Pseudepigrapha

Home > Philosophy and Religion > The Bible > Bible: Pseudepigrapha

Pseudepigrapha [Gr.,=things falsely ascribed], a collection of early Jewish and some Jewish-Christian writings composed between c.200 BC and c.AD 200, not found in the Bible or rabbinic writings.

Apocalypses are well represented in the Pseudepigrapha; those of the early Judaic period may date from the 3d cent. BC The Testament, the genre of the farewell discourse, is also frequently encountered in the Pseudepigrapha. Prayers and hymns are found both independently (e.g. Psalms of Solomon, Odes of Solomon, Prayer of Manasseh), as well as incorporated into other genres. Most of the works are anonymous; only the apocalypses are strictly speaking pseudepigrapha.

The Pseudepigrapha have been transmitted in Western, Eastern, Ethiopian, and Egyptian Coptic churches and are often extant only in the languages of those churches, i.e., Latin, Greek, Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Coptic, and Ethiopic, though originally composed in Hebrew or Aramaic. Evidence of Christian interpolation and addition exists in some of these books. Some fragments of books included in the Pseudepigrapha have also been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls .

A large proportion of the Pseudepigrapha can be explained by reference to early Judaism's persistent readiness to interpret and expand biblical traditions, reapplying them to new situations and problems. Virtually all the theological themes of the Pseudepigrapha can be located in the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus, the 2d cent. BC Jubilees is basically a retelling of Genesis and the Moses narratives of Exodus, with various added details not found in the Bible. One such example of expansion is the novellike Joseph and Asenath, in which speculation concerning the marriage of Joseph to Asenath reaches expression. Another example is the farewell exhortations by each of the twelve sons of Jacob to their families, which expand upon the Blessings of Jacob in the Book of Genesis. And finally, the Life of Adam and Eve (1st cent. AD) expands the concise narratives provided in the Bible, though the work stresses the guilt of Eve while asserting the comparative innocence of Adam. This predilection for applying and expanding scripture manifests in early Judaism that adaptability which is the hallmark of a living religion. In this regard the New Testament shares the same attitude as the Hebrew Bible, the writers taking biblical traditions, exegeting them, and reapplying them in light of their experience of Jesus.

Future expectation plays a lesser role in the Pseudepigrapha than might be expected; although the apocalypses are interested in the future's determination, they more often stress the faithful standing strong while awaiting God's triumph. Messianic expectation is ambiguous; there is no agreed agenda and no universal expectation of a Messiah. Nevertheless, the expectation of two Messiahs—one of Aaron, who takes precedence, and one of David—are noted in the Pseudepigrapha. Psalms of Solomon 17 is one of the clearest statements before the life of Jesus concerning the coming Messiah. In the apocalyptic literature, as in the New Testament, the premise is that God will intervene on the behalf of his beleaguered people, translating them to God's place after destroying their enemies. The doctrine of rewards and punishments in the afterlife is axiomatic for the apocalypses. The earlier Pseudepigrapha can be examined for anticipations of the New Testament coordinates shaping eschatological life. The collective Pseudepigraphic works remain substantively informative regarding the theologies, tendencies, and conditions of those that lived in the ancient Judaic and early Christian eras.

Bibliography: See studies by G. W. E. Nickelsburg (1981), M. McNamara (1983), G. W. E. Nickelsburg and M. E. Stone, ed. (1983), H. F. D. Sparks, ed. (1983), J. H. Charlesworth, ed. (2 vol., 1983, 1985), and D. S. Russell (1987). See also bibliography under Apocrypha.

Pseudepigrapha Jewish Writings not included in the OT or Apocrypha, published under assumed names. They give information which is important for understanding the background of the NT. Prophecy had ceased, and interpretations of the will of God were offered in apocalypses which tried to reconcile the prophetic hopes and promises with the realities of national sufferings. Some of these writings emerged from within Palestine: the Psalms of Solomon, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the book of Jubilees. These works contain legends and alleged revelations; the Martyrdom of Isaiah explains that the prophet was sawn in two (cf. Heb. 11: 37); the book of Enoch is a vision of judgement and a prophecy of events down to the Messianic age (cf. Jude 6), and the Assumption of Moses (which is referred to in Jude 9) has a view of world history. The Apocalypse of Ezra and the Apocalypse of Baruch offer hope of future Messianic blessings to those suffering in the present. Writings from the Hellenistic environment commend the Law to Gentiles. The Letter of Aristeas (c.100 BCE) and the Sibylline Oracles, written in Alexandria (c.140 BCE), invite Gentiles to abandon their pagan worship; 4 Macc. is not concerned with the Maccabean war but with the sufferings of Jews and the use of reasoning. These works share a spirit of universalism different from the post-exilic nationalism which marks some of the literature of that epoch.

Pseudepigrapha. Writings ascribed to some other than their real author, generally with a view to giving them an enhanced authority. The term is used especially of the pseudonymous Jewish works dating from the centuries immediately before and after the beginning of the Christian era, which are not included in the OT or Apocrypha. Among them are the ‘Books of Enoch’, the ‘Assumption of Moses’, and the ‘Psalms of Solomon’.

Pseudepigrapha. Jewish and Christian books whose purported origin or authorship is not as claimed by themselves. Thus books are attributed to Moses, Baruch, Solomon, Peter, Thomas, etc. Famous examples include the Book of Enoch, Jubilees, The Ascension of Isaiah, The Assumption of Moses, The Book of Adam and Eve, and The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. See also APOCRYPHA.

Pseudepigrapha Jewish writings of the period 200 bc–ad 200 that have been falsely attributed to a biblical author. They follow the style and content of authentic Old Testament works. The term refers more widely to almost all ancient Jewish texts that have not been accepted as canonical by the Christian Church. See also Apocrypha

pseudepigrapha spurious or pseudonymous writings, especially Jewish writings ascribed to various biblical patriarchs and prophets but composed within approximately 200 years of the birth of Christ.