The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version

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Summary: Jesus at the feast of the dedication
Review: "And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch". This we read in John, 10:22-23. What is the feast of the dedication? When was it instituted? You can't find anything about it in the Protestant Bibles. To find what the feast was about you have to look at the books that the Protestants consider apocryphal and the Catholics (and Eastern Orthodox) consider deuterocanonical. The feast of the dedication was instituted by Judas Maccabeus, as we read in 1 Maccabees (4:59): "Moreover Judas and his brethren with the whole congregation of Israel ordained, that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, with mirth and gladness." (Both quotations are from the KJV Bible.)

If the "apocryphal" books are Alexandrine additions to the Bible, why was the feast celebrated in Jerusalem? Why did Jesus himself celebrate it? This example, if nothing else, shows the historical significance of the "Apocrypha" for understanding the New Testament. Having decided that the Apocrypha are important, at least as historical documents, which version should you use?

The KJV Pitt Brevier Apocrypha, from Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0521506743) gives you the Apocrypha that were included in the original KJV Bible. It is a little book with no notes, concordances or any commentary. Still it is a well-bound little book that will complement any KJV Bible, giving you all the text that was included in the edition of 1611.

Oxford University offers at least two versions of the Apocrypha, with notes and commentaries. One is "The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version" (ISBN: 0195288009). It is a new translation, but this is not a big loss: the KJV apocrypha were translated poorly. This edition has introductions to the various books and notes: it is the recommended stand-alone version of the Apocrypha in English.

Also from Oxford is the "Parallel Apocrypha: Greek Text, King James Version, Douay Old Testament, the Holy Bible by Ronald Knox, Today's English Version, New Revised Standard Version" (ISBN: 0195284445). It gives the Greek text (from the Septuagint) plus several Catholic and Protestant English translations. This is all the Apocrypha anybody would ever want!

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Summary: A Complete Canon of Scripture
Review: For those of us who are absolutely appalled at the way the canon of Christian Scripture has been ripped up by the Protestant churches (in particular) over the last 500 years, we now have this handy volume containing all the books of the Old Testament that have fallen into dispute since the Protestant Reformation.

Although most of these books are found in Roman Catholic Bibles, there are a few - notably 1 and 2 Esdras and Psalm 151 - that are contained only within Eastern Orthodox Bibles. Although many would say "well, we aren't missing much by not having these works," I heartily disagree. 2 Esdras, in particular, is a very moving work written somewhere around 100 c.e. that contains a dialogue between Ezra (or, more likely, someone writing in Ezra's name) and the angel Uriel. The book deals with theodicy in a truly human way - the frailty and the hope both shine through. The books of the Maccabees also contain things not found in Protestant Bibles, notably the encouragement that praying for the dead is a righteous deed and the story of Hannukah (which was, by the way, celebrated by Jesus in the Gospel of John).

There is an introduction to each book, as well as notes at the bottom of each page to help the reader understand the original context, as well as cross reference the ideas found within a specific text with those ideas found in other Biblical texts.

This book is an invaluable edition to every person's library - whether professional or layman.

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Summary: the best book on this
Review: THe apochrypha is the great missing text of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. AN important document that is part of our history and culture and yet is often not read and is overlooked. How can scripture do without the liked of Judah Maccabbee? read this translation it is wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: the best book on this
Review: THe apochrypha is the great missing text of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. AN important document that is part of our history and culture and yet is often not read and is overlooked. How can scripture do without the liked of Judah Maccabbee? read this translation it is wonderful.