Lost or Hidden Books

(The Apocrapha- etymologically, the word means 'things that are hidden.'
Some believe these books to have been "hidden" because they had mysterious or esoteric content. Some felt that these books were spurious or heretical. So it seems to be left to the reader to decide the value of these books.The word Apocrapha was created by the 5th century biblical scholar St. Jerome. The books are printed today in the Catholic Bible, but are omitted in most Protestant versions.
They include I & II Esdras, additions to the book of Esther, and Daniel, Prayer of Mannasseh, Maccabees I & II, and Wisdom and Sirach.)

(There is another group of books refered to as the Pseudipigrapha. These are both Jewish and Christian writings written mostly from late pre-Christian times to early Christian.)

(The following describes the pseudipigrapha very well...)

Old Testament Pseudipigrapha, Vol 1, by James H. Charlesworth Introduction p. XXV
"The present description of the Pseudepigrapha is as follows.: Those writings 1) that, with the exception of Ahiqar, are Jewish or Christian; 2) that are often attributed to ideal figures in Israel's past; 3) that customarily claim to contain God's word or message; 4) that frequently build upon ideas and narratives present in the Old Testament; 5) and that almost always were composed either during the period 200 B.C. to A.D. 200, though late, apparently preserved, albeit in an edited form, Jewish traditions that date from that period..."

(Many of these books were discovered at Qumran, in 1947. Commonly called the Dead Sea Scrolls. The people that occupied the area were called Essenes. Evidently they collected these scrolls; a kind of a library. The community was destroyed by the Romans in A.D.68.
Archeologists have , in additions to the many scrolls and fragments,discovered rooms used for study, inkpots, and bathing pools.)

(What good are these books? Well, they sort of fill in some of the gaps, and give us a feel for the time period that we didn't have without them. There are stories about Mary and her personal life, stories about the boyhood of Jesus. From Old Testament times there are stories of Adam and Eve, Joseph and Asenath, Enoch (a passage from which is quoted by Jude in the canon of the Bible), testaments of the twelve patriachs, and more Psalms and Odes.)

There are several of these books on the market today.
The Lost Books of the Bible and The Forgotten Boks of Eden
The Old Testament Pseudipigrapha vols I & II edited by James H. Charlesworth
The Apocryphal New Testament J.K. Elliot
Old Testament Pseudipigrapha (An older compilation, which I had only found in libraries by R.H. Charles)
The Other Bible edited by Willis Barnstone (which contains portions of the Nag Hammadi, and the Kabbalah, as well)

(Many of these books are I feel are spurious in content, but some I feel would be well worth the reading. One that I feel no serious Bible student should pass up is The Book of Jubilees.)

To read some of these books online CLICK HERE Contains books of the Apocrapha, the Pseudipigrapha, Gnostic works (Nag Hammadi), Dead Sea Scrolls, and writings of the Early Church Fathers