Gospel of Barnabas

The Gospel of Barnabas is a book depicting the life ofJesus, and claims to be by the biblical Barnabas, who inthis work is one of the twelve apostles. Two manuscriptsare known to have existed, both dated to the late 16th cen-tury and written respectively in Italian and in Spanish—although the Spanish manuscript is now lost, its text sur-viving only in a partial 18th-century transcript. Barnabasis about the same length as the four canonical gospels puttogether, with the bulk being devoted to an account ofJesus’ ministry, much of it harmonized from accountsalso found in the canonical gospels. In some key re-spects, it conforms to the Islamic interpretation of Chris-tian origins and contradicts the New Testament teachingsof Christianity.This Gospel is considered by the majority of academics,including Christians and some Muslims (such as Abbasel-Akkad) to be late and pseudepigraphical;[1] however,some academics suggest that it may contain some rem-nants of an earlier apocryphal work (perhaps Gnostic,[2]Ebionite[3] or Diatessaronic[4]), redacted to bring it morein line with Islamic doctrine. Some Muslims consider thesurviving versions as transmitting a suppressed apostolicoriginal. Some Islamic organizations cite it in support ofthe Islamic view of Jesus.This work should not be confused with the survivingEpistle of Barnabas, nor with the surviving Acts of Barn-abas.

1 Textual history

The earliest document mentioning a Barnabas gospelwhich is generally agreed to correspond with the onefound in the two knownmanuscripts is reported to be con-tained in Morisco manuscript BNMMS 9653 in Madrid,written about 1634 by Ibrahim al-Taybili in Tunisia.[5]While describing how the Bible predicts Muhammad, hespeaks of the “Gospel of Saint Barnabas where one canfind the light” (“y así mismo en Evangelio de San Bern-abé, donde se hallará la luz”). The first published ac-count of the Gospel was in 1717, when a brief referenceto the Spanish text is found in De religione Mohamedicaby Adriaan Reland;[6] and then in 1718, a much more de-tailed description of the Italian text by the Irish deist JohnToland.[7] Both Italian and Spanish texts are referred toin 1734 by George Sale in The Preliminary Discourse tothe Koran:

The Mohammedans have also a Gospel in

John Toland gave a detailed description of the manuscript

Arabic, attributed to St. Barnabas, wherein thehistory of Jesus Christ is related in a mannervery different from what we find in the trueGospels, and correspondent to those traditionswhich Mohammed has followed in his Koran.Of this Gospel the Moriscoes in Africa havea translation in Spanish; and there is in the li-brary of Prince Eugene of Savoy, a manuscriptof some antiquity, containing an Italian trans-lation of the same Gospel, made, it is to besupposed, for the use of renegades. This bookappears to be no original forgery of the Mo-hammedans, though they have no doubt inter-polated and altered it since, the better to servetheir purpose; and in particular, instead of theParaclete or Comforter, they have, in this apoc-ryphal gospel, inserted the word Periclyte, thatis, the famous or illustrious, by which theypretend their prophet was foretold by name,that being the signification of Mohammed inArabic; and this they say to justify that pas-sage in the Koran where Jesus Christ is for-mally asserted to have foretold his coming un-

1

2 3 MANUSCRIPTS

der his other name Ahmed, which is derivedfrom the same root as Mohammed and of thesame import.[8]

Sale’s translation of the Qur'an text became the standardEnglish version at that time; and through its dissemina-tion, and that of the Preliminary Discourse, an awarenessof the Gospel of Barnabas spread widely in scholarly cir-cles; prompting many fruitless attempts to find the Ara-bic original to which Sale referred. However, in his de-scription of the Gospel in the Preliminary Discourse, Salewas relying entirely on second-hand accounts. For ex-ample, contrary to Sale’s notice, the words paraclete orpericlyte are not explicitly found in the text of either theSpanish or Italian versions; although the Greek term per-iclyte is transliterated into Arabic in one of the marginalnotes to the Italian manuscript at Chapter 44, as a glossto the Italian 'uno splendore'. Subsequent to the prepa-ration of the Preliminary Discourse, the known Spanishmanuscript came into Sale’s possession.

2 Earlier occurrences of a Gospelof Barnabas

A “Gospel according to Barnabas” is mentioned in twoearly Christian lists of apocryphal works: the LatinDecretum Gelasianum[2] (6th century), as well as a 7th-century Greek List of the Sixty Books. These lists are in-dependent witnesses. In 1698 John Ernest Grabe foundan otherwise unreported saying of Jesus,[9] attributed tothe Apostle Barnabas, amongst the Greek manuscripts inthe Baroccian collection in the Bodleian Library; whichhe speculated might be a quotation from this lost gospel.John Toland translates the quotation as, The ApostleBarnabas says, he gets the worst of it who overcomes inevil contentions; because he thus comes to have the moresin; and claimed to have identified a corresponding phrasewhen he examined the surviving Italian manuscript ofthe Gospel of Barnabas in Amsterdam before 1709.Subsequent scholars examining the Italian and Spanishtexts have been unable, however, to confirm Toland’sobservation.[10]

This work should not be confused with the surviving Epis-tle of Barnabas, which may have been written in 2nd cen-tury Alexandria. There is no link between the two booksin style, content, or history other than their attribution toBarnabas. On the issue of circumcision, the books clearlyhold very different views, that of the epistle’s rejectionof the Jewish practice as opposed to the gospel’s promo-tion of the same. Neither should it be confused with thesurviving Acts of Barnabas, which narrates an accountof Barnabas’ travels, martyrdom and burial, and which isgenerally thought to have been written in Cyprus some-time after 431.In 478, during the reign of the Emperor Zeno, arch-

bishop Anthemios of Cyprus announced that the hiddenburial place of Barnabas had been revealed to him in adream. The saint’s body was claimed to have been dis-covered in a cave with a copy of the canonical Gospel ofMatthew on its breast; according to the contemporary ac-count of Theodorus Lector, who reports that both bonesand gospel book were presented by Anthemios to theemperor.[9] Some scholars who maintain the antiquity ofthe Gospel of Barnabas propose that the text purportedlydiscovered in 478 should be identified with the Gospel ofBarnabas instead; but this supposition is at variance withan account of Anthemios’s gospel book by Severus ofAntioch, who reported having examined the manuscriptaround the year 500, seeking to find whether it supportedthe piercing of the crucifed Jesus by a spear at Matthew27:49 (it did not). According to the 11th-century Byzan-tine historian Georgios Kedrenos, an uncial manuscriptof Matthew’s Gospel, believed to be that found by An-themios, was then still preserved in the Chapel of StStephen in the imperial palace.[9]

3 Manuscripts

3.1 Italian manuscript

View of the Austrian Imperial Library, where the Italianmanuscript was kept

Prince Eugene’s Italian manuscript had been presentedto him in 1713 by John Frederick Cramer;[11] and wastransferred to the Austrian National Library in Vienna in1738 with the rest of his library. In Amsterdam some-time before 1709, Cramer had lent the manuscript toToland, who writes that; (Mr Cramer) had it out of thelibrary of a person of great name and authority in thatsaid city; who during his life was often heard to put ahigh value on the piece. Whether as a rarity, or as themodel of his religion, I know not.[12] Michel Fremaux re-ports no success in tracking and identifying this previousowner, or in finding a corresponding manuscript listedin any catalogue or inventory. However, Toland’s noticewould imply that the unnamed former owner was an anti-Trinitarian or Unitarian by religion; and Fremaux con-jectures that the manuscript may have come to Amster-dam among the papers of Giovanni Michele Bruto, or ofChristopher Sandius;[6] antiquaries and collectors of reli-

