Topic 5 of 33 - Your Place in the Learning Journey
The Apocrypha
The Apocrypha - from the Greek word meaning "hidden" or "set aside" - refers to a collection of Jewish writings that are included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but not in Protestant ones. Catholics call them the Deuterocanonical books (meaning "second canon"), a term that reflects their status as fully authoritative scripture within the Catholic tradition. Protestants, following Martin Luther's decision to align with the Hebrew canon rather than the broader Greek canon of the Septuagint, include them neither in the Old Testament nor the New - though Luther placed them in a separate section of his German Bible as "useful and good to read."
The books include: 1 and 2 Maccabees (historical accounts of the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes), Tobit (a pious narrative about a righteous man in exile), Judith (a story of a widow who saves her city by assassinating an Assyrian general), Sirach also called Ecclesiasticus (a wisdom collection similar in style to Proverbs), Wisdom of Solomon (a philosophical meditation on divine wisdom), Baruch (attributed to Jeremiah's secretary), and additions to Esther and Daniel not found in the Hebrew texts of those books.
These books matter for several reasons beyond the canonical debate. 1 and 2 Maccabees are the primary historical sources for the Maccabean revolt - events that shaped the Jewish world Jesus was born into and that are commemorated in Hanukkah. Without them, our knowledge of that crucial period would be far thinner. Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon are genuine contributions to the wisdom tradition that illuminate what Jewish religious thought looked like in the centuries just before the New Testament period. The concept of bodily resurrection, which becomes central in both Judaism and Christianity, develops significantly in this literature.
Whether or not you regard these books as canonical scripture, knowing they exist and having some familiarity with their content makes you a better reader of both Testaments. The New Testament was written by people who knew this literature. Understanding the world the biblical authors inhabited means understanding the books they read - and the Apocrypha was part of that world for most of them.