The term, which means "hidden things" in Greek, is used differently by different church traditions. Among Protestants they refer to the books found printed in Roman Catholic versions of the Bible between the Old Testament and New Testament. These books, except for 2 Esdras (which had its origin in the Vulgate), together with the books of the Old Testament, made up the Septuagint. Protestants have never considered any of these works canonical (i.e., they are not Scriptures).
The Roman Catholic Church, however, refers to these works as "deuterocanonical" literature, and uses the term apocrypha for those works that Protestants call the Pseudepigrapha. Jerome, the scholar who translated the Bible into Latin, advocated that the Church should accept the Hebrew canon of Scriptures and excluding the Apocrypha as canonical; unfortunately for the Catholic Church, his counsel was rejected. Nonetheless, in the heat of theological battles, the Council of Trent (1546) canonized them and, today, they are part of the Catholic Bible.
Generally, the Apocrypha is understood to consist of twelve works (the names used here follow the Protestant convention):
1 Esdras
2 Esdras
Tobit
Judith
The rest of Esther
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus (Ben-Sira, Wisdom of Jesus)
Baruch
The Song of the Three Holy Children
The Prayer of Manasseh
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
The Jewish Council that met in Jamnia about 100 AD never recognized any of these works as canonical. Though non-canonical, these works are important in the light they shed on the development of Judaism during the inter-testamental period.
Resources:
Michael J. Kruger, "The Apocrypha." The Gospel Coalition.
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David A. deSilva, "Never Without a Witness: The Apocrypha and Spiritual Formation," Ashland Theological Journal 38 (2006): 77-89.
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