3.2 Spanish manuscript 3

gious manuscripts from Transylvania and Poland respec-tively.The Italian manuscript has 506 pages, of which theGospel of Barnabas fills pages 43 to 500, written withinred frames in an Islamic style. The preceding pages 5to 42 are also red framed; but remain blank (other thanfor Cramer’s presentation to Prince Eugene), and it maybe inferred that some sort of preface or preliminary textwas intended, although the space is much greater thanwould have been needed for the text of the correspondingSpanish Preface.[13] There are chapter rubrics and mar-gin notes in ungrammatical Arabic;[14] with an occasionalTurkish word, and many Turkish syntactical features.[15]Its binding is Turkish, and appears to be original;[16] butthe paper has an Italian watermark,[2] which has beendated between 1563 and 1620.[2] The same scribe wroteboth the Italian text and the Arabic notes, and was clearly“occidental” in being accustomed to write from left toright.[17] There are catchwords at the bottom of each page,a practice common in manuscripts intended to be set upfor printing. The manuscript appears to be unfinished, inthat the Prologue and 222 chapters are provided through-out with framed blank spaces for titular headings, butonly 28 of these spaces have been filled. This Italianmanuscript formed the basis for the most commonly cir-culated English version, a translation undertaken by Lons-dale and Laura Ragg and published in 1907. The Raggs’English version was quickly re-translated into Arabic byRashid Rida, in an edition published in Egypt in 1908.[18]

The Italian spelling is idiosyncratic in frequently doublingconsonants and adding an intrusive initial “h” where aword starts with a vowel (e.g. “hanno” for “anno”).[19]The writer is not a professional scribe. Otherwise, how-ever, the orthography and punctuation indicates a handformed in the first half of the 16th century, and in certainkey respects is characteristically Venetian. The underly-ing dialect however, is Tuscan; and shows a number ofcharacteristic late medieval (14th–15th-century) forms.The linguistic experts consulted by the Raggs concludedthat the Vienna manuscript was most likely the work ofan older Venetian scribe, copying a Tuscan original, andwriting in the second half of the 16th century.

3.2 Spanish manuscript

Sale says of the lost Spanish manuscript; The book is amoderate quarto.. written in a very legible hand, but alittle damaged towards the latter end. It contains two hun-dred and twenty-two chapters of unequal length, and fourhundred and twenty pages; It was lent to Sale by DrHolme, Rector of Hedley in Hampshire; and the text withan English translation passed subsequently to Dr ThomasMonkhouse of Queen’s College, Oxford, who himselflent both text and translation to Dr Joseph Wright, whoused them for his series of Bampton Lectures in 1784.Sale provides no hint of how Dr Holme might have comeby this document. Apart from the surviving Sydney tran-

script, the Spanish text survives in three passages quotedby Sale in Spanish, and in nine chapters quoted by Whitein English translation.No trace is known of the original Spanish manuscript af-ter Dr Monkhouse’s death in 1792; however, an 18th-century copy of it was discovered in the 1970s in theUniversity of Sydney's Fisher Library among the books ofCharles Nicholson, labelled in English “Transcribed fromms. in possession of the Revd Mr Edm. Callamy whobought it at the decease of Mr George Sale ... and nowgave me at the decease of Mr John Nickolls, 1745”.[20]The Sydney transcript has 130 pages, but does not con-tain the entire text, as at the bottom of page 116 there isa note Cap 121 to 200 wanting, and page 117 resumesat chapter 200 (in the Spanish numeration). Compar-ing the Sydney transcript with the counterpart passagesquoted in Spanish by Sale, there are no substantial differ-ences, but it would appear that sometime between Sale’sdeath in 1736 and 1745 some 80 chapters of the Spanishmanuscript were lost.

Fisher Library, University of Sydney. To the left of the image isFisher North, and to the right is Fisher South.

The Spanish text is preceded by a note claiming that itwas translated from Italian by Mustafa de Aranda, anAragonese Muslim resident in Istanbul. This note is itselfpreceded by a Preface by one assuming the pseudonym'Fra Marino', claiming to have stolen a copy of the Italianversion from the library of Pope Sixtus V.[21] Fra Marinoreports that, having a post in the Inquisition Court, he hadcome into possession of several works, which led him tobelieve that the Biblical text had been corrupted, and thatgenuine apostolic texts had been improperly excluded.Fra Marino also claims to have been alerted to the ex-istence of the Gospel of Barnabas, from an allusion in awork by Irenaeus against Paul; in a book which had beenpresented to him by a lady of the Colonna family (Marino,outside Rome, is the location of the Palazzo Colonna).[22]

The linguistic forms, spelling and punctuation of theSpanish text (as recorded in the Syndey transcript) aregenerally close to standard Castilian of the late 16th cen-tury; and lack the idiosyncrasies of the Italianmanuscript.Hence, linguistically, the surviving Spanish text appears

4 4 ORIGINS

later than the surviving Italian text; but this does not nec-essarily confirm that the underlying Spanish text is sec-ondary.

3.3 Comparison

Aside from the missing 80 chapters, there are differencesin the chapter divisions between the Italian and Spanishtexts; and also between the Sydney transcript and the pas-sages quoted by Dr White in English. The Italian andSpanish chapters agree for the prologue and up to chapter116. Chapter 117 in the Italian version is split into Chap-ters 117 and 118 in the Spanish; and then Chapters 118and 119 in the Italian correspond with 119 in the Span-ish. Chapter 120, before the lacuna, is common to both;but when the Spanish manuscript resumes, its numberedChapter 200 corresponds to the numbered Italian Chapter199. The two versions continue one chapter out of phasefor the rest of the book so that the final Chapter 222 inthe Sydney transcript corresponds to Chapter 221 in theItalian. The final Chapter 222 in the Italian is missingfrom the Spanish text. In the quotations of JosephWhite,there is a further difference in that the long Chapter 218(217 in the Italian text) is split, so that Chapter 220 inDr White’s text corresponds to Chapter 219 in the Syd-ney transcript and Chapter 218 in the Italian manuscript.Dr White’s Chapter 221 corresponds with both Chapters220 and 221 in the Sydney transcript, and Chapters 219and 220 in the Italian. In this context it may be notedthat Chapter 218 in the Italian manuscript contains a cor-rected chapter division, in that the scribe originally splitoff the final paragraph into the start of Chapter 219, andthen erased and overwrote the division. This suggests thatwhatever text the scribe of the Italian manuscript was us-ing as his copy, was unclear as to chapter divisions at thispoint.Besides the absent final chapter, and the large lacuna al-ready noted; the Spanish text also misses a section ofaround 100 words from its Chapter 222 (Chapter 221in the Italian) and another substantial but shorter sectionfrom Chapter 211 (Chapter 210 in the Italian). Thesemay be related to Sale’s note that the manuscript wasdamaged towards the end. Otherwise there are numer-ous points where words present in the Italian text (andnecessary for the sense) are not represented in the Span-ish translation. Conversely there are also around a dozenplaces where the Raggs had speculated that a word orphrase might have been accidentally omitted in their Ital-ian text, and in all these instances, the Spanish text sup-plies the missing words.Unlike the Italian text, the Spanish text has no Arabicmarginal notes or chapter summaries, nor are the Italiantitles for the first 27 chapters represented in the Span-ish. There is a title provided in the Spanish text above thePrologue but this differs from that provided above thePrologue in the Italian text. Contrariwise, there is a ti-tle provided above Chapter 218 in the Sydney transcript,

which is not found either above the corresponding Chap-ter 217 in the Italian text, nor is quoted at this point byDr White.Other than in their respective copyist errors, there appearto be few substantial differences of meaning between theSpanish and Italian text; but one notable variant is foundin the description of the crucifixion of Judas Iscariot inChapter 218 in the Spanish text (217 in the Italian text).Jesus Christ has been miraculously abstracted from theaction; and Judas, transformed into the likeness of Je-sus, is crucified in his place. In the Spanish manuscript,and Dr White’s translation, it is said that all Jesus’s dis-ciples remained fooled by the transformation throughoutthe crucifixion “excepting Peter"; but this specific qualifi-cation is not present in the Italian text, nor is Peter statedas an exception in the earlier account of the transforma-tion itself in Chapter 217 of the Spanish text.

