Apocrypha | Exploring the enigmatic apocryphal writings beyond the canon of Scripture.

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Apocryphal Books > Key Extrabiblical References > Tel Dan Stele

The Admonitions of Ipuwer, from the Ipuwer Papyrus, were possibly composed in the same century as the Exodus and describe plagues across the land of Egypt and a great change of fortunes for the slaves of the land.

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Reshafim

Apocryphal Books > Key Extrabiblical References > Admonitions of Ipuwer

The Famine Stele is an inscription from the Ptolemaic period describing a seven-year famine during the reign of Djoser, a possible candidate for the pharaoh to whom Joseph reported. Some speculate Imhotep, Djoser’s chancellor, was in fact Joseph.

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Attalus

Apocryphal Books > Key Extrabiblical References > Famine Stele

Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History (or Church History) was published around the same time as his Chronicon and was the first detailed historical narrative and chronicle from the Christian point of view, providing a chronological account of the development of Christianity, beginning with Christ’s Incarnation and ending in about AD 325.

Eusebius’ Chronicon (or Chronicle) was the ancient world’s first systematic, chronologically sound, universal history. It begins with the earliest extant written records available to the author and continues to about AD 325. Eusebius frequently cites and quotes Berossus, Alexander Polyhistor, Abydenus, Josephus, Castor, Diodorus, Cephalion, various translations of the Bible, the writings of Manetho, Porphyrius, and others. His chronicle includes important events, personalities, and king lists from the ancient Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Lydians, Persians, Hebrews, Egyptians, and Greeks, plus listings of the Greek Olympiads and the rulers of the Greek city-states, the Macedonians, and Romans. It was arguably Eusebius who first made use of chronological tables, now a tool taken for granted by modern historians. This was a revolutionary development in Eusebius’ day, not sufficiently appreciated in modern works on historiography.

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Ancient Historia

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Josephus The Complete Works

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Tertullian

Apocryphal Books > Histories and Chronologies > The Chronicon

Against Apion was Josephus’ subsequent defense of Antiquities against antisemitic criticisms by the Egyptian author Apion (also called Apion Pleistoneices and Apion Mochthos).

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Ancient Historia

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Apocryphal Books > Histories and Chronologies > Against Apion

Beginning with, in particular, the Rule of Faith in the 2nd century (from Irenaeus’ Against Heresies) and culminating with the Athanasian Creed of the 5th, numerous extrabiblical creedal statements were formed to both establish acceptable Christian faith and deal with weighty theological and Christological issues. Most of these creeds were developed in the context of the universal, orthodox Church in an effort to dissuade heresy and reinforce the faith that had been handed down over the centuries; in particular, the earliest creeds dealt heavily with the [historical] life of Christ, Trinitarianism, and Christology. Between Nicea (AD 325) and the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (AD 381), a number of the creeds from those intervening years, listed below, reflect the schismatic Semi-Arian position that was ultimately defeated at Constantinople.

RULE OF FAITH
OLD ROMAN SYMBOL
CREED OF CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE
DEIR BALYZEH CREED
CREED OF ANTIOCH
NICENE CREED
APOSTLES’ CREED
FIRST CREED OF ANTIOCH
SECOND CREED OF ANTIOCH
THIRD CREED OF ANTIOCH
FOURTH CREED OF ANTIOCH
CREED OF THE WESTERN SERDICAN COUNCIL
CREED OF THE EASTERN SERDICAN COUNCIL
THE LONG-LINED CREED
CREED OF JERUSALEM
FIRST CREED OF SIRMIUM
SECOND CREED OF SIRMIUM
FOURTH CREED OF SIRMIUM
NICENO-THRACIAN CREED
NINTH CONFESSION OF SELEUCIA
HOMOIAN CREED
NICENO-CONSTANTINOPOLITAN CREED
CREED OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF TOLEDO
CHALCEDONIAN CREED
ATHANASIAN CREED

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Fourth-Century Christianity

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Apocryphal Books > Notable Writings and Creeds of the Early Church > The Earliest Creeds

The Gelasian Decree (Decretum Gelasianum in Latin) is a late 5th century decretal of Pope Gelasius I which briefly discusses Christ and the Holy Spirit and their interrelation; more significantly, it lists out the canonical books of the Holy Bible followed by a list of spurious and rejected works. It is based on a possibly older Damasine List from the 4th century.

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Tertullian

Apocryphal Books > Notable Writings and Creeds of the Early Church > Gelasian Decree

The Muratorian Fragment, the oldest surviving list of the New Testament canon, which is thought to have been composed around AD 170, lists all of the current twenty-seven books of the New Testament, minus Hebrews, James, and both Epistles of Peter. The fragment is damaged where Matthew and Mark are listed, but their inclusion is beyond dispute. The Revelation of Peter and Wisdom are included, although Peter’s Apocalypse is disputed by the author.

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Apocryphal Books > Notable Writings and Creeds of the Early Church > The Muratorian Canon

Also called Against Plato on the Cause of the Universe, the Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades is a short discourse attributed to Josephus for many centuries but actually penned by Hippolytus of Rome. This places its composition in the early 3rd century AD.

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Apocryphal Books > Notable Writings and Creeds of the Early Church > Discourse Concerning Hades

The Apology to Autolycus is one of the earliest extant Christian apologetic discourses, penned by the 2nd-century overseer Theophilus of Antioch, who wrote his apology during the reign of Commodus in the second half of the century. Notably, his apology is the earliest extant work using the word “Trinity” to define the Godhead (τριάς in the Greek). He was also a clear proponent of conditionalism and utilization of the Sibylline Oracles as evidenced by various statements, quotes, and expositions within the Apology.

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Apocryphal Books > Notable Writings and Creeds of the Early Church > Apology to Autolycus

In about AD 177, seven short years after Melito’s Apology, Athenagoras of Athens likewise wrote to Emperor Marcus Aurelius, requesting justice for the Christians and defending the faith in apologetic form. Notably, although he does not use a word for “Trinity” as Theophilus would do as shortly as three years subsequent to Athenagoras’ work, he aptly defends the biblical doctrine of One God in three Persons (see Ch. 10). Given that the two were contemporaries, it is evident that the doctrine of the Trinity was well established in the Church by the mid- and late-2nd century.

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