Search

[German version] The oldest Christian, Greek and Lat. texts that are grouped together under this name originate from legal speeches ( apologia or defensio), without representing a specific literary genre. They are aimed at educated pagans with the purpose of introducing the Christian religion. In particular, they refute the charges, often made against the Christians, of immorality, atheism, irrationalism and separatism. Some apologias are written in an aggressive style, in that they strongly criticize paganism and emphasize the superiority of Christianity. The 2nd cent. was …

[German version] A. Jewish The apocryphal literature of early Judaism may be subdivided into two groups: apocryphal literature in the narrow sense and pseudepigraphic literature. According to the terminology of the Reformation churches, those are texts or parts of the Septuagint and  Vulgate that are not part of the Hebrew canon: 3 Ezra, Judith, Tob 1, 2 and 3, Macc, Wisdom, Sir, Bar (including ‘the Epistle of Jeremiah’) and the Prayer of Manasse; also the additions to Est and Dan. Apart from 2 and …