4 Origins

Some researchers argue that phrases in Barnabas are very similarto phrases used by Dante

Some researchers of the work argue for an Italianorigin,[23] noting phrases in Barnabas which are verysimilar to phrases used by Dante[24] and suggesting thatthe author of Barnabas borrowed from Dante’s works;they take the Spanish version’s preface to support thisconclusion.[25] Other researchers have noted a range oftextual similarities between passages in the Gospel ofBarnabas, and variously the texts of a series of late me-dieval vernacular harmonies of the four canonical gospels(in Middle English and Middle Dutch, but especially inMiddle Italian); which are all speculated as deriving froma lost Vetus Latina version of the Diatessaron of Tatian.[4] If true, this would also support an Italian origin.Other researchers argue that the Spanish version camefirst, regarding the Spanish preface’s claims of an Ital-

5

ian source as intended to boost the work’s credibility bylinking it to the Papal libraries. These scholars note par-allels with a series of Morisco forgeries, the Lead Booksof Sacromonte, dating from the 1590s; or otherwise withMorisco reworkings of Christian and Islamic traditions,produced following the expulsion of the Moriscos fromSpain.[26]

A detailed comparison between the surviving Italian andSpanish texts shows numerous places where the Spanishreading appears to be secondary, as for example, wherea word or phrase necessary for the meaning is missingin the Spanish text but present in the Italian. BernabéPons, arguing for the priority of the Spanish version,maintains that these are due to transcription errors per-petrated by the 18th-century English scribe who createdthe Sydney manuscript.[27] Joosten, however, while ac-cepting that the carelessness of the English scribe is themost likely explanation for most such instances, neverthe-less argues that a minority of such readings are inherentlymore likely to be due to translation errors in the Spanishtext. In particular, he sees the Spanish text as containingnumerous 'Italicisms’ as, for example, where the Italiantext employs the conjunction pero, with an Italian mean-ing 'therefore'; while the Spanish text also reads pero, witha Spanish meaning 'however'; the Italian sense being theone demanded by the context.[28] He finds no counterpart'Castilianisms’ in the Italian text. There are, however,other passages where the Spanish reading makes sense,while the Italian does not, and many features of the Ital-ian text that are not found in the Spanish; such as the titlesfor chapters 1–27. Joosten argues that this indicates thatboth the 16th-century Italian and Spanish texts must de-pend on a lost Italian original, which he, in common withthe Raggs, dates substantially to the mid-14th century.Joosten states:

A systematic comparison of the Italian andSpanish texts of the Gospel of Barnabas leadsto the conclusion that the Spanish was trans-lated from the Italian at a date somewhat re-moved from the original.[29]

The lost Spanish manuscript claimed to have been writ-ten in Istanbul, and the surviving Italian manuscript hasseveral Turkish features;[30] so, whether the language oforigin was Spanish or Italian, Istanbul is regarded by mostresearchers as the place of origin of surviving texts.Following the conquest of Moorish Granada in 1492,Sephardi Jews and Muslim Mudéjar were expelled fromSpain. Although some found initial refuge in Italy (es-pecially Venice), most resettled in the Ottoman Empire,where Spanish speaking Jews established in Istanbul arich sub-culture with a flourishing Hebrew and Ladinoprinting industry. Numbers were further augmented af-ter 1550, following campaigns of persecution by theVenetian Inquisition against Italian anti-Trinitarians andJews.[31] Although Muslim teaching at this time strongly

opposed the printing of Islamic or Arabic texts, non-Muslim printing was not, in principle, forbidden; in-deed attempts were made in the 1570s by anti-TrinitarianChristians to establish a printing press in the Turkish cap-ital to publish radical Protestant works.[32] In the Spanishpreface, Fra Marino records his wish that the Gospel ofBarnabas should be printed, and the only place in Europewhere that would have been possible in the late 16th cen-tury would have been Istanbul.A minority of researchers – such as David Sox[33] – are,however, suspicious of the apparent 'Turkish' features ofthe Italian manuscript;[34] especially the Arabic annota-tions, which they adjudge to be so riddled with elemen-tary errors as to be most unlikely to have been writtenin Istanbul (even by an Italian scribe). In particular, theynote that the glossing of the Italian version of the shahadainto Arabic, does not correspond exactly with the stan-dard ritual formula recited daily by every Muslim. Theseresearchers are inclined to infer from these inconsisten-cies that both manuscripts may represent an exercise inforensic falsification, and they tend to locate their placeof origin as Rome.Few academics argue that the text, in its present form,dates back any earlier than the 14th–16th centuries; al-though a minority see it as containing portions of an ear-lier work, and almost all would detect the influence ofearlier sources—over and above the Vulgate text of theLatin Bible. Consequently most researchers would con-cur with a stratification of the surviving text into at leastthree distinct layers of composition:[35]

• an editorial layer dating from the late 16th century;and comprising, at the least, the Spanish preface andthe Arabic annotations,

• a layer of vernacular narrative composition, either inSpanish or Italian, and dating from no earlier thanthe mid-14th century,

• a layer derived from earlier source materials, al-most certainly transmitted to the vernacular au-thor/translator in Latin; and comprising, at the least,those extensive passages in the Gospel of Barn-abas that closely parallel pericopes in the canon-ical gospels; but whose underlying text appearsmarkedly distinct from that of the late medievalLatin Vulgate[36] (as for instance in the alternativeversion of the Lord’s Prayer in chapter 37, whichincludes a concluding doxology, contrary to the Vul-gate text, but in accordance with the Diatessaron andmany other early variant traditions);

Much of the controversy and dispute concerning the au-thenticity of the Gospel of Barnabas can be re-expressedas debating whether specific highly transgressive themes(from an orthodox Christian perspective) might alreadyhave been present in the source materials utilised by a14th–16th-century vernacular author, whether theymight

6 6 RELIGIOUS THEMES

be due to that author himself, or whether they might evenhave been interpolated by the subsequent editor. Thoseresearchers who regard these particular themes as primi-tive, nevertheless do not generally dispute that other partsof the Gospel may be late and anachronistic; while thoseresearchers who reject the authenticity of these particu-lar themes do not generally dispute that other parts of theGospel could be transmitting variant readings from antiq-uity.

5 Analysis

This work clearly contradicts the New Testament biblicalaccounts of Jesus and his ministry but has strong parallelswith the Islamic faith, not only mentioning Muhammadby name, but including the shahadah (chapter 39). It isstrongly anti-Pauline and anti-Trinitarian in tone. In thiswork, Jesus is described as a prophet and not the son ofGod,[37] while Paul is called “the deceived.” Furthermore,the Gospel of Barnabas states that Jesus escaped crucifix-ion by being raised alive to heaven, while Judas Iscariotthe traitor was crucified in his place. These beliefs—inparticular, that Jesus is a prophet of God and raised alivewithout being crucified—conform to or resemble Islamicteachings which say that Jesus is a major prophet who didnot die on the cross but was taken alive by angels to God.Other passages, however, conflict with the teachingsof the Qur'an—as, for instance, in the account of theNativity, where Mary is said to have given birth to Jesuswithout pain[38] or as in Jesus’s ministry, where he per-mits the drinking of wine and enjoins monogamy[39]—though the Qur'an acknowledges each prophet had a setof their own laws that might differ in some aspects fromeach other. Other examples include that hell will onlybe for the committers of the seven deadly sins (Barn-abas: 4–44/135), anyone who refuses to be circumcisedwill not enter paradise (Barnabas 17/23), that God has asoul (Barnabas 6/82), that there are 9 heavens (Barnabas3/105).If the Gospel of Barnabas is seen as an attempted syn-thesis of elements from both Christianity and Islam,then 16th- and 17th-century parallels can be suggestedin Morisco and anti-Trinitarian writings.

