07-010 Biblical Apocrypha, and the Chinese translation

07-010
Biblical Apocrypha, and the Chinese translation

Before moving on to discuss various Chinese translations of the Orthodox Bible, I would like to take a little detour to discuss biblical apocrypha first. 

What is Biblical Apocrypha?

Apocrypha is a Greek work ἀπόκρυφος, which means “hidden”. Biblical apocrypha is a collection of books written some time between 200 BC and AD 400. Literally, the term means “books to be read privately rather than in the public context of church services”.

The term "Apocrypha" first appeared in the Latin Vulgate Bible in AD 405. In AD 382, Pope Damasus commissioned St. Jerome to revise the Gospels of Vetus Latina into Latin. St. Jerome later extended his work and translated the whole Bible.

Vetus Latina is the first Latin translation of the Bible. But it is not in a format of a single book. Instead, Vetus Latina is a collection of manuscripts. Translation of the Old Testament was based on the Greek Septuagint, which included the apocrypha. However, when St. Jerome undertook the revision of Latin translations of Old Testament texts, he discovered that some books were found only in the Septuagint, but not in any of the Hebrew texts.

Instead of removing the apocrypha from his translation, St. Jerome put comments in the prologues, clearly identifying certain books of the Vetus Latina as apocryphal.

A total of 15 books were defined as apocryphal. They are as follow:

1.  1 Esdras (or 3 Esdras in Vulgate)
2. 2 Esdras (or 4 Esdras in Vulgate)
3. Tobit
4.  Judith
5. Rest of Esther
6. Wisdom
7. Sirach
8. Baruch
9. The Epistle of Jeremy
10. Song of the Three Children
11. Story of Susanna
12. The Idol Bel and the Dragon
13. Prayer of Manasseh
14. 1 Maccabees
15. 2 Maccabees

The Council of Trent

Eventually, the Vulgate became the standard Latin Bible used by the Catholic Church and revised several times throughout the history. The Catholic Church affirmed the Vulgate as its official Latin Bible at the Council of Trent (1545–1563). In addition, 12 of the 15 apocrypha were “upgraded” on a par with the other books of the canon at the Council of Trent. Those books were named as “deuterocanonical”, or second canon, by the Catholic church.

In 1592, Pope Clement VIII published his revised edition of the Vulgate, referred to as the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate. He moved the three books that were not found in the canon of the Council of Trent from the Old Testament into an appendix "lest they utterly perish".

Martin Luther

Martin Luther translated the Bible into German during the early part of the 16th century, first releasing a complete Bible in 1534. In his Bible, he moved all the apocryphal books to a separate section, placed between the Old and the New Testament. The books 1 and 2 Esdras were omitted entirely.

As an authority for this division, Luther cited St. Jerome, stating that books not found in the Hebrew were not received as canonical.

King James Version (KJV)

Index of the KJV, including a section of Apocrypha

Being a prominent translation of the Bible used by The Church of England, early versions of the King James Version followed Luther to put apocryphal books into a separate section. However, all 15 books were included. 

The formation of the modern day Protestant Bible

As Protestant churches do not consider the apocrypha as canon, almost all modern day Protestant Bibles, including Bible reading apps, contain only 66 books with no apocrypha. 

The formation of the modern day Catholic Bible

Nowadays, publishers of the Catholic Bible follow the Council of Trent to include 73 books into the Bible. The 3 books that were left out by The Canon of Trent were generally omitted. But why 73? 66 “canonical” + 12 “deuterocanonical” does not equal to 73.

The reason is because some of the deuterocanonical books were combined with other books. Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees & 2 Maccabees are separate books. Rest of Esther is found within the canonical Esther. Song of the Three Children, Story of Susanna & The Idol Bel and the Dragon are added to the canonical Daniel. The Epistle of Jeremy is added to the end of Baruch as “Baruch Chapter 6”. So, 66+12-5=73. 

Chinese Translations of the apocrypha

The first attempt to translate the apocrypha into vernacular Chinese is by the Jesuit priest Louis Antoine de Poirot. His translation of the Catholic Bible, Guxin shengjing / 古新聖經, already covered the 12 Apocryphal books. However, this translation was not published.

Anglican translation of the apocrypha

In 1933, the Anglican Church translated the apocrypha into vernacular Chinese and published in a separate volume次經全書. The publication follows the KJV to include all 15 apocryphal books. Translations of the names and places follow the terms used in the Chinese Union Version CUV.

This translation was revised several times. The 2014 revision can be read from the Bible app YouVersion. The original 1933 translation can be read from this link. Physical copy can be purchased in major Christian bookstores.

Since the Catholic church only completed their first Chinese Bible translation, the Studium Biblicum Version, in 1968, this Anglican translation remained as the only Chinese translation of the apocrypha for almost half of a century. This translation is also the only “official” translation of the apocrypha among the Protestants.

The two Chinese translations of the Catholic Bible, the 1968 Studium Biblicum Version and the 1999 Pastoral Bible, covers all 12 deuterocanonical books. Both are the official translations accepted by the Catholic churches.

Shengjing Houdian / 聖經後典

Several “private” translations were also found. In 1987, the apocrypha were translated by Zhang Jiuxuan, an official of the Chinese government, and published under the name Shengjing Houdian / 聖經後典.

Sheng Jing Ci Jing / 聖經次經

In 1995, Zhao Peilin, Zhang Jun & Yin Yao again translated the apocrypha and published under the name Sheng Jing Ci Jing / 聖經次經. Both translations follow the names and places used by Protestant churches. Protestants will find these 2 books very easy to read.

Christian Extra-Canonical Document / 基督教典外文獻

Last, but not least, is the professional translation by Mr. Eric C.K. Wong. Mr. Wong translated not only the apocrypha but also the pseudepigrapha. His work, Christian Extra-Canonical Document / 基督教典外文獻, was published in 10 volumes in 2001. I will discuss more about his work in the next post.

Digitized version of Zhang Jiuxuan’s Shengjing Houdian can be read from the official website of "The Orthodox Fellowship of All Saints of China (OFASC)". Scan copies of all three works are available to download from Catholic on line (天主教在線).

Direct link: https://dl.ziliaozhan.win/%E4%B9%A6%E7%B1%8D/pdf/%E5%9C%A3%E7%BB%8F/

You now have a basic idea on biblical apocrypha, which books are included and how did they appear in the Catholic Bible. In the next post, I will move on to discuss Orthodox Bible and its Chinese translation. It is again a complicated topic.

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