---

---

On The Books of The Apocrypha

11•11•2025

Apocrypha—the word alone eminates angst and debauchery. It's the kind of word that Finnish death metal-heads would drool over, but what does Apocrypha truly stand for? As I see it, apocrypha is the holy bible. Yes, there are nuances, and I'll get into them. But in the simplest form, from the point of view of a non-believer such as myself, that's that. However, the proper definition is something along the lines of "holy books that are not canonized in the bible". Now that you know what this esoteric word means, here's my atheistic point about it: I don't reckon that the books of the apocrypha are any less or more valid than the canonized books of the bible. If anything, apocrypha fills in and gives much needed context to some of the oddities in the bible we know today. Take for instance, an apocryphal work that a good majority of people know about: The Book of Judas. In the modern, canonized bible, Judas is this super duper bad apostle guy whos betrayal of Jesus Christ becomes a symbol for betrayal across the world. Now, if we dig in to apochrypha, The Book of Judas makes Judas out to be the holiest of all apostles.

How can this be so? Well, it's said that he basically betrayed Jesus at his command so as to do a holy deed and make prophecy come true through martyring himself. This and many other apochryful stories like it really make me ponder the nature of sacred texts. If one book can change the motives and entire image of a man, what even is the holy bible? This is the question that enthralls me into apochrypha. It's beautiful in a sense; like looking into another world. And in another world, canon would be apochrypha and apochrypha would be canon. I believe any good person of intellect, whether they be athiest or not, ought to study apochrypha because other viewpoints can never hurt you. And that's the heart of apochrypha, these books are each lenses of their own into parrallel faiths. A dead ringer for this statement is the existence of foreign bibles, most notabley the Ethiopian bible, that include some apochryphal books in their canon. A good place to start in the study of apochrypha, and the place I started my journey, is "The Books of The Apochrypha" by one reverend W. O. E. Osterly. It's an old book, rough around the edges for sure, but it's in the public domain and full of information. So please, if you enjoyed this article, give it a read.