Books for the Study of ancient Christianity, early Judaism, and Second Temple Jewish Literature

 If you are looking to learn more about early Christianity, early Judaism, and its relationship to the Second Temple Period, these resources will be helpful. The Second Temple Period was the time when the Temple was rebuilt under Ezra-Nehemiah after the return of the exiles from Babylon back to Judea. It covered approximately 500 years, from 444 BC/BCE to 70 CE/AD. During this time, the last books of the Bible were completed (e.g., Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles, Esther, Haggai, etc.). Also, the apocryphal books were written during this time, as well as the pseudepigraphical books (the name means falsely attributed, and refers to books whose authors pretend to be someone else from Biblical history, such as Moses, Enoch, or Abraham).

The following categories of Jewish books were written during Second Temple times:

1. The Apocrypha (called the Deuterocanon, or Second Canon, by Roman Catholics)
2. The Pseudepigrapha (books from famous biblical heroes, Moses, Enoch, Abraham)
3. The Dead Sea Scrolls (books collected by the Essene sect at Qumran on the Dead Sea)
4. Philo (a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, Egypt, who wrote commentaries on Bible)
5. Josephus (a Jewish historian who wrote Jewish histories for the Romans)
6. The New Testament (books regarding Jesus of Nazareth by his Jewish followers)

All of these were Jewish books written during the Second Temple period.

What will follow will be a list of published versions of these books, with links to them being found on Amazon.

I. Apocrypha

• M. Coogan, editor. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Fully revised fourth edition. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). This is considered the standard Apocrypha Bible.
• The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha.

II. Pseudepigrapha

• James Charlesworth, editor. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. 2 volumes. (New York: Doubleday, 1983-1985). (link) This edition has the full texts, plus pages of introductions and commentaries.

The Charlesworth edition is exceedingly helpful, and includes 65 different books:

1. 1 Enoch (Ethiopian)

2. 2 Enoch (Slavonic) (Appendix: 2 Enoch in Merilo Previdnoe)

3. 3 Enoch (Hebrew)

4. Sibylline Oracles

5. Treatise of Shem

6. Apocryphon of Ezekiel

7. Apocalypse of Zephaniah

8. Fourth Ezra

9. Greek Apocalypse of Ezra

10. Vision of Ezra

11. Questions of Ezra

12. Revelation of Ezra

13. Apocalypse of Sedrach

14. 2 Baruch (Syriac Apocalypse)

15. 3 Baruch (Greek Apocalypse)

16. Apocalypse of Abraham

17. Apocalypse of Adam

18. Apocalypse of Elijah

19. Apocalypse of Daniel

20. Testaments of 12 Patriarchs

21. Testament of Job

22. Testaments of Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)

23. Testament of Moses

24. Testament of Solomon

25. Testament of Adam

26. Letter of Aristeas

27. Jubilees

28. Martyrdom of Isaiah

29. Ascension of Isaiah

30. Joseph and Aseneth

31. Life of Adam & Eve

32. Pseudo-Philo

33. Lives of the Prophets

34. Ladder of Jacob

35. 4 Baruch

36. Jannes and Jambres

37. History of the Rechabites

38. Eldad and Modad

39. History of Joseph

40. Story of Ahiqar

41. 3 Maccabees

42. 4 Maccabees

43. Pseudo-Phocyclides

44. Sentences of the Syriac Menander

45. More Psalms of David

46. Prayer of Manasseh

47. Psalms of Solomon

48. Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers

49. Prayer of Joseph

50. Prayer of Jacob

51. Odes of Solomon

52. Alexander Polyhistor

53. Philo the Epic Poet

54. Theodotus

55. Orphic Hymns

56. Ezekiel the Tragedian

57. Fragments of Pseudo-Greek Poets

58. Aristobulus

59. Demetrius the Chronographer

60. Aristeas the Exegete

61. Eupolemus

62. Pseudo-Euopolemus

63. Cleodemus Malchus

64. Artapanus

65. Pseudo-Hecataeus

This 2-volume edition has more books than anyone would ever need in their lifetime!

If somebody just wants to read the texts of 1 Enoch and Jubilees, and others, themselves without any scholarly comment, the following editions may be useful:

• George W.E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam, translators. 1 Enoch: A New Translation: Based on the Hermeneia Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004). Just text and no commentary.
• James C. VanderKam, Jubilees: The Hermeneia Translation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2020).
• The Complete 54-Book Apocrypha: 2022 Edition With the Deuterocanon, 1-3 Enoch, Giants, Jasher, Jubilees, Pseudepigrapha, & the Apostolic Fathers (Covenant Press, 2022). Handy, non-scholarly edition of a majority of the books in public domain translations.

III. The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by Arab Bedouins in a cave in the Judean desert in 1948. The Bedouins did not know what they were, so they took some fragments to a local Orthodox priest. The Priest could not read them but eventually contacted some Jewish academics who could read the ancient Hebrew script. Eventually, a team of Protestant and Catholic scholars was assembled to decipher the documents. More were found every day. It took nearly 50 years to catalog all the scrolls, and still clean-up work is being done. In total, 900 scrolls and scroll fragments were found, composing about 100 different texts.

The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of three types of works: Biblical Manuscripts, Sectarian texts dealing with the Essene community at Qumran, and Non-Sectarian texts that the Essenes collected at Qumran (e.g., Jubilees and 1 Enoch).

There have been many editions of the scrolls, but here I am aiming at comprehensiveness, clarity, and fidelity to the original.

Editions with Original Hebrew:

• Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar, editors. The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999-2019. This edition has the Hebrew & English side by side on facing pages, so you can know what is being discussed! It comes in 2 volumes:
• Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, Volume 1. Has scrolls 1Q1 through 4Q273.
• Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, Volume 2. Has scrolls 4Q274 through 11Q31.
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