Category:Apocrypha

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The biblical apocrypha includes texts written in the Jewish and Christian religious traditions that either:

  • were accepted into the biblical canon by some, but not all, Christian faiths, or
  • whose canonical status or lack thereof is not yet certain

The biblical apocrypha are sometimes referred to as the Apocrypha. Although the term apocrypha simply means hidden, this usage is sometimes considered pejorative by those who consider such works to be canonical parts of their scripture.

Surviving manuscripts of the whole Christian Bible include at least some of the Apocrypha as well as Deuterocanonical books. After the Protestant and Catholic canons were defined by Luther and Trent respectively, early Protestant and Catholic editions of the Bible did not omit these books, but placed them in a separate Apocrypha section apart from the Old and New Testaments to indicate their status.