6 Religious themes

The Gospel of Barnabas was little known outside aca-demic circles until recent times, when a number of Mus-lims have taken to publishing it to argue against theorthodox Christian conception of Jesus. It generallyresonates better with existing Muslim views than withChristianity:[40]

Qur'an Sura 4 Verse 157:

And because of their saying: We slew theMessiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger— they slew him not nor crucified him, but it ap-peared so unto them; and lo! those who disagreeconcerning it are in doubt thereof; they have noknowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture;they slew him not for certain.[41]

Rather than describing the crucifixion of Jesus, Gospel ofBarnabas describes him being raised up into heaven[42] Itcan be likened to the description of Elijah in 2 Kings,Chapter 2. It also foretells the coming of Muhammad byname and it calls Jesus a “prophet” whose mission wasrestricted to the “house of Israel".It contains an extended polemic against the doctrineof predestination (Chapter 164), and in favour ofjustification by faith; arguing that the eternal destinationof the soul to Heaven or Hell is neither pre-determined byGod’s grace (as in Calvinism), nor the judgement of God,in his mercy, on the faith of believers on Earth (as in Is-lam). Instead it states that all those condemned at the lastjudgement, but who subsequently respond in faith, whodemonstrate unfeigned penitence, and who make a freechoice of blessedness, will eventually be offered salvation(Chapter 137).[39] Only those whose persistent pride pre-vents them from sincere repentance will remain forever inHell. Such radically Pelagian beliefs in the 16th centurywere found amongst the anti-Trinitarian Protestant tradi-tions later denoted as Unitarianism. Some 16th-centuryanti-Trinitarian divines sought to reconcile Christianity,Islam and Judaism; on the basis of very similar argumentsto those presented in the Gospel of Barnabas, arguing thatif salvation remains unresolved until the end times, thenany one of the three religions could be a valid path toheaven for their own believers. The Spaniard, MichaelServetus denounced the orthodox Christian formulationof the Trinity (demonstrating the only explicit referenceto the Trinity in the New Testament to be a later inter-polation); and hoped thereby to bridge the doctrinal di-vide between Christianity and Islam. In 1553 he wasexecuted in Geneva under the authority of John Calvin,but his teachings remained very influential amongst Ital-ian Protestant exiles. In the late 16th century many anti-Trinitarians, persecuted both by Calvinists and by the In-quisition, sought refuge in Transylvania,[43] then underTurkish overlordship and with close links to Istanbul.[44]Michael Fremaux, in support of the hypothesis that theItalian manuscript may have been brought to Amster-dam from Translyvania, instances Symon Budny, JacobPalaeologus and Christian Francken as late 16th cen-tury anti-Trinitrian thinkers with Transylvanian connec-tions, whose religious teachings find close parallels in theGospel of Barnabas. [45]

Included in chapter 145 is “The little book of Elijah";[46]which sets out instructions for a righteous life ofasceticism and hermetic spirituality. Over the succeed-ing 47 chapters, Jesus is recorded as developing the

6.1 Prediction of Muhammad 7

theme that the ancient prophets, specifically Obadiah,Haggai and Hosea, were holy hermits following this re-ligious rule;[47] and contrasting their followers – termed“true Pharisees” – with the “false Pharisees" who livedin the world, and who constituted his chief opponents.The “true Pharisees” are said to congregate on MountCarmel. This accords with the teaching of the medievalCarmelites,[48] who lived as an eremetic congregation onCarmel in the 13th century; but who claimed (withoutany evidence) to be direct successors of Elijah and theOld Testament prophets. In 1291 the Mamluk advanceinto Syria compelled the friars on Carmel to abandontheir monastery; but on dispersing through Western Eu-rope they found that Western Carmelite congregations –especially in Italy – had largely abandoned the eremeticand ascetic ideal, adopting instead the conventual life andmission of the other Mendicant orders. Some researchersconsider that the ensuing 14th–16th-century controver-sies can be found reflected in the text of the Gospel ofBarnabas).[49]

The Gospel also takes a strongly anti-Pauline tone attimes, saying in the Italian version’s beginning: “many,being deceived of Satan, under pretence of piety, arepreaching most impious doctrine, calling Jesus son ofGod, repudiating the circumcision ordained of God forever, and permitting every unclean meat: among whomalso Paul has been deceived.”

6.1 Prediction of Muhammad

The Gospel of Barnabas claims that Jesus predicted theadvent of Muhammad, thus conforming with the Qur'anwhich mentions:

And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary,said: O Children of Israel! I am the apostle ofGod (sent) to you, confirming the Law (whichcame) before me, and giving Glad Tidings ofa Messenger to come after me, whose nameshall be Ahmad. But when he came to themwith Clear Signs, they said, this is evidentsorcery!—Sura 61:6

(Ahmad is another name of Muhammad.) A Muslimscholarly tradition links this Qur'anic passage to the NewTestament references to the Paraclete in the canonicalGospel of John (14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7). The Greekword "paraclete" can be translated as “Counsellor”, andrefers according to Christians to the Holy Spirit. SomeMuslim scholars, have noted the similarity to the Greek“peryklytos” which can be translated as “admirable one";or in Arabic, “Ahmad”.[50]

The name of “Muhammad” is frequently mentioned ver-batim in the Gospel of Barnabas, as in the followingquote:

Jesus answered: “The name of the Messiahis admirable, for God himself gave him thename when he had created his soul, and placedit in a celestial splendour. God said: 'Wait Mo-hammed; for thy sake I will to create paradise,the world, and a great multitude of creatures,whereof I make thee a present, insomuch thatwhoso bless thee shall be blessed, and whososhall curse thee shall be accursed. When I shallsend thee into the world I shall send thee asmy messenger of salvation, and thy word shallbe true, insomuch that heaven and earth shallfail, but thy faith shall never fail.' Mohammedis his blessed name.” Then the crowd liftedup their voices, saying: “O God, send us thymessenger: O Admirable One, come quicklyfor the salvation of the world!"—Barnabas 97:9–10

However, while there are many passages where theGospel of Barnabas sets out alternative readings to par-allel pericopes found in the canonical gospels, none ofthe references to Muhammad by name occurs in such asynoptic passage; and in particular, none of the “Muham-mad” references in Barnabas corresponds to a “Paraclete”reference in canonical John. There is only one instancewhere the Gospel of Barnabas might be understood as“correcting” a known canonical pericope, so as to recorda prophecy by Jesus of the (unnamed)Messenger of God:

Then Jesus said: “I am a voice that criesthrough all Judea, and cries: 'Prepare you theway for the messenger of the Lord', even asit is written in Esaias.” They said: “If you benot the Messiah nor Elijah, or any prophet,wherefore do you preach new doctrine, andmake yourself of more account than theMessiah?" Jesus answered: “The miracleswhich God works by my hands show that Ispeak that which God wills; nor indeed do Imake myself to be accounted as him of whomyou speak. For I am not worthy to unloosethe ties of the hosen or the ratchets of theshoes of the Messenger of God whom you call'Messiah', who was made before me, and shallcome after me, and shall bring the words oftruth, so that his faith shall have no end.”—Chapter 43

This passage corresponds closely with the canonical John1:19–30, except that in that passage, the words are spokenby John the Baptist (in the Qur'an; Yahya ibn Zakariya)and refer to Jesus.

8 6 RELIGIOUS THEMES

6.1.1 Muhammad as the Messiah

According to one version of the Gospel of Barnabas:

Then said the priest: “How shall the Mes-siah be called?" [Jesus answered] “Muhammedis his blessed name”.—Chapter 97[51]

and

Jesus confessed, and said the truth: “I amnot the Messiah.”—42:2[52]

As mentioned above, these pronouncements contradictIslamic belief as Jesus is not only mentioned as a prophetin the Qu'ran but also referred to by the title “al-Masih”which is the Arabic translation of the term “Messiah.”It is also important to note that the Qu'ran never makesuse of this term to refer to Muhammad and that the onlyQu'ranic figure to bear this title is Jesus or Isa. SomeMuslim scholars argue that the Gospel of Barnabas hasbeen modified, thus inconsistency is observed. Also,some may argue that the word “Messiah” can be a formaltitle for Jesus Christ, but the meaning “anointed” can beattributed to others, such as KingDavid, anointed to king-ship, and his son Solomon. Some Muslim scholars statethat this references the Mahdi, an eschatological figure inIslam, who will help defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal (lit “thefalse messiah”, cf. antichrist), according to Islamic tradi-tion contained within the sahih (correct) hadith (recordsof traditions), which Muslims believe to be authentic andreliable narratives of the sayings and practices ofMuham-mad.In the Qu'ran, however, it is clearly stated that themessiahwill be named "Isa" (note that Arabic-speaking Christiansuse the name Yasu, cognate to the Hebrew and AramaicYeshua, to refer to Jesus Christ: the name “Isa” is presentsolely in Islamic tradition):(Remember) when the angels said: “O Maryam (Mary)!Verily, Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word ["Be!"– and he was! i.e. 'Îsa the son of Maryam, daughter ofImran (Eng. Amram – Moses’ father)] from Him, hisname will be the Messiah 'Îsa, the son of Maryam, heldin honour in this world and in the Hereafter, and will beone of those who are near to Allah.” – Surah 3:45, YusufAli translation.

