Apocrypha

The Apocrypha (Greek: ἀπόκρυφα) are a collection of texts that are usually excluded from most Biblical canons, usually because the text was not well-known or was not compatible with the other texts that were already thought to be inspired. Some of them are included by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church.

Perspectives

There is disagreement even among the Christian denominations that do include the apocrypha on what texts are actually included in Apocrypha.^[source?]^{[clarification needed]} The Deuterocanon is usually included in Old Testament Apocrypha, but the apocryphal candidates for the New Testament^[which?] are debated.^[source?]^{[by whom?]}

The Sanhedrin decided to cut the books from the Hebrew Bible (c. 80 AD),^[source?] but they remained in most Christian Bibles until the Protestant Reformation. When Christianity became the state religion of the Rome in the 4th-century, the Romans decided to cut out all of the same books that the Sanhedrin had cut out.^[source?]

Catholic position

Some Catholics^[who?] argue that these books should be considered inspired because they are referenced by the early Church fathers^[source?] and are included in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible which Jesus and the Apostles would have used.^[source?]

King James Bible

The translators of the King James Bible said that these books were written to prepare people for Jesus in the same way that John the Baptist did.^[source?]^{[clarification needed]} There are also hints in the Book of Mormon.^{[clarification needed]}

Old Testament Apocrypha

The Old Testament apocrypha typically consist of these books, though the names might differ based on tradition, and some books might not be included in some collections of apocryphal texts: