Book of Wisdom

[RJ Spencer]

I thoroughly enjoy reading the book of Wisdom and I understand that it is not scripture. I have had people in the past tell me that I should not read any of the books that were left out of the canon. These same people have no problem reading novels or watching secular television. I figured I would get the PB's take on this issue. Is it wrong to read these books, even if you understand that they are not scripture? It's just the apocrypha and the book of wisdom, I would never consider reading the false gospels like Judas, Peter, or Mary.

 

[Minh]

There is nothing wrong to read these apocryphal contents as long as you read it with a discerning heart. They are actually useful that you can see them still being read in Lutheran and Anglican churches. They are helpful in the matter of history (1 Maccabees is a good example) and spirituality (as you read the book of Wisdoms). But nevertheless, they are not without errors and hence, they should not be considered as canonical. I heard that you can find prayers for the death and paying alms for salvation in those books, which are the theological reasons why the Council of Trent affirmed them in opposition to the Reformation. I have a Roman Catholic translation that includes some of the Apocrypha.

 

[Jake]

There are books that we have which are referenced in the NT in some way (the history of the Maccabees in Hebrews or the Book of Enoch in Jude/II Peter for examples). I think the "Apocrypha" is a valuable set of books to read, as long they are understood to be in a different category from Scripture.

Within the Apocrypha that is contained in the original KJV (the deutero-canonical books of the RCC), there are a variety of different types of book, from wisdom to historical (generally reliable, but written in a time without prophets so as not to be Scriptural) to less helpful in my opinion.