A term used by Protestant scholars to designate a broad range of Jewish documents (but sometimes with Christian additions) written sometime from 2nd Cent BC to 2nd Cent AD, but that were never part of the Jewish canon. The name is derived from the Greek for "false writings,", because many of the works are falsely ascribed to famous persons. The name, however, is not really an accurate one since some of them are anonymous. There is not fixed list of what constitutes Pseudepigrapha; the more well known ones include:
1 Enoch
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
Psalms of Solomon
Testament of Job
Assumption of Moses
Martyrdom of Isaiah
Lives of the Prophets
Testament of Abraham
Life of Adam and Eve
Sibyline Oracles.
What Protestants call Pseudepigrapha, however, Roman Catholics call Apocrypha, and what Protestants call Apocrypha Roman Catholics call deuterocanonical. In Jewish rabbinic literature, the Pseudepigrapha are called "outside books," but this too is problematic since such a lable would also include much of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
While the Pseudepigrapha has no relevance to the Christian preacher, they are important documents that help us to better understand the development of Jewish thoughts and culture in the period between the Old and the New Testament.
©ALBERITH