6.1.2 Ishmaelite Messiah

According to one version of the Gospel of Barnabas, Je-sus denied being the Messiah, claiming rather that theMessiah would be Ishmaelite (i.e. Arab):

Whereupon Jesus said: “Ye deceiveyourselves; for David in spirit calleth him lord,saying thus: 'God said to my lord, sit thouon my right hand until I make thine enemiesthy footstool. God shall send forth thy rodwhich shall have lordship in the midst of thineenemies.' If the messenger of God whom yecall Messiah were son of David, how shouldDavid call him lord? Believe me, for verilyI say to you, that the promise was made inIshmael, not in Isaac.”—Barnabas 43:10

Hajj Sayed (Senior Member in CIMS), in his new bookin Egypt, compares this to the following statement fromthe canonical Bible:

“What do you think about the Christ?Whose son is he?" “The son of David”, theyreplied. He said to them, “How is it then thatDavid, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'?For he says, 'The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit atmy right hand until I put your enemies underyour feet."' If then David calls him 'Lord,' howcan he be his son?"—Matthew 22:42–46

According to the canonical Gospels, Jesus was the “son”(descendant) of David; thus, Hajj Sayed argues that thisstatement confirms the Gospel of Barnabas’ point.The idea of the Messiah as an Arab is also found in an-other chapter of Gospel of Barnabas:

If I work iniquity, reprove me, and Godwill love you, because you shall be doing hiswill, but if none can reprove me of sin it is asign that you are not sons of Abraham as youcall yourselves, nor are you incorporate withthat head wherein Abraham was incorporate.AsGod lives, so greatly didAbraham loveGod,that he not only brake in pieces the false idolsand forsook his father and mother, but waswilling to slay his own son in obedience to God.

The high priest answered: “This I ask ofyou, and I do not seek to slay you, whereforetell us: Who was this son of Abraham?" Je-sus answered: “The zeal of your honour, OGod, inflames me, and I cannot hold my peace.Truly I say, the son of Abraham was Ishmael,from whom must be descended the Messiahpromised to Abraham, that in him should allthe tribes of the earth be blessed.” Thenwas thehigh priest wroth, hearing this, and cried out:“Let us stone this impious fellow, for he is anIshmaelite, and has spoken blasphemy againstMoses and against the Law of God.”

6.3 Paul and Barnabas 9

—Barnabas 208:1–2

Here, one version of the Gospel of Barnabas also quotesJesus as saying that the sacrificed son of Abraham wasIshmael not Isaac, conforming to Islamic belief but dis-agreeing with Jewish and Christian belief. A connectionmight also be drawn between the last paragraph’s state-ment that “in him should all the tribes of the earth beblessed”, and themeaning of the name “Muhammad”, the“Praised (or Blessed) One”. (Cf.Life of Prophet Muham-mad).

6.2 Jesus is neither God nor Son of God

According to the Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus foresaw andrejected his own deification:

And having said this, Jesus smote hisface with both his hands, and then smote theground with his head. And having raised hishead, he said: “Cursed be every one who shallinsert into my sayings that I am the son ofGod.”—53:6

And having said this Jesus went out of theTemple. And the common people magnifiedhim, for they brought all the sick folk whomthey could gather together, and Jesus havingmade prayer gave to all their health: where-upon on that day in Jerusalem the Romansoldiery, by the working of Satan, began tostir up the common people, saying that Jesuswas the God of Israel, who was come to visithis people.—69:6

Jesus answered: “And you; what say youthat I am?" Peter answered: “You are Christ,son of God”. Then was Jesus angry, andwith anger rebuked him, saying: “Begone anddepart from me, because you are the devil andseek to cause me offences.”—70:1

Jesus said again: “I confess before heaven,and call to witness everything that dwells uponthe earth, that I am a stranger to all that menhave said of me, to wit, that I am more thanman. For I am a man, born of a woman,subject to the judgment of God; that live herelike as other men, subject to the commonmiseries.”

—94:1

Then answered the priest, with the gov-ernor and the king, saying: “Distress notyourself, O Jesus, holy one of God, because inour time shall not this sedition be any more,seeing that we will write to the sacred Romansenate in such wise that by imperial decreenone shall any more call you God or son ofGod.” Then Jesus said: “With your words Iam not consoled, because where you hope forlight darkness shall come; but my consolationis in the coming of the Messenger, who shalldestroy every false opinion of me, and his faithshall spread and shall take hold of the wholeworld, for so has God promised to Abrahamour father.”—97:1

This conforms entirely with Muslim belief, according towhich Jesus is just a human and a prophet. According tosome ahadith, he will come back to earth in the futureand declare to the world that he is “a Servant of God”.According to the Qur'an:

At length she brought the (babe) to herpeople, carrying him (in her arms). They said:“O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thoubrought! O sister of Aaron! Thy father wasnot a man of evil, nor thy mother a womanunchaste!" But she pointed to the babe. Theysaid: “How can we talk to one who is a child inthe cradle? He said: “I am indeed a servant ofAllah (God). He hath given me revelation andmade me a prophet; And He hath made meblessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoinedon me Prayer and Charity as long as I live;(He) hath made me kind to my mother, andnot overbearing or miserable; So peace is onme the day I was born, the day that I die, andthe day that I shall be raised up to life (again)!"Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary: (it is) astatement of truth, about which they dispute.It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah(God) that He beget a son. Glory be to Him!when He determines a matter, He only says toit, “Be”, and it is.—Mary:27–35

6.3 Paul and Barnabas

Hajj Sayed argues that the description of the conflictbetween Paul and Barnabas in Galatians supports theidea that the Gospel of Barnabas existed at the time of

10 6 RELIGIOUS THEMES

Paul and Barnabas at Lystra by Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem(1650 painting)

Paul. Blackhirst has suggested, by contrast, that Gala-tian’s account of this argument could be the reason thegospel’s writer attributed it to Barnabas.[53] Paul writes in(Galatians Chapter 2):

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposedhim to his face, because he was clearly inthe wrong. Before certain men came fromJames, he used to eat with the Gentiles. Butwhen they arrived, he began to draw back andseparate himself from the Gentiles becausehe was afraid of those who belonged to thecircumcision group. The other Jews joinedhim in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisyeven Barnabas was led astray.—Galatians 2:11–14

Paul was attacking Peter for “trying to satisfy the Jews”by sticking to their laws, such as circumcision. It is con-tended that at this point Barnabas was following Peter anddisagreeing with Paul. Some feel it also suggests that theinhabitants of Galatia at his time were using a gospel orgospels disagreeing with Paul’s beliefs, which Gospel ofBarnabas could be one of them (although the Gospel ofPeter would seem a more natural candidate, as in the lightof the second letter.) To Galatian’s account we may com-pare the Introductory Chapter of Gospel of Barnabas,where we read:

Dearly beloved the great and wonderfulGod hath during these past days visited us

by his prophet Jesus Christ in great mercyof teaching and miracles, by reason whereofmany, being deceived of Satan, under presenceof piety, are preaching most impious doctrine,calling Jesus son of God, repudiating thecircumcision ordained of God for ever, andpermitting every unclean meat: among whomalso Paul hath been deceived, whereof I speaknot without grief; for which cause I am writingthat truth which I have seen and heard, in theintercourse that I have had with Jesus, in orderthat ye may be saved, and not be deceivedof Satan and perish in the judgment of God.Therefore beware of every one that preachethunto you new doctrine contrary to that which Iwrite, that ye may be saved eternally.—Introduction to the Gospel of Barnabas

From the previous passages, it is argued that in the be-ginning, Paul and Barnabas were getting along with eachother; but that at the end, they started to depart in theirbeliefs to give to the importance of the Jewish law.

