St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

In our "Questions to the clergy" slot, John will try to answer any query you throw at him, without hesitation, deviation or repetition...

Those extra books in my bible?

Q. I have a bible at home which has lots of extra bits in the middle which aren’t in yours. What are they, and why don’t you have them?

A. Yours is probably a Roman Catholic bible, and the extra books in the middle are called the “Apocrypha”. They are books which aren’t in the Hebrew Old Testament but are in the Greek version of it. It’s a complicated story!

When Christianity first spread, the Christians were very good at proving from the Old Testament that Jesus was the Christ, so a lot of Jews were converted. Most of these Jews, and the Christians who persuaded them, did not read Hebrew. So they used a Greek translation called the Septuagint (legend suggests it was made by 70 men - hence its name). The Septuagint is a rather patchy translation: some parts follow the Hebrew closely, but others are different from the Hebrew version. Some books are rearranged (e.g. Ezra and Nehemiah), and there are some books for which no Hebrew versions exist. This might be because the originals have been lost, but it’s more likely that they were written in Greek.

The Jewish Synagogue leaders decided the best counter-attack on the Christians was to declare the Septuagint inaccurate and to insist Jews should only read the Hebrew bible. In practice this meant ordinary Jews didn’t know what to think, as only the priests read Hebrew!

For many years the Christian Church lived with the idea that the boundaries of the Old Testament weren’t absolutely precise. It didn’t make a lot of difference, especially as the bits that proved that Jesus was the Christ were just the same in Hebrew as they were in Greek!

But at the Reformation, when the Reformers were arguing that the Bible ought to be better taught, the question came to a head. Some books of the Apocrypha have some strange ideas, and the Protestant Churches decided they would stick to the Hebrew. The Catholics decided they would keep the lot.

Some of the history in the Apocrypha (e.g. 1 & 2 Maccabees) is interesting, some is nice poetry (e.g. Wisdom), and some of the stories (e.g. Tobit, and “Daniel, Bel and the Dragon”) are good fun. The C of E doesn’t allow doctrine to be drawn from the Apocrypha, but it does say it can be read for “examples of life and instruction of manners” (BCP p613).

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. May 2002, Page 8.
Home Page. Index of articles. Questions: index, Common cup, Evangelical, Resurrection, Lord's Prayer, Apocrypha, Creationism. In this issue: (May 2002) Vicar's Letter, Christening, Basement, Question.	In our "Questions to the clergy" slot, John will try to answer any query you throw at him, without hesitation, deviation or repetition... Those extra books in my bible? Q. I have a bible at home which has lots of extra bits in the middle which aren’t in yours. What are they, and why don’t you have them? A. Yours is probably a Roman Catholic bible, and the extra books in the middle are called the “Apocrypha”. They are books which aren’t in the Hebrew Old Testament but are in the Greek version of it. It’s a complicated story! When Christianity first spread, the Christians were very good at proving from the Old Testament that Jesus was the Christ, so a lot of Jews were converted. Most of these Jews, and the Christians who persuaded them, did not read Hebrew. So they used a Greek translation called the Septuagint (legend suggests it was made by 70 men - hence its name). The Septuagint is a rather patchy translation: some parts follow the Hebrew closely, but others are different from the Hebrew version. Some books are rearranged (e.g. Ezra and Nehemiah), and there are some books for which no Hebrew versions exist. This might be because the originals have been lost, but it’s more likely that they were written in Greek. The Jewish Synagogue leaders decided the best counter-attack on the Christians was to declare the Septuagint inaccurate and to insist Jews should only read the Hebrew bible. In practice this meant ordinary Jews didn’t know what to think, as only the priests read Hebrew! For many years the Christian Church lived with the idea that the boundaries of the Old Testament weren’t absolutely precise. It didn’t make a lot of difference, especially as the bits that proved that Jesus was the Christ were just the same in Hebrew as they were in Greek! But at the Reformation, when the Reformers were arguing that the Bible ought to be better taught, the question came to a head. Some books of the Apocrypha have some strange ideas, and the Protestant Churches decided they would stick to the Hebrew. The Catholics decided they would keep the lot. Some of the history in the Apocrypha (e.g. 1 & 2 Maccabees) is interesting, some is nice poetry (e.g. Wisdom), and some of the stories (e.g. Tobit, and “Daniel, Bel and the Dragon”) are good fun. The C of E doesn’t allow doctrine to be drawn from the Apocrypha, but it does say it can be read for “examples of life and instruction of manners” (BCP p613). John Hartley
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