Freethought & Rationalism Archive

godmustbecrazy · 08-15-2005, 04:43 AM

when was it written? are there any secular scholars who argue that it was written before mohammed ? i am asking this because muslims generally argue that since this gospel predicts mohammed therefore christian rejected this work.

so is there any scholarly work available which supports muslim point of view. or all the scholars agree that gospel of barnabas is a medeival work.

check this website. you will get the idea of what muslims think.

http://www.barnabas.net/

Toto · 08-15-2005, 05:06 PM

It seems that all secular and Christian scholars and some Muslims believe that the Gospel of Barnabas that we have now (not the epistle of Barnabas) is a medieval forgery. There was probably an earlier Gospel by that name from the 4th century, but it is lost.

Widipedia on Gospel of Barnabas

Quote:

The Gospel is considered by the majority of academics (including Christians and some Muslims) to be a pious fraud; however, some academics suggest that it may contain some remnants of an earlier apocryphal work edited to conform to Islam, perhaps Gnostic (Cirillo, Ragg) or Ebionite (Pines) or Diatessaronic (Joosten), and some Muslim scholars consider it genuine.

Gospel of Barnabas - a site devoted to debunking Mormonism

Quote:

Anachronistic Terms

The Gospel of Barnabas contains a number of anachronistic terms. For example, wine is described as being kept in wine-barrels, although such items were unknown during the first century. In fact, wine was kept in wineskins. A system of coinage of sixty mites to a denarius is asserted for first century Palestine. In fact, no such system was used in Palestine, but a similar system was used in medieval Spain.

The Gospel displays some confusion about the terms 'Christ' and 'Messiah'. Although Jesus, in the Gospel of Barnabas, asserts that he is not the Messiah, he still refers to himself as 'Christ'. The author of the Gospel was obviously unaware that these two words are synonymous.

The Gospel also asserts that the Jewish feast of Jubilee was celebrated every hundred years. In fact, the feast was celebrated every fifty years (Lev 25:11), but was changed to every hundred years by a papal bull in the Fourteenth century.

The Gospel often appears to indicate that feudalism was practiced in First Century Palestine. Vassals and Lords appear in the Gospel, as well as other feudal terms and practices.

. . .

A cursory reading of the Gospel of Barnabas reveals a number of quotes from Dante's Inferno. Terms such as 'false and lying gods' and 'raging hunger' appear in the Gospel, and Hell is described as consisting of seven centers. The 'circles of hell' are also referred to.

A Christian site gives more details.

offa · 08-15-2005, 07:08 PM

maybe, with a little deductive reasoning, we may determine that the original christians were palestinians.

myself, I am an atheist with free thought. FYGWB.

godmustbecrazy · 08-16-2005, 06:18 AM

hi toto
thanks for the reply.

the link of the wikipedia that you gave says that some muslim scholars consider it genuine. do you have any idea who those muslim scholars are.have they got any academic credentials or they are just trying to find the prophecy for mohammed in christian literature.

S.C.Carlson · 08-16-2005, 09:42 AM

The Muslim parts of the Gospel of Barnabas are late and medieval. What's actually interesting about this text is the base text of the Gospel of Barnabas into which the Islamic elements were interpolated. In particular, it appears that the interpolator used a kind of gospel harmony that was popular in the Middle Ages but has barely otherwise survived. These medieval harmonies are interesting because they may be (heavily corrupted) descendents of Tatian's Diatessaron. In a field with so little available evidence, scholars, of course, are deeply divided.

Yuri Kuchinsky · 08-20-2005, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by S.C.Carlson

The Muslim parts of the Gospel of Barnabas are late and medieval. What's actually interesting about this text is the base text of the Gospel of Barnabas into which the Islamic elements were interpolated. In particular, it appears that the interpolator used a kind of gospel harmony that was popular in the Middle Ages but has barely otherwise survived. These medieval harmonies are interesting because they may be (heavily corrupted) descendents of Tatian's Diatessaron. In a field with so little available evidence, scholars, of course, are deeply divided.

Yes, the medieval Gospel of Barnabas is indeed based on a very old gospel harmony, or the Diatessaron. But Tatian probably never had anything to do with the Diatessaron. There's simply no solid proof of that.

Yuri.

08-15-2005, 04:43 AM	#1
godmustbecrazy Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: kanpur Posts: 15	dating Gospel of Barnabas when was it written? are there any secular scholars who argue that it was written before mohammed ? i am asking this because muslims generally argue that since this gospel predicts mohammed therefore christian rejected this work. so is there any scholarly work available which supports muslim point of view. or all the scholars agree that gospel of barnabas is a medeival work. check this website. you will get the idea of what muslims think. http://www.barnabas.net/

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08-15-2005, 07:08 PM	#3
offa Regular Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Monroeville, Ohio, USA Posts: 440	maybe, with a little deductive reasoning, we may determine that the original christians were palestinians. myself, I am an atheist with free thought. FYGWB.

08-16-2005, 06:18 AM	#4
godmustbecrazy Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: kanpur Posts: 15	hi toto thanks for the reply. the link of the wikipedia that you gave says that some muslim scholars consider it genuine. do you have any idea who those muslim scholars are.have they got any academic credentials or they are just trying to find the prophecy for mohammed in christian literature.

08-16-2005, 09:42 AM	#5
S.C.Carlson Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 1,307	The Muslim parts of the Gospel of Barnabas are late and medieval. What's actually interesting about this text is the base text of the Gospel of Barnabas into which the Islamic elements were interpolated. In particular, it appears that the interpolator used a kind of gospel harmony that was popular in the Middle Ages but has barely otherwise survived. These medieval harmonies are interesting because they may be (heavily corrupted) descendents of Tatian's Diatessaron. In a field with so little available evidence, scholars, of course, are deeply divided.

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