Pseudepigrapha

1 9.9

Ancient Jewish writers wrote texts under false names, often about the end of the world

noun
/ˌsuːdɪˈpɪɡrəfə/

Specialized

: Pseudepígrafas

These discoveries, in turn, inspired a restudy of the so-called Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 14 and a thoroughgoing reassessment of the sociological map of Second Temple Judaism.
Old Pseudepigrapha

Examples

There are also works based on or related to the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.

Academic text (1994)
Studying the Pseudepigrapha helps historians understand the evolving interpretations of religious themes during the period between 200 BC and AD 200.
He suggests that patristic scholars should instead consider the category "Rewritten Bible" current among scholars of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.

Academic text (2007)
Perhaps surprisingly, it appears that the closest parallels can be drawn to the category "Rewritten Bible," current among scholars who investigate the biblical interpretation of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.

Academic text (2007)
The reading is neither ethical allegory nor typological allegory, but rather akin, to a certain degree, to the category of "Rewritten Bible" developed by scholars working with Jewish Pseudepigrapha.

Academic text (2007)
It has been suggested that Christians read certain Jewish pseudepigrapha and apocryphal texts because they lent credence to early Christian authorial efforts, and Jubilees may have been one of these texts that offered such support.

Academic text (2018)
Many scholars are fascinated by the Pseudepigrapha, as these ancient writings reveal insights into the beliefs of early Jewish communities.
The Pseudepigrapha includes various texts that were falsely attributed to well-known biblical figures, highlighting the diversity of ancient religious thought.

Surface Forms

Pseudepigrapha singular

Pseudepigraphae plural

Morphology

Pseudepigrapha = pseudo + epi + graph + a

This is a learned Greek plural term whose specialized meaning is not recoverable for most learners from the visible parts pseudo- + epi- + graph + -a.

Etymology

Pseudepigrapha comes from Greek parts pseudo- 'false' and epigrapha from graphein 'to write', so it literally means 'false writings' and you can see the 'write' part in words like autograph. The Pseudepigrapha are old Jewish books that were wrongly said to be written by famous biblical figures.