[sword-devel] apocrypha

[Chris Little]

We get a fair number of requests for apocrypha support.  It would be
fairly easy to add in, but there are many decisioins to make with regard
to how it should be written--

1) Should it be added now?  I would just be the addition of another
testament to our current canon.  It couldn't be turned off easily.  We
could just wait until we start working on 1.7.

2) Where should the additional testament be placed? Before or after the
New Testament?  Logically it would go before, but that would cause many
extraneous books to show up in those translations without
intertestamentals.  It would also require that all the locale files be
remade to reflect that Matthew-Revelation are no longer books numbered
40-66.

3) Which books go into the apocryphal canon and which versification do
we choose as our standard?  Since the KJV is our OT/NT standard, it
would make sense to use the KJV apocrypha as our standard.  But that
doesn't address books not included in the KJV apocrypha such as 3 & 4
Maccabees (included in the LXX).  And what about Laodiceans, which is
properly a New Testament apocryphon, so it doesn't really fit with the
other OT apocrypha.  Yet it is included in the Vulgate and should be
addressed somehow in order that we produce an accurate and complete
Vulgate.

4) What about the additions to Esther & Daniel?  Should they be included
in the apocrypha as alternates to the canonical books or should their
additions be added as additional books (AddEsther, Bel & the Dragon,
Susanna, Pr. Azariah, and Pr. Manasses)?

There's a lot to think about, even if we decide to just wait until
1.7/2.0 development before we tackle this problem.

-Chris