Introducing the Apocrypha, 2nd Edition

"David deSilva's Introducing the Apocrypha remains the best book in the field. These important writings are placed in full context--historically, religiously, and literarily. Again and again deSilva shows how the books of the Apocrypha clarify important themes and traditions in the teaching of Jesus and in the literature of the early church. The revised edition is rich with insight and will serve well a new generation of students and scholars."

"David deSilva offers a readable and competent introduction to these complex and neglected writings. This is the best one-volume introduction to the apocryphal, or deuterocanonical, books currently available in English."

"For most Christians today the Apocrypha remain a marginal curiosity or object of suspicion. Informed by burgeoning scholarship in the study of early Judaism, the second edition of Introducing the Apocrypha reveals these books as vibrant witnesses to streams of thought, tradition, and faith that formed a theological and cultural matrix for the earliest church. Throughout, deSilva's fine introduction balances nuance and precision with clarity and accessibility."

Praise for the First Edition

"David deSilva has written an excellent introduction to the Apocrypha that is fully informed by contemporary scholarship and written in a style that is readable and accessible to laity and beginning students. Introduction to the Apocrypha also provides a substantial discussion of the content of these books and a better indication of their literary character than one usually finds in an introductory textbook. It can be recommended without reservation for students at all levels."

"This is certainly the best introduction to the Old Testament Apocrypha."

"It is still customary in some quarters of the church to assume that not much happened between the time the last portion of the Old Testament was written and the first events of the New Testament era began. This in fact is not true, and indeed anyone who reads David deSilva's fine introduction to the Old Testament Apocrypha will realize that the period was a fertile one for Jewish writers dealing with issues ranging from theodicy to justice to wisdom. DeSilva does a fine job in fluid prose of introducing Christian readers to these books and helping them understand the context from which the Judaism of Jesus' day (and his followers') arose. Highly recommended."

"David deSilva has given us a superb introduction to writings that most Protestant Christians, to their impoverishment, know very little about. He shows that many of these Jewish writings were used by New Testament authors and that they are in themselves informative, valuable, and edifying for Christian readers. Because of its thoroughness and the quality of its scholarship, this book is destined to become and remain the standard introduction to the Apocrypha for many years to come."

"David deSilva's Introducing the Apocrypha effectively fills a serious gap in introductions to the Bible. This book, which will be appreciated by Christians of every stripe, will be especially helpful for evangelicals who are not familiar with the books that make up the Old Testament Apocrypha. Each chapter succinctly assesses the major issues and themes of a given book, concluding with observations of how it influenced the New Testament and the church down through the centuries. I recommend it enthusiastically!"

"The writings of the Apocrypha, like the rest of the literature of Second Temple Judaism, have been the object of intense study by scholars over the last few decades but are largely ignored by non-specialists. It is to the great credit of David deSilva that he has succeeded in providing a very readable companion to the Apocrypha in which he not only introduces these writings and presents the results of scholarly study of them, but also shows what is their value and why they still deserve to be studied."