The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha: (Oxford Handbooks)

The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha addresses the Old Testament Apocrypha, known to be important early Jewish texts that have become deutero-canonical for some Christian churches, non-canonical for other churches, and that are of lasting cultural significance. In addition to the place given to the classical literary, historical, and tradition-historical introductory questions, essays focus on the major social and theological themes of each individual book. With contributions from leading scholars from around the world, the Handbook acts as an authoritative reference work on the current state of Apocrypha research, and at the same time carves out future directions of study. This Handbook offers an overview of the various Apocrypha and relevant topics related to them by presenting updated research on each individual apocryphal text in historical context, from the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods to the early Roman era. The essays provided here examine the place of the Apocrypha in the context of Early Judaism, the relationship between the Apocrypha and texts that came to be canonized, the relationship between the Apocrypha and the Septuagint, Qumran, the Pseudepigrapha, and the New Testament, as well as their reception history in the Western world. Several chapters address overarching themes, such as genre and historicity, Jewish practices and beliefs, theology and ethics, gender and the role of women, and sexual ethics.

Table of Contents:
Preface Contributors Part I: The Apocrypha in Judaism and Christianity The Apocrypha: An Introduction 1. The Apocrypha in the Context of Early Judaism 2. The Apocrypha, the Septuagint, and other Greek Witnesses 3. A Canonical History of the Old Testament Apocryphay 4. The Apocrypha in the History of Christianity 5. The Protestant Reception of the Apocrypha Part II: The Apocrypha Historical and Legendary: 6. Apocrypha, Genre, and Historicity 7. 1 Esdras (Greek Ezra) 8. Baruch 9. Book of Judith 10. 1 Maccabees' Ethics, Etiquette, Political Theology, and Structure 11. 2 Maccabees 12. 3 Maccabees 13. 4 Maccabees Apocalyptic: 14. The Apocrypha and Apocalypticism 15. 2 Esdras Didactic: 16. Wisdom Literature of the Apocrypha and Related Compositions of the Second Temple Era 17. Sirach 18. Tobit 19 .The Wisdom of Solomon Additions to Biblical Books: 20. The Additions to Daniel 21. The Additions of the Greek Book(s) of Esther 22. Epistle of Jeremiah 23. Prayer of Manasseh 24. Psalm 151-155 Part III: Major Themes in the Apocrypha 25. Jewish Religion in the Apocrypha: Between Biblical Precepts and Early Rabbinic Thought 26. Women and Gender in the Apocrypha 27. Theology and Ethics in the Apocrypha 28. Sexuality in the Apocrypha 29. Biblical Theology and the Apocrypha Index

About the Author :
Gerbern S. Oegema is Professor of Biblical Studies at McGill University. He studied Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, and Religious Studies at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Freie Universität Berlin. He has been an Assistant Professor and Privatdozent at the Universität Tübingen and a Scholar in Residence at the Center for Theological Inquiry in Princeton. In his teaching and research he focuses on Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins. He is the author and co-editor of more than twenty books, as well as the co-editor of several book series.

Review :
Readers looking for material on the Christian apocrypha must look to The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha...some of the contributions here are excellent and informed starting places for their respective subjects, and there is much value in the new Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha. This volume is a remarkable achievement and sure to be a standard reference tool going forward. Students will especially benefit from the essays, as will scholars working on adjacent fields. The volume would make an excellent textbook on a course on the Apocrypha. The comprehensive, up-to-date volume ends with indexes of passages, subjects and ancient texts and modern authors. The authors have provided an introduction to the Apocrypha and their scholarly discussion which has the full potential to become the point of reference for the next two decades. authoritative The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha will be an important volume for students, scholars, and interested laypeople. It accomplished exactly what one would hope for in the title ... I was impressed and informed, then, by this collection of essays by top scholars. The handbook brings together the current state of research at a high level and provides an insightful and learned starting point for the study of the deuterocanonical/apocryphal writings.