Use in The Christian Canon
The book was widely quoted by early Christian authors and it found a place in Origen's Hexapla. It was not included in early canons of the Western Church, and Clement VIII relegated it to an appendix following the New Testament in the Vulgate "lest perish entirely". However, the use of the book continued in the Eastern Church, and it remains a part of the Eastern Orthodox canon.
Some scholars, including Joseph Blenkinsopp in his 1988 commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah, holding that the book is a late 2nd/early 1st century BC revision of Esdras and Esdras β, while others such as L.L. Grabbe believe it to be independent of the Hebrew-language Ezra-Nehemiah.
Read more about this topic: 1 Esdras
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