2.61. Pseudepigrapha

“The Pseudepigrapha books are those that are distinctly spurious and unauthentic in their overall content . . . Although they claim to have been written by biblical authors, they actually express religious fancy and magic from the period between about 200 B.C. and A.D. 200. In Roman Catholic circles these books are known as the Apocrypha, a term not to be confused with an entirely different set of books known in Protestant circles by the same name . . . although at times Protestants have referred to these same books as the ‘wider Apocrypha,’ or ‘Apocalyptic Literature.’ Most of these books are comprised of dreams, visions, and revelations in the apocalyptic style of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. . . . The actual number of these books is not known certainly, and various writers have given different numbers of important ones. There are eighteen worthy of mention. . .”¹ For a list of the pseudepigraphal books, see [J. Julius Scott Jr., Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1995,2007), 358-359].

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Notes

¹ Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1986), 262-262.

² J. Julius Scott Jr., Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1995,2007), 358-359.