The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments

I finished reading Volume 1 of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha in August 2004, and after some further study of the development of early Christianity and much dithering, I finally acquired Volume II in May 2007. I got round to reading it in November 2007, and it was certainly an easier book to read then the first one. This volume was published in 1985, a couple of years after Volume I, but the layout is essentially the same, with the preliminary sections - Foreword, Introduction to General Reader, Abbreviations seemingly identical to that of Volume 1. Despite this repetition, these are worth reading again if for no other reason to prepare the reader for reading the documents themselves. Volume II includes a full index for both volumes in this work, whereas none is included in Volume I. The documents in this Volume II are all considered to have been written over a period of about five hundred years from the beginning of the 3rd Century BC to the beginning of the 3rd Century AD. They are grouped into 4 sections, each of which has a short introduction describing the nature of the contents, and a list of documents included within the section. The documents within each section are in date order, and each is introduced by a discussion of the contents, the original language of the text, the probable date, and where it was written, its historical, theological, and cultural importance, the earliest translations, relationship to other books, and a select bibliography. The texts themselves contain cross references to other biblical texts as well as copious detailed notes on the text itself. I found it was as important to read the introductory section and the detailed notes as it was to read the texts themselves. The commentaries on each document were generally most interesting and throw considerable light on the currents of theological thought which was occurring during this period, but with a caution. Many of the documents were preserved in Christian communities, and some were only available in a language of a much later period. The provenance of some of these works is therefore difficult to determine, and the analysis of the theology and the language of these documents indicate that they have been subject to some later editing and insertions by Christian writers. Of course, only some of the works have these Christian overtones, and in general, the commentaries make clear where these "adjustments" have occurred. I am quite happy that I acquired Volume II, and do recommend it for those readers who have also succeeded in making it through to the end of Volume I. For those who may be interested, I have included the following brief summary of the contents of the Volume II Section 1, which is half the book, includes 13 documents which are essentially expansions of the Old Testament and associated Legends. These include: * The Letter of Aristeas, which is an account of the writing of the Septuagint, and which can be compared with t

Several years ago I went through part this massive work by ordering it through interlibrary loan. I am happy to see it back in print, because now I can get my own copy! This is really, really interesting (and weird) stuff, for Jews, Christians, or anyone studying religion. Among the gems are the kabbalistic work "The Sword of Moses" (but you need the Hebrew text in Vol. 3, or a complete edition, to get the whole thing), and the "Testament of Solomon", which tells the story of Solomon's building of the Temple by forcing a variety of demons to do the work. Most works have a preface containing historical information, or an essay analysing the text. This isn't light reading, but it's good reading. Read the original texts and form your own conclusions about what didn't make the final cut of the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha.

This volume possesses all the virtues of volume one, and then some. Of particular interest to those studying the parallel developments of Judaism and Christianity at the turn of the previous millenium, and the first centuries of the common era, are synagogical hymns, with Christian interpolations underlined (extremely revealing!), first century psalms, and fragments of Jewish writings in Hellenistic genres. The book of Jubilees is a revelation in itself. As with the first volume, the introductions and translations can serve as models for other scholarly undertakings of this type.

The Book of Enoch alone makes these books worth having. If you have ever read Jude 6, Gen 6, 1Peter 3:19-20, 2Peter 2:4 and come away with more questions than answers, you need to read the Book of Enoch! Did the essenes and Christian forefathers consider it to be divinely inspired? Hmmm?Other writings like the Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs and the fragments about Jannes and Jambres are incredibly interesting. These compilations of various writings are extremely well done and without bias. When you're not reading your bible, you'll be reading from these.