An Introduction to the Apocrypha by Bruce M. Metzger (1957-07-30)

The book covers the many books of that Apocrypha and discusses why it is thought they were not included and the significance of them to the world at that time.

"To many people the word 'Apocrypha' has a mysterious and intriguing sound. They vaguely remember having heard the word applied to what were alleged to be 'the lost books of the Bible'!" Bruce Metzger, Preface The Mutilated Bible: When the British and Foreign Bible Society undertook to provide the copy of the bible for presentation to King Edward VII at his coronation in 1902, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Frederick Temple) ruled that a 'mutilated bible' (one lacking the Apocrypha) was unacceptable for the purpose, and as the Society was prevented by its constitution from providing a 'non mutilated' edition, a suitable copy has to be procured at short notice from another source. A controversy broke out in Germany later in the nineteenth century over suggestions that the apocryphal books, because of their theological 'defects', should no longer be printed as part of the Bible. The case for retaining them was persuasively argued by some of the leading conservatives among Protestant theologians,-" F.F. Bruce, The canon of Scripture, p. 113 Apocrypha & Deuterocanonicals: Apocrypha means 'hidden things' in Greek. The Apocryphal books of the Bible fall into two categories: texts which were included in some canonical version of the Bible at some point, and other texts of a Biblical nature which have never been canonical. those compositions which profess to have been written either by Biblical personages or men in intimate relations with them. Deutero means behind, or further from, these books called 'Deuterocanonical,' mean 'books added to the canon.' Deutrocanonical books of the Bible are those of or constituting a second or subsequent canon, books which are included in some version of the canonical Bible, but which have been excluded at one time or another, for textual or doctrinal issues. Such well known works as the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, and Didache:Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, though formerly considered apocryphal, do really belong to patristic literature, and are thus classified independently. Apocryphal addition to OT: During the extended period of the writing of the TanaKh, or the Old Testament, other books written by pious Jewish authors were added, of wcich few are mentioned in the Canon of Scripture, not finally setteled by the rabbis until the Synod of Jamnia, when they discussed which books 'defiled the hands.' The inter-testamental period (200 BC-200 CE) witnessed the formation of those early centuries Jewish literature that developed out of the traditions of the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, Pseudoepigrapha, and other genres. Reading and interpretation of primary texts, will reflect the competing ideas and responses to the particular historical background proposed by different sects, their messianic expectations and hopes for salvation as key concepts of the historical and theological developments in Judaic traditions during this Greco-Roman period. NT Apocryphal Citations: Christianity, and impac