CANON

          Canon is another term for the Christian scriptures. The Canon consists of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, making a total of 66 books total in the Protestant bible. The Canon is closed which means there is no more revelation to become Scripture.

Apocrypha Definition

• The word means “hidden” or “doubtful”

• Most commonly refers to disputed books that Protestants reject and Roman Catholics and Orthodox communions accept into the Old Testament

Pseudepigrapha Definition

• The term pseudepigraphacomes from the Greek pseudo, meaning “false,” and epigraphein, meaning “to inscribe,” thus, “to write falsely.”

• The pseudepigrapha are the books that attempt to imitate Scripture but that were written under false names.

• The pseudepigraphical books were written anywhere from 200 BC to AD 300.

• They are spurious works written by unknown authors who attempted to gain a readership by tacking on the name of a famous biblical character. Obviously, a book called the “Testament of Abraham” has a better chance of being read than the “Counterfeit Testament of an Unknown Author.”