Read the Apocrypha in a Year!

Join Canon Graham Bennett for this exploration of the Apocrypha.

When we were reading the Bible in a year with Dean Sarah a few people expressed an interest in doing the same with the Apocryphal books that appear in some Bibles between the Old and New Testaments.  The Protestant church does not regard these as scripture but they do provide very useful background material to the Bible.

 

I have never read the Apocrypha but I have found a reading plan and I do have a considerable number of books about it in my electronic library.  I have therefore volunteered to steer a group on a  year long reading journey.  The daily readings will not be as long as the ones for the Bible so it is not such a demand on time each day.  However the content may be challenging even if we are really familiar with the Bible.

 

I discovered that there is no agreement on which books should be in the Apocrypha so the standard text for this reading will be the New Revised Standard Version Apocrypha which is found in some editions of the NRSV.  The NRSV Apocrypha is also available free online at Bible Gateway. Look for the NRSVA version. The Apocryphal books are at the end.  There is a printed version of just the Apocrypha too.  It is entitled “NRSV Apocrypha Text Edition” by Cambridge University Press and costs less than £11.

 

Just like last year’s Bible reading plan, I will issue the readings one week at a time but will use email not Facebook.  I’m afraid there are no clever book summary videos like the Bible Project videos but I will issue short introductions to each book as we read it.  There will also be a couple of introductory articles to read before we begin.  The proposed start date is Monday July 17^th when I will send just the introductory articles. We will start on the daily readings the following week.  Please email me before then at [email protected] (that’s a double underscore in my name) if you would like to join in. Please put the word Apocrypha in the subject. I hope we can also have a WhatsApp group.

 

Canon Graham Bennett