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Apocryphal NT Texts: First English Translations

EnolaGaia

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There are more than 300 'apocryphal' texts excluded from the Biblical canon. This Live Science article notes the first English translations of some of these texts. If I understand correctly this article covers the 29 texts in the 2020 book New Testament Apocrypha More Noncanonical Scriptures (Volume 2) by Tony Burke:

https://www.amazon.com/New-Testament-Apocrypha-Noncanonical-Scriptures/dp/0802872905

These texts include stories of demons and wizards - not the typical Biblical fare.
Wizard battles and demon circles revealed in newly translated Christian texts

Have you ever heard the story of a wizard battle that supposedly took place when an early church was constructed? Or how about the story of a border guard who defied King Herod's orders and spared Jesus' life? Scholars have now translated these and other "apocryphal" Christian texts (stories not told in the canonical bible) into English for the first time.

More than 300 Christian apocryphal texts are known to exist, Tony Burke, a professor of early Christianity at York University in Toronto, Canada, wrote in the book he edited "New Testament Apocrypha More Noncanonical Scriptures (Volume 2)" (Eerdmans, 2020). "Apocryphal texts were integral to the spiritual lives of Christians long after the apparent closing of the canon and that the calls to avoid and even destroy such literature were not always effective" wrote Burke.

Ancient Christians often debated which texts told the truth about Jesus and which did not. By the end of the fourth century the church had 'canonized' the texts which they thought were accurate and included them in the bible. ...

FULL STORY (With Multiple Examples):
https://www.livescience.com/translated-christian-texts-wizards-demons.html
 
There are more than 300 'apocryphal' texts excluded from the Biblical canon. This Live Science article notes the first English translations of some of these texts. If I understand correctly this article covers the 29 texts in the 2020 book New Testament Apocrypha More Noncanonical Scriptures (Volume 2) by Tony Burke:

https://www.amazon.com/New-Testament-Apocrypha-Noncanonical-Scriptures/dp/0802872905

These texts include stories of demons and wizards - not the typical Biblical fare.


FULL STORY (With Multiple Examples):
https://www.livescience.com/translated-christian-texts-wizards-demons.html
Just to be clear, many of the apocyrypha have been known and translated for years if not a millenium. This refers to one recent book (and volume 2 at that.)
 
Just to be clear, many of the apocyrypha have been known and translated for years if not a millenium. This refers to one recent book (and volume 2 at that.)

That's the thing that's confused me in reading news items about this new book. None of the accounts specify what it is that's "new" or "first" with respect to accessibility in English. My working hypothesis is that some of these stories are presented as full translations from source documentation, having previously been known in English only via casual mentions or capsule summaries.
 
It's always baffled me, how Christians can simply choose to ignore the Apocrypha.
I've had one or two conversations with evangelical types, in which they've said 'oh, you mean the Apocrypha - yeah, we don't follow any of that'.
When I've the question 'why?', it is completely dismissed.
I've pointed out many a time that the King James version and subsequent 'simplified' editions have all been edited by humans and aren't the 'undiluted word of God'. Again, this fact is totally ignored.
 
It's always baffled me, how Christians can simply choose to ignore the Apocrypha.
I've had one or two conversations with evangelical types, in which they've said 'oh, you mean the Apocrypha - yeah, we don't follow any of that'.
When I've the question 'why?', it is completely dismissed.
I've pointed out many a time that the King James version and subsequent 'simplified' editions have all been edited by humans and aren't the 'undiluted word of God'. Again, this fact is totally ignored.
Not to mention that the versions of the core story are contradictory and that there was an actual selection process that can be traced of what went into the NT as we know it today..
 
I think the bases for the OT canon is the Septuagint and for the NT several councils leading to that of Rome. Changes in translation, meanwhile, stem from recent manuscript discoveries, etc.
 
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