6.4 Other non-canonical differences

According to the following passage, Jesus talked to Barn-abas and gave him a secret:

Jesus, weeping, said: “O Barnabas, it isnecessary that I should reveal to you great se-crets, which, after that I shall be departed fromthe world, you shall reveal to it.” Then an-swered he that writes, weeping, and said: “Suf-fer me to weep, O master, and other men also,for that we are sinners. And you, that are a holyone and prophet of God, it is not fitting for youto weep so much.”

Jesus answered: “Believe me, Barnabasthat I cannot weep as much as I ought. Forif men had not called me God, I should haveseen God here as he will be seen in paradise,and should have been safe not to fear the dayof judgment. But God knows that I am inno-cent, because never have I harboured thoughtto be held more than a poor slave. No, I tellyou that if I had not been called God I shouldhave been carried into paradise when I shall de-part from the world, whereas now I shall not gothither until the judgment. Now you see if Ihave cause to weep.

“Know, O Barnabas, that for this I musthave great persecution, and shall be sold byone of my disciples for thirty pieces of money.Whereupon I am sure that he who shall sell meshall be slain in my name, for that God shalltake me up from the earth, and shall change

11

the appearance of the traitor so that every oneshall believe him to be me; nevertheless, whenhe dies an evil death, I shall abide in that dis-honour for a long time in the world. But whenMuhammad shall come, the sacred Messengerof God, that infamy shall be taken away. Andthis shall God do because I have confessed thetruth of the Messiah who shall give me this re-ward, that I shall be known to be alive and tobe a stranger to that death of infamy.”

—[54]

Also according to the Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus chargedBarnabas to write the gospel:

Jesus turned himself to him who writes,and said: “Barnabas, see that by all meansyou write my gospel concerning all that hashappened through my dwelling in the world.And write in a similar manner that which hasbefallen Judas, in order that the faithful maybe undeceived, and every one may believe thetruth.”—

7 Anachronisms

Some readers have noted that the Gospel of Barnabascontains a number of apparent anachronisms and histor-ical incongruities:[55]

• It has Jesus sailing across the Sea of Galilee toNazareth – which is actually inland; and thence go-ing “up” to Capernaum – which is actually on thelakeside (chapters 20–21); though this is contestedby Blackhirst, who says that the traditional locationof Nazareth is itself questionable.

• Jesus is said to have been born during the rule ofPontius Pilate, which began after the year 26.

• Barnabas appears not to realize that "Christ" and"Messiah" are synonyms, “Christ” (khristos) being aGreek translation of the word messiah (mashiach),both having the meaning of “anointed”. The Gospelof Barnabas thus errs in describing Jesus as “JesusChrist” (lit. “Messiah Jesus” in Greek), yet claimingthat 'Jesus confessed and said the truth, “I am not theMessiah"' (ch. 42).

• There is reference to a jubilee which is to be heldevery hundred years (Chapter 82), rather than ev-ery fifty years as described in Leviticus: 25. Thisanachronism appears to link the Gospel of Barn-abas to the declaration of a Holy Year in 1300 byPope Boniface VIII; a Jubilee which he then decreedshould be repeated every hundred years. In 1343 theinterval between Holy Years was reduced by PopeClement VI to fifty years.[16]

• Adam and Eve eat an apple (ch. 40); whereas thetraditional association of the Fruit of the Tree ofthe Knowledge of Good and Evil (Book of Genesis2:9,17; 3:5) with the apple rests on the translation ofthe Hebrew Bible into Latin, where both 'apple' and'evil' are rendered as 'malum'.

• The Gospel talks of wine being stored in woodencasks (chapter 152). Wooden casks were a char-acteristic of Gaul and Northern Italy, and werenot commonly used for wine in the Roman em-pire until after 300 CE; whereas wine in 1st cen-tury Palestine was always stored in wineskins andjars (amphorae). The Pedunculate or English OakQuercus robur does not grow in Palestine; and thewood of other species is not sufficiently airtight tobe used in wine casks,[56]

• In Chapter 91, the “Forty Days” is referred to as anannual fast.[36] This corresponds to the Christian tra-dition of fasting for forty days in Lent; a practice thatis not witnessed earlier than the Council of Nicaea(325). Nor is there a forty days’ fast in Judaism ofthe period (see Mishnah Tractate Ta'anit, “Days ofFasting”).

12 10 REFERENCES

• Where the Gospel of Barnabas includes quotationsfrom the Old Testament, these correspond to read-ings as found in the Latin Vulgate rather than asfound in either the Greek Septuagint, or the HebrewMasoretic Text. The Latin Vulgate translation wasa work that St. Jerome began in 382 AD, centuriesafter the death of Barnabas.[57]

• In Chapter 54 it says: “For he would get in change apiece of gold must have sixty mites” (Italianminuti).In the New Testament period, the only golden coin,the aureus, was worth approximately 3,200 of thesmallest bronze coin, the lepton (translated intoLatin as minuti); while the Roman standard silvercoin, the denarius, was worth 128 leptons. Therate of exchange of 1:60 implied in the Gospel ofBarnabas was, however, a commonplace of late me-dieval interpretation of the counterpart passage inthe canonical Gospels (Mark 12:42), arising fromthe standard medieval understanding of minuti asmeaning 'a sixtieth part'.

• Chapter 91 records three contending Jewish armies200,000 strong at Mizpeh, totaling 600,000 men, ata time when the Roman army across the entire Em-pire had a total strength estimated as 300,000.

• In Chapter 119 Jesus instances sugar and gold assubstances of equivalent rarity and value. Althoughthe properties of sugar had been known in Indiain antiquity, it was not traded as a sweetener un-til industrial-scale production developed in the 6thcentury. From the 11th to 15th centuries, the sugartrade into Europe was an Arab monopoly, and itsvalue was often compared with gold. From themid-15th century, however, large-scale sugar es-tates were established in the Canary Islands andthe Azores, and sugar, although still a luxury item,ceased to be exceptionally rare.[58]

8 Islamic perspectives

Since the publication of English, Arabic, and Urdu trans-lations at the beginning of the 20th century, the workhas been popularly cited in support of the Islamic viewof Jesus;[59] Islamic writers who cite the work includeRahmatullah Kairanawi, Rashid Rida, Sayyid Abul AlaMaududi, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and Muhammad Ataur-Rahim.[60]

Standard Muslim teaching asserts that the Injil Arabicname for the Evangel or the prophetic Gospel deliveredthrough the prophet Isa (Jesus of Nazareth), has been ir-retrievably corrupted and distorted in the course of Chris-tian transmission. In consequence, no reliance can beplaced on any text in the Christian tradition (including thefour canonical gospels of the Christian New Testament)as truly representing the teachings of Jesus. Viewed from

an orthodox Islamic perspective, the Gospel of Barn-abas might be considered a Christian work, as its manypoints of difference from the Qur'an suggest; hence, ittoo may be expected to have undergone corruption anddistortion. Consequently, no orthodox Muslim writer ac-cepts the Gospel of Barnabas as transmitting the authen-tic Injil, and few deny that the known Italian text con-tains substantial elements of late fabrication. Neverthe-less, Muslim writers sometimes note those elements ofthe Gospel of Baranabas that stand in accord with stan-dard Qur'anic teaching, such as the denial of Jesus as be-ing Son of God and the prophetic prediction by Jesus ofthe coming Messenger of God and, consequently, someMuslims are inclined to regard these specific elements asrepresenting the survival of suppressed early Jesus tradi-tions much more compatible with Islam.[61]

8.1 Possible Syriac manuscripts

In 1985, it was briefly claimed that an early Syriac copyof this gospel had been found near Hakkâri in easternTurkey.[62] However, it has since been demonstrated thatthis manuscript actually contains the canonical Bible.[63]

