The Uncanonical Jewish Books A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY Carpentier F4 KW PREFACE THE object of this Introduction is to provide a short account not only of the books in the Church Apocrypha, but of the other Jewish writings from 200 B.C. to A.D. 100, which should be now occupying the attention of those interested in the New Testament. For without some knowledge of the contemporary literature of the period, we lose the chief key to the understanding of the world to which Christ came, and the atmosphere in which the Church was born. It is obvious that in so short a compass as this volume allows, it is only possible to give an impression of each book, and that statements have constantly to be made dogmatically which would need considerable discussion in a larger work. The writer has done his best to present the sanest views of the best scholars, and can claim that nothing has been put down that has not the support of competent scholars of the present time. And he hopes that this "conspectus or "bird's-eye view" of a great field of knowledge and research will give a trustworthy impression of the general trend of literary activity during the period. Such an impression cannot fail to be of use in the appreciation of the New Testament; and therefore, wherever necessary, attention has been drawn to any instances of a direct connection between these writers and those of the canonical books or to any actual quotation. He chiefly hopes that readers will be led to read the uncanonical writers for themselves, and the great modern books on the period, and making their V 484781 |