From the editor : The Apocryphal books were excluded from the Bible, yet consist of writings that were considered to be sacred scriptures by certain religious sects. Apocryphal literature had its origins in early Judaism and was later adopted by early Christianity. Some of these works overshadowed the canonical scriptures in both Judaism and early Christianity, despite their canonical exclusion. This is why it is important to preserve and study them.

This volume is sometimes referred to as the Apocrypha Proper, or the Apocrypha of the Old Testament as used by English-speaking Protestants. These books were generally written later than the accepted literature but bore the names (as titled) of early Hebrew authorities in order to gain better acceptance. They appeared so suddenly that Jewish authorities were forced to create an official canon to separate the newer books of questionable authorship from the older.

Research reveals that the canonical books deemed genuine were not written by the true apostles they were simply assigned their names to make them more acceptable. This was the primary reason that the apocryphal books were discounted (they had done the same thing, but came later). The accepted books were, and are, no more genuine in this regard as the apocryphal literature.

These books were popular with the common people because most dealt with the coming of the Messianic Kingdom. As a result, the Jewish Apocrypha became the ordinary literature of early Christianity. In fact, the writers of the New Testament were acquainted with and influenced by the apocryphal books. After the first and second centuries, however, these books were undermined in a number of ways.

Pages: 176
Special Interest: Theology, Esoterica, Antiquity, Apocrypha, Cosmology, Gnosis, The Original Cults of Christ, Occult.