In February 2012, it was confirmed by the Turkish Min-istry of Culture and Tourism that a 52-page biblicalmanuscript in Syriac writing had been deposited in theEthnography Museum of Ankara.[64] Newspaper reportsin Turkey claimed that the manuscript had been foundin Cyprus in 2000, in an operation conducted by policeagainst smugglers, and had been kept in a police reposi-tory since then;[65] and further speculated that the text ofthe manuscript could be that of the Gospel of Barnabas.No subsequent confirmation has been made, either as tothe contents of the Ankara manuscript, or as to any find-ings of scientific tests for its age and authenticity.[64] InMarch 2012 Dr Assad Sauma, an expert in medieval Syr-iac texts, reported that the manuscript deposited in theEthonography Museum could be identified with one forwhich he had formerly undertaken a partial analysis. Hestated that the ten pages of text that he had examinedhad consisted of random gospel verses and quotations,together with (largely unrelated) painted miniatures; andalso that he had been unable to find any correspondencebetween them and the text of the Italian/Spanish Gospelof Barnabas. (in Arabic)

9 See also

• The Messiah (Iranian film) based on the Gospel ofBarnabas.

10 References[1] Joosten, Jan (January 2002). “The Gospel of Barnabas

13

and the Diatessaron”. Harvard Theological Review 95 (1):73–96.

[2] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xiv. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[3] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 202.

[4] Joosten, Jan (January 2002). “The Gospel of Barnabasand the Diatessaron”. Harvard Theological Review 95 (1):73–96.

[5] Wiegers, G.A. (April–June 1995). “Muhammad as theMessiah: A comparison of the polemical works of JuanAlonso with the Gospel of Barnabas”. Biblitheca Orien-talis LII (3/4): 274.

[6] Fremaux, Michel; Cirillo, Luigi (1999). Évangile deBarnabé 2nd Edn revised. Beauchesne. pp. 14Iisbn=9782701013893.

[7] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.lxv–lxxi. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[8] Sale, George (1877). The Koran: Preliminary Discourse.Frederick Warne. p. 79. ISBN 0-524-07942-0.

[9] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 244.

[10] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xlvi. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[11] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.pp. x. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[12] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.lxvii. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[13] Fremaux, Michel; Cirillo, Luigi (1999). Évangile deBarnabé 2nd Edn revised. Beauchesne. p. 4. ISBN9782701013893.

[14] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xlix. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[15] Fremaux, Michel; Cirillo, Luigi (1999). Évangile deBarnabé 2nd Edn revised. Beauchesne. p. 12. ISBN9782701013893.

[16] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xiii. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[17] Fremaux, Michel; Cirillo, Luigi (1999). Évangile deBarnabé 2nd Edn revised. Beauchesne. p. 8. ISBN9782701013893.

[18] Fremaux, Michel; Cirillo, Luigi (1999). Évangile deBarnabé 2nd Edn revised. Beauchesne. pp. v. ISBN9782701013893.

[19] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 77.

[20] Fletcher, J.E. (1976). “The Spanish Gospel ofBarnabas”. Novum Testamentum. XVIII: 314–320.doi:10.2307/1560539.

[21] Sox, David (1984). The Gospel of Barnabas. Allen &Unwin. p. 65. ISBN 0-04-200044-0.

[22] Wiegers, G.A. (April–June 1995). “Muhammad as theMessiah: A comparison of the polemical works of JuanAlonso with the Gospel of Barnabas”. Biblitheca Orien-talis LII (3/4): 278.

[23] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 88.

[24] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.pp. xi. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[25] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xii. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[26] Wiegers, G.A. (April–June 1995). “Muhammad as theMessiah: A comparison of the polemical works of JuanAlonso with the Gospel of Barnabas”. Biblitheca Orien-talis LII (3/4): 245–292.

[27] Bernabé Pons, Luis F (1998). , El texto morisco del Evan-gelio de San Bernabé. Universidad de Granada. p. 155.

[28] Joosten, Jan (April 2010). “The date and provenance ofthe Gospel of Barnabas”. Journal of Theological Studies61 (1): 200–215. doi:10.1093/jts/flq010.

[29] Joosten, Jan (April 2010). “The date and provenance ofthe Gospel of Barnabas”. Journal of Theological Studies61 (1): 214.

[30] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 533.

[31] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 50.

[32] Burchill, Christopher (1989). The Heidelberg Antitrinitar-ians. Bibliotheca Dissidentum: vol XI. p. 124.

[33] Sox, David (1984). The Gospel of Barnabas. Allen &Unwin. p. 73. ISBN 0-04-200044-0.

[34] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.pp. xv. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[35] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 176.

[36] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xxxiii. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[37] Wiegers, G.A. (April–June 1995). “Muhammad as theMessiah: A comparison of the polemical works of JuanAlonso with the Gospel of Barnabas”. Biblitheca Orien-talis LII (3/4): 285.

[38] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xxix. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[39] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xxxv. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[40] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 216.

[41] Pickthall 2001, p. 86

14 11 FURTHER READING

[42] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xxvii. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[43] Slomp, Jan (1978). “The Gospel in Dispute. A Criti-cal evaluation of the first French translation with an Ital-ian text and introduction of the so-called Gospel of Barn-abas”. Islamochristiana 4 (1): 83.

[44] Burchill, Christopher (1989). The Heidelberg Antitrinitar-ians. Bibliotheca Dissidentum: vol XI. p. 110.

[45] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 53.

[46] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 230.

[47] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xxxvi. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[48] Cirillo, Luigi; Fremaux, Michel (1977). Évangile deBarnabé. Beauchesne. p. 233.

[49] Pulcini, Theodore (2001). “In the Shadow of MountCarmel: the Collapse of the 'Latin East' and the originesof the Gospel of Barnabas”. Islam and Christianity 12 (2):191–200. doi:10.1080/09596410120051773.

[50] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xxxi. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[51] Wiegers, G.A. (April–June 1995). “Muhammad as theMessiah: A comparison of the polemical works of JuanAlonso with the Gospel of Barnabas”. Biblitheca Orien-talis LII (3/4): 246.

[52] Wiegers, G.A. (April–June 1995). “Muhammad as theMessiah: A comparison of the polemical works of JuanAlonso with the Gospel of Barnabas”. Biblitheca Orien-talis LII (3/4): 279.

[53] http://www.depts.drew.edu/jhc/Blackhirst_Barnabas.html

[54] http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/gbar/gbar112.htm

[55] Slomp, Jan (1978). “The Gospel in Dispute. A Criti-cal evaluation of the first French translation with an Ital-ian text and introduction of the so-called Gospel of Barn-abas”. Islamochristiana 4 (1): 94.

[56] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xxxix. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[57] Ragg, L & L (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford.xxiv. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

[58] Parker, Matthew (2011). The Sugar Barons: Family, Cor-ruption, Empire and War. London: Hutchinson. p. 10.ISBN 978-0-09-192583-3.

[59] Reed, Annette (May 22, 2014). ""Muslim Gospel” Re-vealing “Christian Truth” Excites Da Vinci Code Set”.Religion Dispatches. Retrieved May 23, 2014.

[60] Leirvik, Oddbjørn (2010). “History as a Liter-ary Weapon: The Gospel of Barnabas in Muslim-Christian Polemics”. Studia Theologica 56 (1): 4–26.doi:10.1080/003933802760115417.

[61] Reed, Annette Yoshiko (May 22, 2014). ""MuslimGospel” Revealing “Christian Truth” Excites Da VinciCode Set”. Religion Dispatches. RetrievedMay 23, 2014.

[62] Bektaş, Hamza (March–April 1985). “Barnabas BibleFound”. Ilim ve Sanat Dergisi.

[63] Ron, Pankow (March–April 1985). “The BarnabasBible”. Arabia.

[64] Yan (25 February 2012). “1,500-year-old handwrittennewly-discovered in Turkey”. Xinhuanet English News.Retrieved July 9, 2013.

