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The "Gospel of Barnabas"
Some Muslim argument for the authenticity of the "Gospel of Barnabas"
included this remark:
b. '.... not only those very leaves which, fifteen years before.
I had taken out of the basket, but also other parts of the Old
Testament, the Hew Testament complete, AND THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS
and a part of the Shepard of Hermes. It is now well known that
the manuscript which Tischendorf so emotionally leafed through
that night, there and then transcribing the hitherto LOST 'EPISTLE
OF BARNABAS' and 'Shepard of Hermes was what we know today as
the Codex Sinaiticus
(Jesus: The Evidence, 'Discovering the documents,' pp. 17/18).
There seems to be some confusion between the Epistle of Barnabas
and the Gospel of Barnabas. According to current historical
research, there is no evidence that these two are even related.
The following are known:
1. Epistle of Barnabas, written between AD 70 and 135,
and contains two parts: general advice on church affairs in the first part, and
the second part answers the question on whether Christians need to observe Jewish
food laws, etc. His answer was that these laws were symbolic in nature.
2. Journey of Barnabas, a 5th century work to supplement the account
in Acts.
3. Gospel of Barnabas (I), rejected among a list of forgeries in the
6th century. Nothing else is known about this. Not known if it has
anything in common with (4) below.
4. Gospel of Barnabas (II), Latin manuscript from Italy in the 16th
century, translated into English by Lonsdale and Laura Rigg, published
in 1907 by Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Documents (1) and (4) contradict especially in their views of
circumcision and Jewish food laws. (1) takes the view that these are
symbolic, while (4) are universal and all are obligated to observe.
(1) emphasizes that we are to find our salvation in the cross of Jesus
while (4) states that Jesus was not crucified.
The "Gospel of Barnabas"
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