Barnabas letter

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The letter of Barnabas is a written testimony of early Christianity and belongs to the corpus of texts of the Apostolic Fathers . It is not a letter in the strict sense of the word, but rather a theological treatise . As is often the case with early church letters , it is not addressed to a parish. The author is not given. The scriptures should not be confused with the so-called " Gospel of Barnabas ".

Emergence

The author of the letter is unknown. His name may have been Barnabas , but the association with the New Testament Barnabas was long considered to be excluded because the work could be dated after the destruction of Jerusalem, which the apostle Barnabas did not live to see. In addition, the script is anti-Jewish and often uses the popular means of allegory in Alexandria to support his arguments. In addition, the letter is first mentioned in Alexandria. Therefore it is believed that it originated there.

The letter of Barnabas will therefore mostly be dated due to historical references (chapter 16, verses 3–4) to the time between the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem ( 70 AD) and the Bar Kochba revolt (in the year 132) . A more precise dating is then considered more difficult, with some theologians assuming a relatively early origin (late 1st to early 2nd century) due to the lack of citations from the New Testament canon . A short, isolated reference in Chap. 4, verse 14 to the Gospel of Matthew, chap. 20, 16 or 22, 14, can also be part of the oral tradition that was still widespread at that time. Oral traditions of this kind are discussed in Chap. 7, 3 and 7, 5 can be seen. Opposing positions have recently become visible when Barnabas is interpreted as a Judeo-Christian interpretation and the fall of Jerusalem is perceived as a general topos that refers back to the Babylonian exile.

Classification and criticism

Some church fathers ( Clement of Alexandria , Origen , Hieronymus ) considered the letter canonical and is also contained in the Codex Sinaiticus without any distinction from the other canonical books of the New Testament . On the other hand, Eusebius of Caesarea rejected the letter of Barnabas as heretical (deviating from church doctrine, heretical) because Jewish doctrine had not been overtaken and replaced by Christian ones. In contrast, as described in some of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, Jewish teaching was merely fulfilled through Christ . The letter to Barnabas thus decisively contradicts biblical teaching.

Text transmission

The Greek text is completely preserved in the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) and the Codex Hierosolymitanus (11th century). There is also a partially preserved, but imprecise Latin translation from the 4th or 5th century and some later manuscripts.

content

The content is divided into two parts: a dogmatic and a moral part. In the first section, the treatise deals with the conflict between the old covenant (Judaism) and the new covenant (Christianity). The author tries to portray the Jewish teaching as outdated and detached from the Christian one. The Jews would not understand the Old Testament correctly because of its literal interpretation; the correct interpretation is allegorical. The ordinances of God about sacrifice, circumcision and food were meant from the beginning in a higher, spiritual sense, their physical execution was never God's will, even in pre-Christian times. In addition, the Jews would not understand the Scriptures because “an evil angel talked them over.” They were “not worthy” of the covenant with God “because of their sins”. In this way Jerusalem and Israel would be "abandoned." This may be a reaction to a resurgence of the Jewish communities after the destruction of the Temple. In this respect, the letter gives an insight into the theological debates in the early church.

The second section describes, like the Didache , the two-way teaching.

In the letter of Barnabas there is for the first time a theological reason why Christians keep Sunday and not the Sabbath as a holiday: The eighth day is the first day of the New Creation, which Easter began on a Sunday.

Barnabas' letter has a number of theological and linguistic parallels to the letter to the Hebrews , so that there has been speculation about a common authorship.

It is also interesting that the Old Testament Apocrypha are viewed as canonical writings: In chap. 4, verse 3 and chap. 16, verse 5 is quoted from the book of Enoch , and chap. 12, verse 1 quoted from the 4th book of Ezra .

literature

Source editions and comments

  • The Apostolic Fathers. Greek-German parallel edition . JCB Mohr, Tübingen 1992. ISBN 3-16-145887-7
  • The letter of Barnabas . Translated and explained by Ferdinand R. Prostmeier. Series: Commentary on the Apostolic Fathers (KAV, Vol. 8). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999. ISBN 3-525-51683-5
  • Didache (apostolic teaching). Barnabas letter. Second Klemensbrief. Writing to Diognet . Introduced, ed., Trans. and ext. by Klaus Wengst. Schriften des Urchristentums 2. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt (1984) 2004. ISBN 3-534-18262-6
  • The letter of Barnabas . Explained by Hans Windisch. Series: Handbuch zum New Testament, Erg.-Vol .: The Apostolic Fathers 3. Mohr, Tübingen 1920

Secondary literature

  • Klaus Wengst : Art. Barnabas letter . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 5 (1980), pp. 238-241
  • Klaus Wengst: Tradition and Theology of the Barnabas Letter . Works on church history 42. de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 1971 ISBN 3-11-003975-3
  • Ferdinand R. Prostmeier: Anti-Jewish polemics in the context of Christian hermeneutics. On the dispute over Christian identity in the old church . In: Zeitschrift für Antikes Christianentum 6 (2002) 38–58.
  • James N. Rhodes: The Epistle of Barnabas and the Deuteronomic Tradition. Polemics, Paraenesis, and the Legacy of the Golden-Calf Incident . WUNT 2/188. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2004 ISBN 3-16-148377-4
  • Ferdinand R. Prostmeier: The Epistle of Barnabas. In: The Apostolic Fathers. An Introduction, ed. by Wilhelm Pratscher. Baylor University Press: Waco (TX) 2010, 27-45. ISBN 978-1-60258-308-5

See also: Fathers of the Church , Doctors of the Church , Catholic Letters

Web links