The Forgotten Books of Eden
Various ancient authors; edited by Rutherford H. Platt, 1926
A one-volume gathering of books outside the biblical canon: the Conflict of Adam and Eve, 2 Enoch, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Odes of Solomon, and more.
- Composed
- Texts from the 2nd century BCE to the early centuries CE
- Original language
- Greek, Hebrew, and other ancient languages
What this text is
The Forgotten Books of Eden is a 1926 anthology that put the era’s scholarly translations of extra-canonical scripture into general readers’ hands: the Conflict of Adam and Eve after the expulsion from the garden, the Secrets of Enoch (2 Enoch) with its ascent through ten heavens, the deathbed Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the earliest Christian hymnbook in the Odes of Solomon, and the ancient wisdom tale of Ahikar.
The collection’s value is breadth: in one volume, a reader can survey the literature that circulated beside the canon, and see how much narrative, angelology, and devotional writing the standard Bible leaves out.
Why researchers read it
SOL’s investigation into whether the excluded books carried distinct teachings needs the excluded books themselves. This anthology gathers a working set of them in translation, making it a practical entry point before a reader descends into the critical editions.
Research that draws on this text
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