This English translation of Otto Kaiser’s compact and scholarly Old Testament Apocrypha: An Introduction, will serve as a valuable guide for students of the Apocrypha, or Deuterocanonical books, of the Old Testament. Bibliographies follow each chapter, providing those interested in a particular book with applicable introductions, published texts, articles, and commentaries pertaining to that book. Kaiser’s clear, overarching structure and his incorporation of recent research in Apocrypha studies will ensure that this brief book finds a well-worn place in the libraries of scholars.

“Kaiser here offers in a remarkably succinct way the latest scholarship on those books in some Christian Bibles called the Apocrypha, in some the Deuterocanonicals, in some fully integral books of the First Christian Testament, but in yet others totally absent. It is a compendium of the essential issues about each book: its textual situation, its textual transmission, its literary structure, its origins, its theology, and the historical situation addressed by each. The introduction is a cursory but critically valuable look at the Hellenization of Judaism in its different phases and how the turmoil of the Jews gave rise to these varying Jewish reactions and responses to the pre-Christian and pre-Rabbinic world of Early Judaism. The pertinent bibliographies are especially useful. Scholars and the curious at all levels will find it a rich resource.”

“Otto Kaiser’s introduction to the Old Testament Apocrypha offers readers a succinct assessment of the critical issues that attend this important body of literature. This veteran scholar investigates questions of dating, sources, redaction, extant mss and versions, fictive authorship, and provides excellent, up-to-date bibliographies. I recommend this book enthusiastically.”

Born in 1924, Otto Kaiser earned his Doctorate in Evangelical Theology at the University of Tübingen and was qualified to teach the Old Testament in 1957. He taught at the university of Marburg from 1960 to 1993. Kaiser’s Introduction to the Old Testament remains a classic in the field, as is his commentary on Isaiah. He continues to edit the well-known journal, Zeitschrift für Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, and the series, Beihefte zur Zeitschfrift für Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. He has contributed to more than 20 festschrifts and has had five such publications published in his honor.