This widely ranging group of documents share one of two primary characteristics.  These documents were either (1) written by a person who was writing self-consciously as a Jewish thinker (and often for Jewish readers) or (2) written in the same Semitic cultural context that shaped the writings of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).  Some of these writings are quite ancient, even predating the writings of the Hebrew Bible.  Others date from the dawn of the Christian era.

10/8/05