The Apocrypha: Revised Standard Version (HC, 1957, $2)
Apocrypha?
Sometimes I have heard a word many times, but still don't know what it means. In this case, the Apocrypha are the books, and parts of books, that were included in the Latin Vulgate, but not in the Hebrew Bible. The medieval Church knew the books weren't part of the Jewish Bible, but it didn't bother them. Luther considered them to be part of the Bible, just neither Old Testament nor New Testament. The King James (1611) version included them. The Puritans hated them. Finally, the Westminster Confession of 1648 declared, "The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon of Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, or to be otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings." And so finally everyone is in agreement. Look for this book in the Judaic section.
