“There’s really nothing special about them at all, except that they came into
existence somewhat later than the rest of the Old Testament. The Apocrypha were
deleted from the Hebrew Bible—not because Jewish scholars mistrusted their
content but simply because they were written after the time when God’s revelatory
work was concluded. On the other hand, the Apocrypha are included in the old
Greek translation of the Bible. They’re not considered controversial in, for example,
the Roman Catholic Church.”
“I see.”
“However, they are controversial in the Protestant Church. During the Reformation,
theologians looked to the old Hebrew Bible. Martin Luther deleted the Apocrypha
from the Reformation’s Bible and later Calvin declared that the Apocrypha
absolutely must not serve as the basis for convictions in matters of faith. Thus their
contents contradict or in some way conflict with claritas scripturae—the clarity of
Scripture.”
“In other words, censored books.”
“Quite right. For example, the Apocrypha claim that magic can be practised and
that lies in certain cases may be permissible, and such statements, of course, upset
dogmatic interpreters of Scripture.”
“So if someone has a passion for religion, it’s not unthinkable that the Apocrypha
will pop up on their reading list, or that someone like Pastor Falk would be upset by
this.”
“Exactly. Encountering the Apocrypha is almost unavoidable if you’re studying the
Bible or the Catholic faith, and it’s equally probable that someone who is interested
in esoterica in general might read them.”
“You don’t happen to have a copy of the Apocrypha, do you?”
She laughed again. A bright, friendly laugh.
“Of course I do. The Apocrypha were actually published as a state report from the
Bible Commission in the eighties.”