Editing Apocrypha (section)

==Other==
{{Main|Deuterocanonical books}}
The [[Gelasian Decree]] (generally held now as being the work of an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553) refers to religious works by [[Church Fathers]] [[Eusebius]], [[Tertullian]] and [[Clement of Alexandria]] as apocrypha. [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] defined the word as meaning simply "obscurity of origin", implying that any book of unknown authorship or questionable authenticity would be considered apocryphal. [[Jerome]] in ''[[Prologus Galeatus]]'' declared that all books outside the Hebrew canon were apocryphal. In practice, Jerome treated some books outside the Hebrew canon as if they were canonical, and the Western Church did not accept Jerome's definition of apocrypha, instead retaining the word's prior meaning.<ref name=EB1911 /> As a result, various church authorities labeled different books as apocrypha, treating them with varying levels of regard.
 
[[Origen]] stated that "the canonical books, as the Hebrews have handed them down, are twenty-two".<ref>{{cite web|title=Origen on the Canon |url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/origen.html |website=BibleResearcher.com |access-date=29 November 2015}}</ref> [[Clement of Alexandria|Clement]] and others cited some apocryphal books as "scripture", "divine scripture", "inspired", and the like. Teachers connected with [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] and familiar with the Hebrew canon (the [[protocanonical books|protocanon]]) excluded from the canon all of the Old Testament not found there. This view is reflected in the canon of [[Melito of Sardis]], and in the prefaces and letters of Jerome. A third view was that the books were not as valuable as the canonical scriptures of the Hebrew collection, but were of value for moral uses, as introductory texts for new converts from [[paganism]], and to be read in congregations. They were referred to as "[[ecclesiastical]]" works by [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]].<ref name=EB1911 />

In 1546, the Catholic [[Council of Trent]] reconfirmed the canon of Augustine, dating to the second and third centuries, declaring "He is also to be anathema who does not receive these entire books, with all their parts, as they have been accustomed to be read in the Catholic Church, and are found in the ancient editions of the Latin [[Vulgate]], as sacred and canonical." The whole of the books in question, with the exception of [[1 Esdras]] and [[2 Esdras]] and the [[Prayer of Manasseh]], were declared canonical at Trent.<ref name=EB1911 />

The Protestants, in comparison, were diverse in their opinion of the deuterocanon early on. Some considered them divinely inspired, others rejected them. Lutherans and Anglicans retained the books as Christian intertestamental readings and a part of the Bible (in a section called "Apocrypha"), but no doctrine should be based on them.<ref name="GeislerMacKenzie1995">{{cite book |author-last1=Geisler |author-first1=Norman L. |author-last2=MacKenzie |author-first2=Ralph E. |title=Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences |date=1995 |publisher=Baker Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8010-3875-4 |page=171 |language=English |quote=Lutherans and Anglicans used it only for ethical / devotional matters but did not consider it authoritative in matters of faith.}}</ref> [[John Wycliffe]], a 14th-century Christian Humanist, had declared in his biblical translation that "whatever book is in the Old Testament besides these twenty-five shall be set among the apocrypha, that is, without authority or belief."<ref name=EB1911 /> Nevertheless, his translation of the Bible included the [[Biblical apocrypha|apocrypha]] and the [[Epistle to the Laodiceans|Epistle of the Laodiceans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/wycliffe/ |title=John Wycliffe's Translation |work=nnu.edu}}</ref>

Martin Luther did not class apocryphal books as being scripture, but in the German [[Luther Bible]] (1534) the apocrypha are published in a separate section from the other books, although the Lutheran and Anglican lists are different. [[Anabaptists]] use the [[Luther Bible]], which contains the intertestamental books; [[Amish]] wedding ceremonies include "the retelling of the marriage of Tobias and Sarah in the Apocrypha".<ref name="Wesner"/> The fathers of Anabaptism, such as [[Menno Simons]], quoted "them [the Apocrypha] with the same authority and nearly the same frequency as books of the Hebrew Bible" and the texts regarding the martyrdoms under Antiochus IV in [[1 Maccabees]] and [[2 Maccabees]] are held in high esteem by the Anabaptists, who faced persecution in their history.<ref name="deSilva2018">{{cite book |author-last1=deSilva |author-first1=David A. |title=Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance |date=20 February 2018 |publisher=Baker Books |isbn=978-1-4934-1307-2 |language=English}}</ref>

