Product Description
This is a popularized translation of the OT pseudepigrapha, quasi-Biblical writings which never achieved canonical status (or inclusion in any of the official Apocrypha). For one reason or another they were not considered part of the Biblical text by the first millenium (C.E.) compilers. This book contains translations of all of the texts found in volume I of the weighty Oxford University Press Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, without any of the apparatus. This includes such fascinating texts as the Book of Adam and Eve, the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, the Story of Ahikar, and the Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs.--J.B. Hare ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great!!!!!!
This Book contains many portions of ancient fake bible manuscripts that have shaped Judaism for years including the Psalms of Solomon which was included in some Septuagint manuscripts.

Also 2 Books of Adam and Eve that have a similar verse as our Lords Prayer.

4 Maccabees also included in some Septuagint Manuscripts that some Jews say were written by Flavius Josephus the great Jewish Historian

The Letter of Aristeas and the story of the beginnings of the Septuagint with a most probable reference to human flight!!!!!! And a similar expression of Pauls 1 Corinthians.

The story of Ahikar with a verse that is very similar to one of our english expressions. Also a similar story liked Jesus prodigal son story in Luke.

And many more great songs from the fake Odes of Solomon.

The fake book of the 12 Patriarchs Jacobs sons

The fake secrets of Enoch Book

And many more things including footnotes!!!!!!

A must buy if your a Christian or a Jew.

A MUST HAVE
A must have book for those who are into really understanding and not just reading like parrots.

the forgotten books of Eden gives you much insite
As reading this book, you can see the insite of the life of Adam & Eve, what they went through, do to there fall in the garden of Eden.
There hope to go back to the the garden of eden,longing for the smell of the trees, the tast of the frut, and seeing Adam & Eve heart broken! as they both saw there bodys, the way they where,and then seeing there bodys changed to mortal flesh! YET! you will see where God keeps his promise to all his creation...............

Ian Myles Slater on: Once Useful, Now Obsolete
This is a compendium of (mainly) nineteenth-century translations of ancient works concerning Biblical events and characters which never made it into standard Jewish and Christian canons. They date from Roman times to the early Middle Ages (in the form given, some possibly a bit later). When originally published in the early decades of the twentieth century, it was an inexpensive alternative to R.H.Charles'two-volume collection of "Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament," and the scholarship was not yet too out date. It has become increasing creaky with the passing of time, and the editing and publishing of new and better text editions of the works included, as well as enormous advances in linguistic and literary scholarship.

"Forgotten Books of Eden" is sometimes handy for verifying quotations in older secondary literature (studies and surveys), and some of the translations, notably those by Rendel Harris, are quite attractive. However, either the two massive volumes of James H. Charlesworth's collection of "Old Testament Pseudepigrapha," or "The Apocryphal Old Testament" (actually Pseudepigrapha), edited by H.F.D. Sparks as a partial replacement for Charles, would be better as a long-term investment. There are also various separate translations of some of the works included in these translations, and, less reliable but still worth some attention, separate reprints of some of the translations edited by Charles.

These are all considerably more expensive, however, and "Forgotten Books" is not an unreasonable addition to a personal library -- if you remember that anything in it you want to use should be checked against more authoritative versions. If it contained all, instead of about half, of S.C. Malan's 1882 translation of the Ethiopic "Conflict of Adam and Eve" (with Satan) as "The Book of Adam and Eve," considered too recent for the Charlesworth collection, it might still be a must-have.

The collection has also been bound with another set of obsolete translations, this time of New Testament Apocrypha, "The Lost Books of the Bible," which is also published separately. ... Read more