article Related Topics:
Apocryphal_Plays :: Apocryphal_Acts :: Apocryphal_Gospels :: Apocryphal_Apocalypses
 

Apocrypha (from the Greek word απόκρυφα meaning "those having been hidden away"Specifically, απόκρυφα is the neuter plural of απόκρυφος, a participle derived from αποκρυπτειν, "to hide away".) are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned.

In Judeo-Christian theology, the term apocrypha refers to any collection of scriptural texts that falls outside the canon. Given that different denominations have different ideas about what constitutes valid scripture, there are several different versions of the apocrypha. Commonly the apocrypha includes (but is not limited to) those books in the Old Testament that Jerome described as apocryphal when he translated the Old and New Testaments into the 5th Century Latin Vulgate.

During sixteenth-century controversies over the biblical canon the word "apocrypha" acquired a negative connotation, and it has become a synonym for "spurious" or "false". This usage usually involves fictitious or legendary accounts that are plausible enough to commonly be considered as truth. For example, the Parson Weems account of George Washington and the cherry tree is considered apocryphal.

Denotation and connotation

The term "apocrypha" has evolved in meaning somewhat, and its associated implications have ranged from positive to pejorative.

Esoteric writings

The word "apocryphal" (αποκρυφους) was first applied, in a positive sense, to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered too profound or too sacred to be disclosed to anyone other than the initiated.

It is used in this sense to describe A Holy and Secret Book of Moses, called Eighth, or Holy (Μωυσεως ἱερα βιβλος αποκρυφος επικαλουμενη ογδοη ἡ ἁγια), a text taken from a Leiden papyrus of the third or fourth century CE, but which may be as old as the first century. In a similar vein, the disciples of the Gnostic Prodicus boasted that they possessed the secret (αποκρυφους) books of Zoroaster. The term in general enjoyed high consideration among the Gnostics (see Acts of Thomas, 10, 27, 44)*.

4 Ezra is, in its author's view, a secret work whose value was greater than that of the canonical scriptures because of its transcendent revelations of the future. Gregory of Nyssa, in Oratio in suam ordinationem, labels the words of St. John in the New Testament Book of Revelation as εν αποκρυφοις *.

Questionable writings

"Apocrypha" was also applied to writings that were hidden not because of their divinity but because of their questionable value to the church.

Origen, in on Matthew, X. 18, XIII. 57, distingushes between writings which were read by the churches and apocryphal writings: γραφη μη φερομενη μεν εν τοις κοινοις και δεδημοσιευμενοις βιβλιοις εικος δ ὁτι εν αποκρυφοις φερομενη. The meaning of αποκρυφος is here practically equivalent to "excluded from the public use of the church", and prepares the way for an even less favourable use of the word*.

Spurious writings

The word "apocrypha" came finally to mean "false, spurious, bad, or heretical."

This meaning also appears in Origen's prologue to his commentary on the Song of Songs: De scripturis his, quae appellantur apocryphae, pro eo quod multa in iis corrupta et contra fidem veram inveniuntur a majoribus tradita non placuit iis dari locum nec admitti ad auctoritatem.*

Other meanings

In addition to the above, other uses of "apocrypha" developed over the history of Western Christianity.

The Gelasian Decree refers to religious works by church fathers Eusebius, Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria as "apocrypha." Augustine defined the word as meaning simply "obscurity of origin," implying that any book of unknown authorship or questionable authenticity would be considered as apocrypha. On the other hand, Jerome (in Protogus Galeatus) declared that all books outside the Hebrew canon were apocryphal *. In practice, however, Jerome treated some books outside the Hebrew canon as if they were canonical, and the Western Church did not accept Jerome's definition of apocrypha, instead retaining the word's prior meaning (see: Deuterocanon). As a result, various church authorities labeled different books as apocrypha, and treated apocryphal books with varying levels of regard.

Many of the Greek fathers included some apocryphal books in the Septuagint with little distinction made between them and the rest of the Old Testament. Origen, Clement and others cited some apocryphal books as "scripture", "divine scripture", "inspired", and the like. On the other hand, teachers connected with Palestine and familiar with the Hebrew canon rigidly excluded all gospels not found there. This view is reflected in the canon of Melito of Sardis, and in the prefaces and letters of Jerome *.

A third view was that the books were not as valuable as the canonical scriptures of the Hebrew collection, but were of value for moral uses and to be read in congregations. They were referred to as "ecclesiastical" works by Rufinus *.

These three opinions regarding the apocryphal books prevailed until the Reformation, when the idea of what constitutes canon became a matter of primary concern for Catholics and Protestants alike.

In 1546 the Catholic Council of Trent adopted the canon of Augustine, declaring "He is also to be anathema who does not receive these entire books, with all their parts, as they have been accustomed to be read in the Catholic Church, and are found in the ancient editions of the Latin Vulgate, as sacred and canonical." The whole of the books in question, with the exception of 1st and 2nd Esdras and the Prayer of Manasses, were declared canonical at Trent*.

The Protestants, in comparison, universally held the belief that only the books in the Hebrew collection were canonical. John Wycliffe, a 14th-century reformer, had declared in his Biblical translation that "whatever book is in the Old Testament besides these twenty-five shall be set among the apocrypha, that is, without authority or belief" *.

