A review of "The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vol 2"
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha is the inimitable
name of a motley array of texts not included in the main stream canonical
editions of the Bible. There is no real definition of what a “OT pseudepigraphon”
actually is, but the closest thing is that it deals with characters from the
“Old Testament” and hence is Bible-derived, without actually being included in
the Bibles used by (most) Jews or (most) Christians. It should be noted that
James Charlesworth's two volumes of pseudepigrapha don't include the original
material found in the Dead Sea scrolls, nor the Nag Hammadi texts (most of
which are dependent on the New Testament). It does include a few texts
sometimes included in collections of OT Apocrypha…
If in doubt, consult the index!
Highlights of this second volume: Jubilees, 3 and 4 Maccabees, the Prayer of Manasseh, the Odes of Solomon, the Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah, the Letter of Aristeas (which mentions how the Septuagint came to be written), Life of Adam and Eve (which inspired the Quran) and the apocryphal Psalm 151. Excerpts from mostly lost hybrid Jewish-Hellenistic works have also been included. Artapanus claims that Moses, Mouseaus and Hermes was the same person, that Moses invented the animal cults of Egypt, and that he led an invasion of “Ethiopia” (presumably Nubia). Ezekiel the Tragedian (not to be confused with the Biblical prophet) wrote a Greek-style tragedy about the Exodus, while a certain Cleodemus Malchus claimed that Abraham's descendants Afera and Iafra fought alongside Heracles in Africa.
Not for the general reader, of course, but good if you are a super-nerd. Just don't tell your friends about it. You pseudepigraphon, you!
If in doubt, consult the index!
Highlights of this second volume: Jubilees, 3 and 4 Maccabees, the Prayer of Manasseh, the Odes of Solomon, the Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah, the Letter of Aristeas (which mentions how the Septuagint came to be written), Life of Adam and Eve (which inspired the Quran) and the apocryphal Psalm 151. Excerpts from mostly lost hybrid Jewish-Hellenistic works have also been included. Artapanus claims that Moses, Mouseaus and Hermes was the same person, that Moses invented the animal cults of Egypt, and that he led an invasion of “Ethiopia” (presumably Nubia). Ezekiel the Tragedian (not to be confused with the Biblical prophet) wrote a Greek-style tragedy about the Exodus, while a certain Cleodemus Malchus claimed that Abraham's descendants Afera and Iafra fought alongside Heracles in Africa.
Not for the general reader, of course, but good if you are a super-nerd. Just don't tell your friends about it. You pseudepigraphon, you!
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