Apocrypha

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, excellent
Review: I had always wanted to delve into the Apocrypha but had never had the time. This book was perfect. Here are its advantages:

(1) There was none of the faux-pretentious King James-style English. Not that the KJV is bad, it was fine for 1611, but why have 17th century-sounding English in the 21st centurty if you don't need to?

(2) very good intro that explains the origin of the Apocrypha and the history of its various books. In a short space the author tells everything an interested amateur like me needs to know.

(3) very reasonable price for the book, which was appreciated.

As for the Apocrypha itself, it renewed my interest in bible study. I found the Maccabees to be invaluable to my understanding of the progressive combination of political-religious leadership, which provided a good bridge to understanding the political order found in the New Testament. The stories of Daniel were interesting in and of themselves. And there were nuggets of wisdom such as "where man ends, God begins" that were exceptionally thought-provoking, at least to me. Highly, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: What this is, and isn't
Review: These are not, as one review says, "early Christian" works; they are later Jewish writings, some from the first century before Christ.

Also, though as other reviewers point out, none are in the Protestant "canon" (the original "Revised Standard Version" issued a one volume version of them a few decades ago, introducing them to many Protestant lay people for the first time).

They are, in various combinations, in the Roman Catholic canon (e.g. New American Bible translation, authorized for use in the American Catholic Church), and in the canons of the various Orthodox (Eastern) Churches. Communicants of those churches should consult their own authorized canonical versions of the Bible to determine which specifically are recognized by their church. Anyone generally interested can consult the New Oxford Revised Standard Version with the Aphocrypha, which includes notes on the various books and a table of which are included in the various "canons" (often under different names, or incorporated in the text of books recognized as canonical by Protestants, e.g. Esther, Daniel.)

Protestants might like to inquire into the process of exclusion of various of these books; often it was becaused they are used by the Roman and Eastern churches to support doctrines rejected by Protestants, e.g. prayers for the dead. A single verse might have been enough to result in exclusion.

The "canon(s)" of the Bible as we know it (them) are the result of centuries of argument, and many of the early church fathers rejected or accepted books that were later held the opposite when the Bible as we know it finally settled into its current form.

But the "Apocrypha" can at the very least supply missing Western cultural references for Protestant readers (the stories of Bel and the Dragon and Susanna), and at best provide some beautiful spiritual reading from late Jewish Wisdom literature.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent Read
Review: This is a good translation of the Apocrypha. The Widsom of Sirach has a lot of good stuff that provides good advice even today. The tale of Bel and the Dragon is an amusing little story aboput the follies of false worship and the Maccabees story (as well as Tobit and Judith) mame for a good fireside read.