with the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) that was made in Alexandria, Egypt, about 300 BC. This translation included a number of writings that the leaders of the Palestinian Jewish community eventually rejected as part of the Jewish biblical canon. These rejected works became known as the apocrypha; one of the main reasons that these works were rejected was because they were composed at a later date than all the other books which did make it into the Tanach. |
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When refering to the Old Testament, Protestant Christians use the term Apocrypha to refer to a different set of books from what Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians do, who accept a fuller canon based on the Septuagint Greek version of the Old Testament in use by Greek-speaking Jews in the time of Jesus. The differences cover 7 books: Tobias, Judith, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, First and Second Maccabees; and also certain additions to Esther and Daniel. When used by protesants, the term "Apocrypha" is used for the books that they reject but Catholics and Orthodox Christians accept, while they call books accepted by none of these groups "Pseudipigrapha". This term applies only to books in the Old Testament; in New Testament studies the two terms are used interchangeably. We start with the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) that was made in Alexandria, Egypt, about [300 BC]?. This translation included a number of writings that the leaders of the Palestinian Jewish community eventually rejected as part of the Jewish biblical canon. These rejected works became known as the apocrypha; one of the main reasons that these works were rejected was because they were composed at a later date than all the other books which did make it into the Tanach. |
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Christians split this into two separate books, Ezra (called Esdras I by Catholics) and Nehemiah (called Esdras II by Catholics). |
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Christians split this into two separate books, Ezra (called Esdras I by Catholics) and Nehemiah (called Esdras II by Catholics). |
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The New Testament apocrypha strictly defined - books accepted neither by Catholic nor Protestant readers - includes several extra gospels and lives of apostles. Some of these books were clearly produced by Gnostic authors or by members of other groups later defined as heterodox, or outside the body of the Church. Many of these writings were discovered in the 19th and 20th centuries, and have produced lively speculation about the state of affairs in Early Christianity. While Jews reject the apocrypha as having religious value if of itself, at various times some in the Jewish community have drawn from it as a legitimate part of Jewish literary creativity; elements of the apocrypha have even been used as the basis for two important parts of the Jewish liturgy. In the Mahzor (High Holy day prayer book), a medieval Jewish poet used Ben Sira as the basis for a beautiful poem, Ke'Ohel HaNimtah?. This is a closing piyut in the Seder Avodah section, in the Yom Kipur Musaf. |
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The New Testament apocrypha strictly defined - books accepted neither by Catholic nor Protestant readers - includes several extra gospels and lives of apostles. Some of these books were clearly produced by Gnostic authors or by members of other groups later defined as heterodox, or outside the body of the Church. Many of these writings were discovered in the 19th and 20th centuries, and have produced lively speculation about the state of affairs in Early Christianity. While Jews reject the apocrypha as having religious value in and of of itself, at various times some in the Jewish community have drawn from it as a legitimate part of Jewish literary creativity; elements of the apocrypha have even been used as the basis for two important parts of the Jewish liturgy. In the Mahzor? (High Holy day prayer book), a medieval Jewish poet used [Ben Sira]? as the basis for a beautiful poem, Ke'Ohel HaNimtah?. This is a closing piyut? in the [Seder Avodah]? section, in the [Yom Kipur]? Musaf. |
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The Conservative Mahzor replaces the medieval piyyut with the relevant section from Ben Sira, which is more direct. The apocrypha has even formed the basis of the most important of all Jewish prayers, the Amidah (the Shemonah Esrah). Ben Sira provides the vocabulary and framework for many of the Amidah's blessings, which were instituted by the men of the Great Assembly. |
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The Conservative Mahzor replaces the medieval piyut with the relevant section from Ben Sira, which is more direct. The apocrypha has even formed the basis of the most important of all Jewish prayers, the Amidah? (the Shemonah Esrah). Ben Sira provides the vocabulary and framework for many of the Amidah's blessings, which were instituted by the men of the Great Assembly. |
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