The Books of the Maccabees I and II are primarily historical accounts of the inter-testamental period (between the Old Testament and the New) when the Jewish people rebelled against their Greek oppressors and re-established themselves as an independent nation. They were composed after the Book of Daniel and provide something of a continuation and deepening of that book, carrying over themes of covenant faithfulness under oppression and enriching the historical details of the later chapters of Daniel.

It is during this period that many of the groups familiar to the Gospels came into being such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, the community at Qumran which produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Sanhedrin, While mostly history, there are some theological and ritual elements that originate from these books that are worth exploring including the concept of purgatory, prayers for the dead, the resurrection of the dead on the Day of Judgment, the intercessions of the saints, and the celebration of Hanukkah.

These books are not found in the Protestant or Jewish canon but are considered deutero-canonical or apocryphal by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Book of Common Prayer states in Article VI in the ThirtyNine Articles that "the Apocrypha [may be useful] for instruction in life and manners, but not for the establishment of doctrine."

The study begins Wednesday, March 9 at 6:00 PM. Covid conditions permitting, a simple supper of soup, salad, and bread at 5:30 will precede the presentation. Please see the sign up sheets in the parish hallway.