Includes bibliographical references (p. xxxvi-xxxvii) and index.

An inspiring collection of early Christian mystic poetry - intriguing, lyrical and beautiful.

The Odes of Solomon is recognized as the earliest Christian hymnbook. Questions, however, abound. Are the Odes essentially Jewish, Jewish-Christian, gnostic, or simply Christian? There is wide agreement that the Odes are related in some way to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospel of John. Charlesworth argues that the Odes were composed in an early form of Aramaic-Syriac and, like the Psalter, in poetic parallelism. Pointing to parallels with the Thanksgiving Hymns and other Qumran texts, he concludes that the Odist had probably been an Essene before he became a Christian, a member of the Johannine community.

Presented here are two volumes of apocryphal writings reflecting the life and time of the Old and New Testaments. Stories told by contemporary fiction writers of historical Bible times in fascinating and beautiful style.

A Volume Containing:EcclesiastesProverbsThe Song of SolomonThe Psalms of Solomon, andThe Odes of Solomon

Argues that Keat's six odes form a sequence, identifies their major themes, and provides detailed interpretations of the poems' philosophy, mythological references, and lyric structures.