Webster and the Apocrypha

I have finally finished William Webster’s The Old Testament Canon and the Apocrypha. The main part of this work is a mere 86 pages and easy reading. It belongs in every layman’s library. If you need more information, the book’s endnotes are almost a 100 pages! It is very typical of Webster to give lengthy citations and plenty of resource information.

The book has basically three chapters. Chapter 1 is the Canon of the Jews. Chapter 2 is the Beginning of the Church Age to Jerome. Chapter 3 is From Jerome to the Reformation. Then the book ends with a short conclusion.

It is extremely clear from his presentation that the majority of the church has understood the difference between the Canonical books and the Apocrypha. It is only if one accepts an external authority that one may come to erroneous conclusions.

A couple of things I did think would have helped make the book better though. First, it would have been helpful if the author spent more time explaining the Council of Trent’s anathematizing of Protestants for their outright rejection of the Apocrypha as being Canonical. The second it would have been nice to see a chapter written expanding the Apocrypha’s internal problems and demonstrating why it should not be in the Canon. That may not fit the intention of the book itself, but it sure would have been nice to have all of that information in one volume.

Anyway, you need to read this important work. Go and get it. Here are a couple of links.

Here and here.