Apocrypha controversy

1820s British biblical publishing debate From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Apocrypha controversy of the 1820s was a debate around the British and Foreign Bible Society and the issue of the inclusion of the Apocrypha in Bibles it printed for Christian missionary work.

History

During the Magisterial Reformation (Evangelical-Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican), the biblical apocrypha (deuterocanonical books) were treated as intertestamental books and placed between the Old Testament and New Testament of the Christian Bible; the biblical apocrypha were deemed as non-canonical by the traditions of the Magisterial Reformation, though they were "useful and good to read" by the faithful.^[1] It is a common misconception that Martin Luther removed certain books from the Bible; rather, he "collected the apocryphal books and placed them at the end of the Old Testament, rather than have them interspersed among the other books".^[2]^[3] The Luther Bible influenced the production of Bibles used by the Evangelical-Lutheran Churches worldwide. In the present-day, the official Evangelical-Lutheran Bible translations (such as Bibel 2000) in the Nordic-Baltic region continue to include the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament, for a total of 77 books in a full Evangelical-Lutheran Bible.^[4]^[5] To this date, scripture readings from the Apocrypha are included in the lectionaries of the Evangelical-Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Churches.^[6]

With respect to English-language Bibles, the British and Foreign Bible Society did include the Apocrypha in Bibles for use in continental Europe, where it was normal for Protestant as well as Catholic readers to have the texts of the Apocrypha. Prior to 1629, all English-language Bibles included the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament; examples include the "Matthew's Bible (1537), the Great Bible (1539), the Geneva Bible (1560), the Bishop's Bible (1568), and the King James Bible (1611)".^[7] Robert Haldane criticised this policy.^[8]

The Puritan-influenced 'British and Foreign Bible Society' had in fact dropped the Apocrypha from its Bibles published in English in 1804. This decision broke with the tradition of Myles Coverdale, of consolidating the Apocrypha between the two Testaments.^[9] They reasoned that by not printing the secondary material of Apocrypha within the Bible, the scriptures would prove to be less costly to produce.^[10]^[11]

Haldane and William Thorpe began a general campaign in 1821, against all Bibles with the Apocrypha and their printing with funds raised from British sources. The Society was divided over the issue, but the majority view favoured the existing policy of case-by-case inclusion. In Spring 1826 an attempt to reach a compromise with Haldane's view broke down. As a result, the major Scottish branches in Edinburgh and Glasgow left the Society. Most Scottish branches followed, and a few in England.^[12]

In the present-day, "English Bibles with the Apocrypha are becoming more popular again", usually being printed as intertestamental books.^[7] The Revised Common Lectionary, in use by most mainline Protestants including Methodists and Moravians, lists readings from the Apocrypha in the liturgical calendar, although alternate Old Testament scripture lessons are provided.^[13]

References

[1]
Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. Volume 3, p. 98 James L. Schaaf, trans. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–1993. ISBN 0-8006-2813-6
[2]
Adair, John; Svigel, Michael J. (1 October 2020). Urban Legends of Church History: 40 Common Misconceptions. B&H Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4336-4984-4. Introduction: Unraveling the Legend: The true history of the Apocrypha—or "deuterocanonical" books—is more complicated than simply saying "Roman Catholics added them to the Bible in the sixteenth century" or "Protestants removed them from the Bible in the sixteenth century." ... Martin Luther (1483–1546), along with most of the Reformers, sided with Jerome for historical and theological reasons, though Luther's German translation of the Bible as well as several other Protestant translations included the books in a separated category clearly marked as "Apocrypha."
[3]
"Martin Luther and the Scriptures". Houston Christian University. 11 March 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2026. Some of Luther's treatment of Scripture was carried over into later English versions. Luther collected the apocryphal books and placed them at the end of the Old Testament, rather than have them interspersed among the other books. These were books not in the Hebrew Bible, but found in the Greek translation known as the Septuagint. Luther and other Reformers held these were books useful to read but were not the inspired Word of God. Luther also re-arranged the order of New Testament books, an order which Tyndale and alter English translators followed. Luther also translated the Hebrew tetragrammaton, the Hebrew name for God, with all capital letters, distinguishing it from Adonai, another Hebrew word for "lord". So, in later English translations, such as the King James Version, the tetragrammaton is printed as "LORD", while Adonai is printed "Lord."
[4]
Pleijel, Richard; Carlström, Malin Podlevskikh (23 August 2022). Paratexts in Translation: Nordic Perspectives. Frank & Timme GmbH. pp. 61–62. ISBN 978-3-7329-0777-9.
[5]
"Bible 2000: Old Testament, Apocrypha, New Testament: Bible Commission translation". Libris. 1999. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
[6]
Readings from the Apocrypha. Forward Movement Publications. 1981. p. 5.
[7]
Ewert, David (11 May 2010). A General Introduction to the Bible: From Ancient Tablets to Modern Translations. Zondervan. p. 104. ISBN 9780310872436. English Bibles were patterned after those of the Continental Reformers by having the Apocrypha set off from the rest of the OT. Coverdale (1535) called them "Apocrypha". All English Bibles prior to 1629 contained the Apocrypha. Matthew's Bible (1537), the Great Bible (1539), the Geneva Bible (1560), the Bishop's Bible (1568), and the King James Bible (1611) contained the Apocrypha. Soon after the publication of the KJV, however, the English Bibles began to drop the Apocrypha and eventually they disappeared entirely. The first English Bible to be printed in America (1782–83) lacked the Apocrypha. In 1826 the British and Foreign Bible Society decided to no longer print them. Today the trend is in the opposite direction, and English Bibles with the Apocrypha are becoming more popular again.
[8]
David W. Bebbington (9 March 2004). Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. Routledge. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-134-84767-9.
[9]
David Daniell (2003). The Bible in English. Yale University Press. p. 187. ISBN 0-300-09930-4.
[10]
Anderson, Charles R. (2003). Puzzles and Essays from "The Exchange": Tricky Reference Questions. Psychology Press. p. 123. ISBN 9780789017628. Paper and printing were expensive and early publishers were able to hold down costs by eliminating the Apocrypha once it was deemed secondary material.
[11]
McGrath, Alister (10 December 2008). In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 298. ISBN 9780307486226.
[12]
Leslie Howsam (8 August 2002). Cheap Bibles: Nineteenth-Century Publishing and the British and Foreign Bible Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-521-52212-0.
[13]
"The Revised Common Lectionary" (PDF). Consultation on Common Texts. 1992. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015. In all places where a reading from the deuterocanonical books (The Apocrypha) is listed, an alternate reading from the canonical Scriptures has also been provided.

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