In [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] editions (like the Westminster), readers were warned that these books were not "to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings". A milder distinction was expressed elsewhere, such as in the "argument" introducing them in the [[Geneva Bible]], and in the Sixth Article of the [[Church of England]], where it is said that "the other books the church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners," though not to establish doctrine.<ref name=EB1911 /> Among some [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformists]], the term ''apocryphal'' began to take on extra or altered connotations: not just of dubious authenticity, but having spurious or false content,<ref name="McDonald" /> Protestants, being diverse in theological views, were not unanimous in adopting those meanings.<ref name="The Thirty-Nine Articles">{{cite web |title=The Thirty-Nine Articles |url=http://anglicansonline.org/basics/thirty-nine_articles.html |publisher=Anglicans Online |access-date=8 May 2021 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Wesley1825"/><ref name="FUP1970">{{cite book |title=Quaker Life, Volume 11 |date=1970 |publisher=Friends United Press |page=141 |language=English |quote=Even though they were not placed on the same level as the canonical books , still they were useful for instruction . ... These–and others that total fourteen or fifteen altogether-are the books known as the Apocrypha.}}</ref>

Generally, Anabaptists and magisterial Protestants recognize the fourteen books of the Apocrypha as being non-canonical, but useful for reading "for example of life and instruction of manners": a view that continues today throughout the [[Lutheran Church]], the worldwide [[Anglican Communion]], among many other denominations, such as the [[Methodist Church]]es and [[Quakerism|Quaker Yearly Meetings]].<ref name="The Thirty-Nine Articles"/><ref name="Wesley1825"/><ref name="FUP1970"/> Liturgically, the Catholic, Methodist and Anglican churches have a scripture reading from the Book of Tobit in services of Holy Matrimony.<ref>{{cite book |author-last1=DeSilva |author-first1=David Arthur |title=Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance |date=2002 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-0-8010-2319-4 |page=76 |language=English |quote=The author also promotes an ideology of marriage, revealed mainly in the prayer of 8:5–7 (which is an optional Old Testament reading in Catholic, Anglican, and United Methodist marriage services).}}</ref>

According to the [[Orthodox Anglican Church]]:
{{blockquote|On the other hand, the Anglican Communion emphatically maintains that the Apocrypha is part of the Bible and is to be read with respect by her members. Two of the hymns used in the American Prayer Book office of Morning Prayer, the Benedictus es and Benedicite, are taken from the Apocrypha. One of the offertory sentences in Holy Communion comes from an apocryphal book (Tob. 4: 8–9). Lessons from the Apocrypha are regularly appointed to be read in the daily, Sunday, and special services of Morning and Evening Prayer. There are altogether 111 such lessons in the latest revised American Prayer Book Lectionary [The books used are: II Esdras, Tobit, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Three Holy Children, and I Maccabees.] The position of the Church is best summarized in the words of Article Six of the Thirty-nine Articles: "In the name of Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority there was never any doubt in the Church... And the other Books (as Hierome [St. Jerome] saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.<ref>[http://www.orthodoxanglican.net/downloads/apocrypha.PDF ''The Apocrypha, Bridge of the Testaments''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809124209/http://www.orthodoxanglican.net/downloads/apocrypha.PDF |date=August 9, 2007 }}</ref>}}
Though Protestant Bibles historically include [[List of books of the King James Version#Preliminary note|80 books]], 66 of these form the Protestant canon (such as listed in the [[Westminster Confession]] of 1646),<ref name="Ewert"/><ref>{{cite web|title=THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH |url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/wescontext.html |website=BibleResearcher.com |access-date=29 November 2015}}</ref> which has been well established for centuries, with many today supporting the use of the Apocrypha and others contending against the Apocrypha using various arguments.<ref name="Ewert"/><ref>{{cite journal|author-last1=Blocher|author-first1=Henri |title=Helpful or Harmful? The "Apocrypha" and Evangelical Theology |journal=European Journal of Theology |volume=13 |date=2004 |issue=2 |pages=81–90}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author-last1=Webster |author-first1=William |title=The Old Testament Canon and the Apocrypha Part 3 |url=http://www.christiantruth.com/articles/Apocrypha3.html |access-date=29 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151213013409/http://www.christiantruth.com/articles/Apocrypha3.html |archive-date=13 December 2015 |url-status = dead}}</ref>