sessment of “apocrypha” did not mean Jerome denied them all religious
value; but it takes “great prudence(grandis...prudentiae)to find gold in
the mire(in luto).”
This last-mentioned understanding of “apocrypha” was a widely held
view among Jerome’s contemporaries and is reflected in the later Roman
Catholic tradition. For example, Cyril of Jerusalem (mid-third century)
had applied the term to “disputed” works that are not acknowledged by all;
the church should neither study nor read them, so that they are best
avoided altogether. For Cyril of Jerusalem Scripture consists of “twenty-
two books of the Old Testament that were translated by the seventy-two
translators” of the Septuagint, though both this numeration and his de-
scription of the individual books themselves makes it clear that, except for
1 Baruch (regarded as an appendix to Jeremiah), this did not include any of
the works that Jerome would have called apocrypha in any sense
(Catechetical Lectures4.33). Rufinus, an older contemporary of Cyril, was
more explicit in distinguishing between three groups of writings
(Expositio Symboli34): (a) “canonical” works, that is, the “twenty-two”
books of the Old Testament; (b) “ecclesiastical” books — Wisdom of Solo-
mon, Sirach, Tobit, Judith, 1-2 Maccabees — that may be read but not in
order to confirm faith; and (c) “Apocrypha,” that is, falsely ascribed writ-
ings (pseudepigrapha) and heretical books that should not be received in
the church at all, as indicated in the preface to a list of “apocrypha” in the
Gelasian Decree (fifth century). This last use of the term is aptly illustrated
as early as the late second centuryc.e.by Irenaeus who, in hisAgainst Her-
esies(1.20.1), referred to the existence of “an unspeakable number of apoc-
ryphal and spurious writings” that confuse the foolish and ignorant. Simi-
larly, Origen in the third centuryc.e.declared that certain writings are
calledapocryphaebecause “many things in them are corrupt and contrary
to true faith” (Commentary on Song of Songs;cf. alsoCommentary on Mat-
thew10.18.13.57). The equation of “secret” books with deception, though
applied by Irenaeus (and Origen) to inauthentic traditions about Jesus,
would in time be applied to “pseudepigraphal” Jewish compositions as
well.
In summary, Jerome’s twofold use of “apocrypha” would be picked up,
respectively, in the Reformation (Luther) and Counter-Reformation
(Council of Trent). The Protestant “Apocrypha” had their counterpart in
the Roman Church’s “Deuterocanonicals,” while the latter has regarded
“Apocrypha” as the remaining (mostly pseudepigraphal) religious writings
from Jewish antiquity.185Apocrypha and PseudepigraphaEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:01 PM