The respect accorded to apocryphal books varied between Protestant denominations. In both the German (1537) and English (1535) translations of the Bible, the apocrypha are published in a separate section from the other books. In some editions, (like the Westminster), readers were warned that these books were not "to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings." A milder distinction was expressed elsewhere, such as in the "argument" introducing them in the Geneva Bible, and in the Sixth Article of the Church of England, where it is said that "the other books the church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners," though not to establish doctrine *.

Apocryphal Texts by Denomination

Jewish apocrypha

Although Judaism historically insisted on the exclusive canonization of the 24 books in the Tanakh, it also claimed to have an oral law handed down from Moses. Certain circles in Judaism, such as the Essenes in Palestine and the Therapeutae in Egypt, were said to have a "secret" literature (see Dead Sea scrolls). A large part of this "secret" literature consisted of the apocalypses. Based on unfulfilled prophecies, these books were not considered scripture, but rather part of a literary form that flourished from 200 BCE to 100 CE.

Biblical books sometimes called "apocrypha"

During the birth of Christianity, some of the Jewish apocrypha that dealt with the coming of the Messianic kingdom became popular in the rising Jewish-Christian communities. Occasionally these writings were changed, but on the whole it was found sufficient to reinterpret them as conforming to a Christian viewpoint. Christianity eventually gave birth to new apocalyptic works, some of which were derived from traditional Jewish sources.

The Jewish apocrypha were part of the ordinary religious literature of the early Christians. This was not strange, as the large majority of Old Testament references in the New Testament are taken from the Greek Septuagint, which is the source of the deuterocanonical books ("secondary canon") as they are known by many Christians. The Style Manual for the Society of Biblical Literature recommends the use of the term deuterocanonical literature instead of apocrypha in academic writing, although not all apocryphal books are properly deuterocanonical.

These books form part of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox canons. New Testament reliance on these books includes these examples: James 1:19 shows dependence on Sirach 5:11, Hebrews 1:3 on Wisdom 7:26, Hebrews 11:35 on 2 Maccabees 6, Romans 9:21 on Wisdom 15:7, 2 Cor. 5:1, 4 on Wisdom 9:15, etc.

The Book of Enoch is included in the biblical canon only of the Oriental Orthodox churches. However, the Epistle of Jude quotes the Book of Enoch by name, and use of this book appears in the four gospels and 1 Peter. The genuineness and inspiration of Enoch were believed in by the writer of the Epistle of Barnabas, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria, and much of the early church. The epistles of Paul and the gospels also show influences from the Book of Jubilees, which is part of the Oriental Orthodox canon, as well as the Assumption of Moses and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, which are included in no biblical canon.

The high position which some apocryphal books occupied in the first two centuries was undermined by a variety of influences in the Christian church. All claims to the possession of a secret tradition (as held by many Gnostic sects) were denied by the influential theologians like Irenaeus and Tertullian, the timeframe of "true inspiration" was limited to the apostolic age, and universal acceptance by the church was required as proof of apostolic authorship. As these principles gained currency, books deemed apocryphal tended to become regarded as spurious and heretical writings, though books now considered deuterocanonical have been used in liturgy and theology from the first century to the present.

New Testament apocryphal literature

New Testament apocrypha — books similar to those in the New Testament but rejected by Catholics, Orthodox and/or Protestants — include several gospels and lives of apostles. Some of these were clearly produced by Gnostic authors or members of other groups later defined as heterodox. Many texts believed lost for centuries were unearthed in the 19th and 20th centuries, producing lively speculation about their importance in early Christianity among religious scholars.

The Gnostic tradition was a prolific source of apocryphal gospels. While these writings borrowed the characteristic poetic features of apocalyptic literature from Judaism, Gnostic sects largely insisted on allegorical interpretations based on a secret apostolic tradition. With them, as with most Christians of the first and second centuries, apocryphal books were highly esteemed.

Though Protestants, Catholics and, in general, Orthodox agree on the canon of the New Testament, the Ethiopian Orthodox have in the past also included I & II Clement, and Shepherd of Hermas in their New Testament canon. This is no longer the case, according to Biblical scholar R.W. Cowley.

A well-known New Testament apocryphal book is the Gospel of Thomas, the only complete text of which was found in the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. The Gospel of Judas, a Gnostic gospel, also received much media attention when it was reconstructed in 2006.

Artists and theologians have drawn upon the New Testament apocrypha for such matters as the names of Dismas and Gestas and details about the Three Wise Men. The first explicit mention of the perpetual virginity of Mary is found in the pseudepigraphical Infancy Gospel of James.

References

Information concerning the Hellenist Jews was incorporated from the Catholic Encyclopedia at newadvent.com.

See also

External links

Apocrypha | Christian texts | Judaism

Llibres apòcrifs | Apokryf | Apokryfe skrifter | Apokryphen | Apokrüüfid | Απόκρυφα | Textos apócrifos | Apocryphe (Bible) | 경외성서 | Apocrifo | Apocrypha | Apokrif iratok | Апокриф | Apocrief | 外典 | Apokryfer | Apokryf | Livros apócrifos | Апокрифы | Apocrypha | Apokryfiset kirjat | Apokryferna | Апокрифи | 偽經 (基督宗教)

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Apocrypha".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world