The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Apollo S 25

in every generation she passes into holy souls and make them friends of God, and prophets, for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.” 1 and 2 Maccabees are about the sufferings of the Jewish people under Persian rulers in the early 100s B . C . E . and how the Maccabees led them to independence in 164 B . C . E . Perhaps the best known story in these books is the story of the rededication of the Temple. Jews celebrate this event at H ANUKKAH . INFLUENCE OF THE APOCRYPHA Although Protestants have rejected the Apocrypha, these books have had a major influence on Euro pean culture. For example, the composer Georg Friedrich Handel (1685–1759) wrote two oratorios based on the Apocrypha: Susanna and Judas Mac cabaeus. European painters often painted scenes from Susanna, Tobit, and Judith. A striking exam ple is Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gen tilleschi (1597–1651). The Apocrypha even played a role in the European discovery of the Americas. After reading a verse in 2 Esdras, Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) reasoned that the distance across the Atlantic from Europe to Asia could not be very far. He was wrong, but he discovered the Americas as a result. Further reading: R. H. Charles, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998); Michael D. Coogan et al., eds., The New Oxford Annotated NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha, 3d ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001); Daniel J. Harrington, Invitation to the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans, 1999); Otto Kaiser, The Old Testament Apocrypha: An Introduction (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004). Apollo An ancient Greek god of social order and law. Artwork shows Apollo as an ideal young man, just reaching maturity, often holding a bow or a lyre. He seems especially to have been the protec tor of young men as they became old enough to

Septuagint. This version contained more material than what eventually became the Hebrew Bible. Some church leaders were always aware of the dif ference between the Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible. It did not become important, however, until the Protestant R EFORMATION . At that time the Prot estants decided to recognize only the books in the Hebrew Bible as having authority. In response, the Council of T RENT declared in 1546 that the deutero canonical books were just as authoritative as the books in the Hebrew Bible. CONTENT OF THE APOCRYPHA Regardless of whether one believes that the books of the Apocrypha have authority, some of them are remarkable. Some books tell folk stories. Judith is the story of a woman who saved her people when the Babylonian army was laying siege to her city. She entertained the general of the opposing army, got him drunk, and then, when he was sleeping, cut off his head with his own sword. Susanna is the story of a woman whom two old men falsely accuse of adultery because she has refused to have sex with them. Daniel, still a boy, proves that the two old men were lying. They are put to death. Tobit tells of a man who is blinded for doing a righteous deed but recovers his sight. Two books of the Apocrypha, the Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach, are considered WISDOM LITERA TURE . They touch upon a great variety of topics, but some people find them to be not so profound as wisdom books in the Hebrew Bible, such as Job or Ecclesiastes. For example, Ecclesiasticus assumes that people can choose to be good all the time: “If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice” (15.15). It also does not seem to recognize, as Job does, the problem of undeserved suffering: “every one receives in accordance with his or her deeds” (16.14). These books do, however, celebrate Wis dom personified in highly poetic terms, as in this passage from Wisdom of Solomon: “[Wisdom] is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;