pseudepigraphy
nounEtymology From pseudo- + epigraphy.
1
The composition of pseudepigrapha, false credit of authorship to give ideas greater legitimacy.
- Pseudepigraphy was sometimes regarded as a literary lie, a forgery, which enabled the apocalyptic writers to acquire authority for their writings by using a borrowed identity.1988, Ithamar Gruenwald, From Apocalypticism to Gnosticism: Studies in Apocalypticism, Merkavah Mysticism and Gnosticism, Peter Lang, page 24:
- Related terms
- pseudepigraph, pseudepigrapha, pseudepigrapher, pseudepigraphic, pseudepigraphon, pseudepigraphum