Apocrypha
What has led to several books of the Catholic Bible being referred to as the Apocrypha? Several inspirational and uplifting readings can be found in the
Second Book of the Maccabees. These powerful readings, however, have not gotten the exposure that some other texts have received because many Christians consider the First and Second Books of the Maccabees to be apocryphal. These two books fall into a group known to Catholics as the deuterocanonical books.
The underlying issue behind why these books don’t appear in many Protestant Bibles is a debate over whether they should be included in the official canon of Scripture. Canon comes from the Greek word κανών (kanon), which means “a rule” or “a measure.” The biblical canon, then, is the measure by which Scripture is considered to be the divinely inspired word of God rather than mere inspirational writing.
The term deuterocanonical adds the Greek word δεύτερος (deuteros), which means “second” and refers to five books as well as a few passages in two other books outside of the Jewish canon of the Scriptures; these deuterocanonical works still are included in the Catholic and Orthodox canon. They consist of the Books of Tobit, Judith, Sirach, and Baruch, the book of Wisdom, and the First and Second Books of the Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel.
The word apocryphal derives from the Greek word ἀπόκρυφος (apokruphos) meaning “hidden” or “concealed.” This term was adopted in the Middle Ages to refer to books outside of the canon of Scripture determined by Church councils of Carthage in 397 and 419. Some writings fall into neither Christian canon—the Gospel According to Thomas, for example. Calling such works apocryphal probably was intended to discourage their circulation. When Protestants rejected the deuterocanonical books at the time of the Reformation, they removed these books and passages from their Bibles and also began referring to them as the Apocrypha.
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