Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

Testament, but that are nonetheless included in some modern Christian

translations of the Bible, usually between the Old and New Testaments. In

modern translations this group of writings consists of the following:

1 Esdras (=3 Ezra), 2 Esdras (=4, 5,and6 Ezra), Tobit, Judith, Additions to

the Book of Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus),

Baruch and Letter of Jeremiah, the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the

Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh,

1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees. However, traditional Protestant and Catho-

lic definitions and judgments of the value of these writings have diverged.

Among the Protestant Reformers, the value attributed to the “Apocry-

pha” was not entirely uniform. Martin Luther, whose translation of the Bi-

ble (completed in 1534) did not include 1 and 2 Esdras among the Apocry-

pha, defined Apocrypha as “books which are not considered equal to the

Holy Scriptures” while being “profitable and good to read.” Other reform-

ers, such as Oecolampadius, adopted a similar view, while translations

such as the Dutch Bible (1526) and the Swiss-German Bible (1527-1529)

preface the “Apocrypha” with statements, respectively, that these books,

which are not found in the Hebrew Bible of the Jews, are “not in the

canon” and “are not reckoned as biblical.” A more discriminating state-

ment about their value was offered in 1520 by Andreas Bodenstein of

Karlstadt(De Canonicis Scripturis Libellus):some works (Wisdom of Solo-

mon, Sirach, Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees) outside the Hebrew canon

are “holy writings” and their content “is not to be despised” (sections 114,

118), while others (1 and 2 Esdras, Baruch, Prayer of Manasseh, Prayer of

Azariah, Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon) are

so problematic that they are “worthy of a censor’s ban.” Thus, despite the

inclusion of “Apocrypha” in a number of Protestant translations, senti-

ments comparable to those of Karlstadt were widely held (e.g., the Belgic

Confession 1561, the Synod of Dort 1618-19, Westminster Confession 1647)

and have led to the removal of these writings in many translations of the

Bible until today.

The widespread criticism of the Apocrypha among Protestant Re-

formers led the Roman Catholic Church to a response during the first

Council of Trent. In Session VI of the deliberations in 1546, the delegates

pronounced a curse against any who were not prepared to recognize all

those books contained in the Latin Vulgate Bible. (Although many Latin

manuscripts had also included 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh,

the Council denied them the canonicity accorded to the other books.

These were reinstated as appendices to the New Testament in the

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EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:01 PM