List of Old Testament pseudepigrapha

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.[1] Some of these works may have originated among Jewish Hellenizers, others may have Christian authorship in character and origin.[2]

Apocalyptic and related works

Testaments

Expansions of Old Testament and other legends

  • The Letter of Aristeas (Jewish, c. 200–150 BC)
  • Jubilees
    (Jewish, c. 150–100 BC)
  • Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah
    (has three sections, the first Jewish from c. 100 BC, and 2nd and 3rd sections are Christian. The second from c. 2nd cent. AD, and the third— Testament of Hezekiah, c. 90–100 AD)
  • Joseph and Asenath
    (Jewish, c. 100 AD)
  • Life of Adam and Eve (Jewish, c. early to middle 1st cent. AD)
  • Pseudo-Philo (Jewish, c. 66–135 AD)
  • Lives of the Prophets (Jewish, c. early 1st cent. AD with later Christian additions)
  • Ladder of Jacob (earliest form is Jewish dating from late 1st cent. AD. One chapter is Christian)
  • 4 Baruch (Jewish original but edited by a Christian, c. 100–110 AD)
  • Jannes and Jambres (Christian in present form, but dependent on earlier Jewish sources from c. 1st cent. BC)
  • History of the Rechabites
    (Christian in present form dating c. 6th cent. AD, but contains some Jewish sources before 100 AD)
  • Eldad and Modat (forged on basis of Numbers 11.26–29, before the 1st AD is now lost, but quoted in Shepherd of Hermas c. 140 AD)
  • History of Joseph (Jewish, but difficult to date)
  • Story of Melchizedek (Jewish, 1st–3rd centuries AD)

Wisdom and philosophical literature

Prayers, Psalms, and Odes

See also

References

  1. ^ Bauckham, Richard; "Pseudo-Apostolic Letters", Journal of Biblical Literature, Vo. 107, No. 3, September 1988, pp.469–494.
  2. ^ The following list is based on James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1983-1985 (two volumes).
  3. ^ Treatise of Shem

Bibliography

  • Lee Martin McDonald, The Origin of the Bible: A Guide for the Perplexed, London: T & T Clark, 2011.

External links