Important Literature of NT

Question 1

Septuagint (LXX)

Answer 1

Broadly, a standard Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures begun in the 3rd century BC and in use among Greek-speaking Jews and Christians in the New Testament era.

Question 2

Apocrypha

Answer 2

Additional material in the LXX not found in the Hebrew Old Testament. Produced by Jews in the third to first centuries BC and treats for the most part historical and wisdom traditions from this era. Designated “Apocrypha” by Protestants.

Question 3

Pseudepigrapha

Answer 3

Quasi-canonical Jewish writings of the intertestamental and early N.T. period. So named because of their false attributions of authorship to various biblical heroes. Wide-ranging contents include apocalypses, sectarian paraphrases of Scripture, testamentary speeches by biblical heroes, etc., but are aimed at grounding intertestamental traditions in the biblical past.

Question 4

Dead Sea Scrolls

Answer 4

A set of texts produced or cherished by a separatist sect of Judaism (which many scholars equate with the Essenes) from the second century BC to the first century AD. The sect may have been centered where the documents were found, near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shores of the Dead Sea.

Question 5

Works of Josephus

Answer 5

Historical and apologetic treatises written by a first-century AD Jewish leader, Flavius Josephus, for the purpose of presenting and defending the history, beliefs, and practices of Judaism to the Graeco-Roman elite. His main works are the Jewish Antiquities, War of the Jews, Against Apion, and The Life of Flavius Josephus.

Question 6

Targums

Answer 6

Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew Scriptures for use in synagogues. Though standardized at a period later than the New Testament, they contain Jewish traditions that probably go back to the New Testament era or earlier.

Question 7

Mishnah

Answer 7

A compilation of rabbinic teaching produced in the second century AD. Probably contains traditions from the New Testament era.