Old Testament and intertestamental studies In
biblical studies,
pseudepigrapha refers particularly to works that purport to be written by noted authorities in the Old or New Testaments or by persons involved in Jewish or Christian religious study or history. Such works can also be written about biblical matters in a way that appears as authoritative as texts included in the Judeo Christian scriptures.
Eusebius indicates this usage dates back at least to
Serapion of Antioch. Eusebius records of Serapion: "But those writings which are falsely inscribed with their name (
ta pseudepigrapha), we as experienced persons reject." Many such works were also called
Apocrypha, which originally connoted "private" or "non public", that is, not endorsed for public reading in the
liturgy. An example of a text that is both apocryphal and pseudepigraphical is the
Odes of Solomon. It is considered pseudepigraphical because it was not written by Solomon. It is a collection of early Christian, first to second century, hymns and poems originally written not in Hebrew, and apocryphal because it was not accepted into the
Tanakh or the
New Testament. There is a tendency not to use the word
pseudepigrapha for works later than about 300 CE when referring to biblical matters. The term pseudepigrapha is also commonly used to describe numerous works of Jewish religious literature written from about 300 BCE to 300 CE,
New Testament studies Christian scholars traditionally maintained that nothing known to be pseudepigraphical was admitted to the New Testament canon. The Catholic Encyclopedia summarizes the titling of the four Gospels as ancient, but not necessarily original to the authors themselves, and notes that the four Gospels were originally issued without author names and only later associated "according to" particular compilers, stating: The first four historical books of the New Testament are supplied with titles, which however ancient, do not go back to the respective authors of those sacred texts.
The Canon of Muratori,
Clement of Alexandria, and
St. Irenaeus bear distinct witness to the existence of those headings in the latter part of the second century of our era. Indeed, the manner in which Clement (Strom. I, xxi), and St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. III, xi, 7) employ them implies that, at that early date, our present titles to the gospels had been in current use for some considerable time. Hence, it may be inferred that they were prefixed to the evangelical narratives as early as the first part of that same century. That however, they do not go back to the first century of the Christian era, or at least that they are not original, is a position generally held at the present day. It is felt that since they are similar for the four Gospels, although the same Gospels were composed at some interval from each other, those titles were not framed and consequently not prefixed to each individual narrative, before the collection of the four Gospels was actually made. Besides as well pointed out by Prof. Bacon, "the historical books of the New Testament differ from its apocalyptic and epistolary literature, as those of the Old Testament differ from its prophecy, in being invariably anonymous, and for the same reason. Prophecies, whether in the earlier or in the later sense, and letters, to have authority, must be referable to some individual; the greater his name, the better. But history was regarded as common possession. Its facts spoke for themselves. Only as the springs of common recollection began to dwindle, and marked differences to appear between the well-informed and accurate Gospels and the untrustworthy ... become worth while for the Christian teacher or apologist to specify whether the given representation of the current tradition was 'according to' this or that special compiler, and to state his qualifications." It thus appears that the present titles of the Gospels are not traceable to the Evangelists themselves. Agnostic biblical scholar
Bart D. Ehrman argues that only seven of the Pauline epistles are convincingly genuine and that most of the remaining New Testament writings were written by unknown authors and not the well known figures to whom they were later ascribed. The earliest and best manuscripts of
Matthew,
Mark,
Luke, and
John are anonymous. Acts, Hebrews, 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John are also anonymous.
Pauline epistles Thirteen New Testament
letters are attributed to Paul and are still considered by Christians to carry Paul's authority. These letters are part of the
Christian Bible and are foundational for the theologies of many churches. Therefore, letters that some scholars judge to be pseudepigraphic are not necessarily considered any less valuable for Christian teaching. Authorship of 6 out of the 13 canonical epistles of Paul is widely questioned by both Christian and non Christian scholars. These are
Ephesians,
Colossians,
2 Thessalonians,
1 Timothy,
2 Timothy, and
Titus. These six books are often called the "deutero Pauline letters" by skeptical scholars, on the grounds that they present vocabulary, style, or ecclesial concerns that differ from the undisputed letters. The three "Pastoral Epistles" (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus) are so similar to one another that they are often thought to be by the same unknown author, either writing as Paul or in Paul's name. Though the seven letters generally accepted as authentic form the core of Paul's undisputed corpus and provide the primary basis for understanding his theology and mission, in
The Letters of Paul in their Roman Literary Context (2024), American Biblical Scholar
Nina Livesey reopens the question of
Pauline authorship, challenging mainstream consensus by arguing that the seven letters commonly labeled authentic should be treated as pseudonymous compositions and studied within
Roman epistolary and moral discourses, dating their appearance to the "mid-second century" and locating their formation in the "Roman school of
Marcion."
Catholic epistles Seven New Testament letters are attributed to several apostles, such as
Saint Peter,
John the Apostle, and Jesus's brothers
James and
Jude. Three of the seven letters are anonymous, traditionally grouped as the
Johannine epistles. Most modern scholars do not think the author was John the son of Zebedee, but there is no consensus for any particular historical figure. Two letters claim to have been written by
Simon Peter. These are the
First and
Second Epistles of Peter, the
Petrine epistles. Most modern scholars judge that the second epistle was probably not written by Peter, while opinions are divided on the first. and the attribution to Paul of the
Epistle to the Laodiceans are examples of pseudepigrapha excluded from the New Testament canon. and the
Gospel of Judas, which begins by presenting itself as "the secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot." The
Vision of Ezra is an ancient
apocryphal text purportedly written by the biblical
scribe Ezra. The earliest surviving manuscripts, in
Latin, date to the 11th century, although textual features strongly suggest that the work was originally composed in
Greek. Like the
Greek Apocalypse of Ezra, the work is clearly Christian and portrays several apostles in
heaven. The text is notably shorter than the apocalypse. The
Donation of Constantine is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th century emperor
Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the
Roman Empire to the
Pope. Probably composed in the 8th century, it was used, especially in the 13th century, in support of claims of political authority by the papacy.
Lorenzo Valla, an Italian
Catholic priest and
Renaissance humanist, is credited with exposing the forgery with philological arguments in 1439 to 1440. In Russian history, Muscovites reportedly received in 1561 a synodical charter from the
Patriarch of Constantinople confirming
Ivan the Terrible in the title of Tsar. Later scholarship questioned the authenticity of the signatures and the manner of its issuance. Studies noted that many signatures were penned by two or three scribes, and Russian church historians of the early 20th century discussed whether the charter had been produced without a formal synod and for financial gain. The
Anaphorae of
Mar Nestorius, employed in some
Eastern Christian Churches, is attributed to
Nestorius, but its earliest manuscripts are in Syriac, which raises questions about Greek authorship.
The Zohar The
Zohar (, "Splendor" or "Radiance"), a foundational work of Jewish mystical thought in
Kabbalah, first appeared in
Spain in the 13th century and was published by
Moses de León, who ascribed it to the 2nd century sage
Shimon bar Yochai. Modern academic analysis, especially that of
Gershom Scholem, argues that de León was the principal author, on linguistic and historical grounds, while acknowledging the possibility of contributions from a circle of kabbalists.
Ovid Conrad Celtes, a noted German humanist scholar and poet of the
German Renaissance, collected numerous Greek and Latin manuscripts as librarian of the Imperial Library in Vienna. In a 1504 letter to the publisher
Aldus Manutius Celtes claimed to have discovered the missing books of
Ovid's
Fasti. It turned out that the verses had been composed by an 11th century monk and were known to the
Empire of Nicaea according to
William of Rubruck. Even so, many scholars believed Celtes and continued to write about the missing books well into the 17th century. ==As a literary device==