What are "the apocryphal chapters"?

If you've visited our Kickstarter campaign, you may have wondered about the special gift connected with our $20 contribution level - "The Apocryphal Chapters." What exactly are "The Apocryphal Chapters"? What will be included? And can I eat them?

We're so glad you asked.

Most popularly, "The Apocrypha" refers to a set of intertestamental (written between the time of the Old Testament writings and the New Testament writings) books that are typically included in Catholic and some Protestant Bibles. Not surprisingly, various Christian traditions have debated whether to include these books in bound Bibles, whether they are canonical or not, which books to include and which to omit, which order to put them in, and what color the book binding should be (we assume).  Being well-versed in these "deuterocanonical" books can impress your Catholic friends and draw the suspicions of your Evangelical friends. And watch the sparks fly at your ecumenical dinner parties!

In a more broad sense, however, "apocryphal" can take on the meaning of "extra", "additional", or even "secondary." 

To put it in musical terms, these are biblical "B-sides."

In that vein, we have collected a variety of our own "B-sides" from Chad and Dave Read the Bible, Vol. 1: The Christmas Story - writings that, for a variety of reasons, did not quite make the cut for our finished product. Much like the biblical Apocrypha, these writings were not cut because they were "trash" (or skubula in Greek) but rather because they didn't quite fit the scope of our intended project. Some of them you might quite enjoy. And who knows? You might even find a "Yellow Ledbetter" or "Unchained Melody" in the bunch.

As for the final contents, who can say? With a few months to go before we head to publication, decisions are still being made. Perhaps you will get "#BlackMagiMatter" - perhaps not. Perhaps you will find "The Revelation of Jesuchristo to Juan of Alvarado" - we'll see. But we promise to make it worth your while.

And finally, PDFs are not edible. If you print them, however . . .