[65] “Vatican Requests 1,500-Year-Old Bible Held In Turkey”.Huffington Post. February 23, 2012. Retrieved March 1,2012.

11 Further reading

The complete Italian text is transcribed with an Englishtranslation and introduction:

• Ragg, L and L –The Gospel of Barnabas (ClarendonPress, Oxford, England, 1907).

The Ragg’s English translation was soon recopied in nu-merous unauthorised reprintings, chiefly in British India;and remains widely available to this day, both in paper-back form and on the internet. These editions however,lack the Ragg’s introduction and notes; as also their tran-scription of the Italian text and translations of the Ara-bic notes. They also differ from the original due to tran-scription errors. The Oxford University Press has notreprinted the 1907 text; however, now that it is out ofcopyright, a facsimile of the 1907 edition has been pro-duced by Kessinger Publishing.

• Ragg, L and L – The Gospel of Barnabas (KessingerPublishing, Whitefish MT, 2009, 578pp).

A second Italian edition – in parallel columns with a mod-ernised text:

• Eugenio Giustolisi and Giuseppe Rizzardi, Il van-gelo di Barnaba. Un vangelo per i musulmani? (Mi-lano: Istituto Propaganda Libraria, 1991).

The complete text of the Italian manuscript has been pub-lished in photo-facsimile; with a French translation andextensive commentary and textual apparatus:

• Cirillo L. & Fremaux M. Évangile de Barnabé:recherches sur la composition et l'origine, EditionsBeauchesne, Paris, 1977, 598p

In 1999 Michel Fremaux issued a second edition ofthe manuscript facsimile, updated to take account ofthe recently rediscovered transcription of the Spanishmanuscript:

12.2 Islamic perspectives 15

• Cirillo L. & Fremaux M. Évangile de Barnabé:Fac-simile, traduction et notes, Editions Beauchesne,Paris, 1999, 364pp

The text of the Spanish manuscript has been publishedwith introduction, and annotations identifying variantreadings in the Spanish and Italian texts:

• Luis F. Bernabé Pons, El texto morisco del Evangeliode San Bernabé (Granada: Universidad de Granada,1998), 260p

12 External links and text• Lonsdale & Laura Ragg, The Gospel of Barnabas,Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907. ISBN 1-881316-15-7.

• R. Blackhirst, “The Medieval Gospel of Barnabas”:Full text of the Italian ms of Gospel of Barnabas,(in English), with supplementary material and pho-tographs

• Preface of the Spanish manuscript• Bibliography

• Blackhirst, “Was there an early Gospel of Barn-abas?"

• History as a Literary Weapon:The Gospel ofBarnabas in Muslim-Christian Polemics OddbjørnLeirvik: a historical survey of both Christian andIslamic perspectives.

12.1 Christian perspectives

• Samuel Green argues that the Gospel is a 14th-century Islamic forgery.

• Extracts from the preface of Answering Islam: TheCrescent in the Light of the Cross (Norman L. Geislerand Abdul Saleeb)

• The Gospel of Barnabas in recent research, by JanSlomp, a former missionary to Pakistan

• F.P. Cotterell, "The Gospel of Barnabas" Vox Evan-gelica 10 (1977): 43–47.

12.2 Islamic perspectives

• Gospel of Barnabas

16 13 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

13 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

13.1 Text• Gospel of Barnabas Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel%20of%20Barnabas?oldid=646636346 Contributors: Tobias Ho-

evekamp, Tbc, Derek Ross, PierreAbbat, Graft, Mkmcconn, Booyabazooka, Llywrch, DopefishJustin, Sannse, Error, Feedmecereal,CharlesMatthews, Aaboelela, AnonMoos,Wetman, Carlossuarez46, Aleph4, Tomchiukc,Wjhonson, Henrygb, UtherSRG, Refdoc, Snobot,Gwalla, Tom harrison, Tom Radulovich, Syed Atif Nazir, Mboverload, Prosfilaes, Mustafaa, Rdsmith4, Sebbe, Sam Hocevar, WpZurp,Neutrality, Rimbaud, Zondor, Grstain, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Xezbeth, JoeSmack, Cmdrjameson, Jonathunder,Alansohn, SnowFire, Grenavitar, Drbreznjev, Mahay, Woohookitty, Jacobolus, Mpatel, Tabletop, Mido, Bluemoose, GregorB, Cuchul-lain, BD2412, Kbdank71, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, NatusRoma, Afterwriting, Venerable Bede, Loggie, Spudtater, RobyWayne, Str1977, Merbúbibn Javed, YurikBot, Sceptre, Hairy Dude, RussBot, Splash, CambridgeBayWeather, Thiseye, Ari89, Rudykog, Gabrielbodard, Wolfling,Tomisti, SMcCandlish, Bondegezou, Canley, Ephilei, TechBear, SmackBot, Moez, Reedy, Stephensuleeman, Hmains, Carl.bunderson,Chris the speller, Jeff5102, Colonies Chris, Clinkophonist, MartinRe, Nonstopdrivel, Andrew c, Lambiam, LinuxDude, TomHennell, Iron-Gargoyle, DabMachine, Diz syd 63, Platesocks, Amakuru, Saadsaleem, CmdrObot, Paterm, Miguel de Servet, MindSpirit, Thijs!bot,Marek69, Kathovo, Escarbot, BokicaK, Fayenatic london, Ibn yasin, Arch dude, Mohammad ihs, PhilKnight, Albmont, Usien6, Patstuart,Rettetast, R'n'B, Agapornis, GrahamSmith, Gabr-el, Apocalogy, Caribbean H.Q., Lifeofapollos, Java7837, BotKung, Robertoreggi, Lyle-for, SieBot, Linguaman, Anglicanus, Le Pied-bot, Vanished user ewfisn2348tui2f8n2fio2utjfeoi210r39jf, Dlrohrer2003, SlackerMom,Ratemonth, Supertouch, Shanubig, Audaciter, Daniel1212, DumZiBoT, XLinkBot, RekonDog, Saeed.Veradi, Textgeek, Addbot, Chanyi,Elazeez, Leszek Jańczuk, LinkFA-Bot, West.andrew.g, Tassedethe, Тиверополник, Ks03, Lightbot, Zorrobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, LGB,Amirobot, Jimgourlay, Maladeeb, Magog theOgre, AnomieBOT, Jim1138, Devilfish 2008, Citation bot, DSisyphBot, TakenakaN, Shadow-jams, Tatom2k, FrescoBot, Soc8675309, Citation bot 1, SuaveArt, Redrose64, Jschnur, Jeppiz, Solfareno, FoxBot, Dinamik-bot, Begoon,Islamrevealed, Djsuketu, RjwilmsiBot, Wiki id2, Hajatvrc, John of Reading, Matz555, Bubblegumfish, Evanh2008, L Kensington, EdoBot,ClueBot NG, Chester Markel, Yanclae, Jeribrainard, Helpful Pixie Bot, Zwnuq, Putwriter, BG19bot, Samral, JohnChrysostom, DarknessShines, Mhakcm, DPL bot, BattyBot, Wikiyardim, Mariamgood, Khazar2, Dexbot, MeriadocJ, Moali68, DavidLeighEllis, Magicatthe-movieS, RzRzRz222, Monkbot, Shemihazah, JudeccaXIII, Wikimikson, Abd7211, الغد ربيع and Anonymous: 196

13.2 Images• File:Balthasar_Wigand_Josephsplatz_1835.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Balthasar_Wigand_

Josephsplatz_1835.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: dorotheum.com Original artist: Balthasar Wigand (1771-1846)• File:Berchem,_Nicolaes_Pietersz._-_Paul_and_Barnabas_at_Lystra_-_1650.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/

wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Berchem%2C_Nicolaes_Pietersz._-_Paul_and_Barnabas_at_Lystra_-_1650.jpg License: Public do-main Contributors: Web Gallery of Art: <a href='http://www.wga.hu/art/b/berchem/paulbarn.jpg' data-x-rel='nofollow'><imgalt='Inkscape.svg' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/20px-Inkscape.svg.png' width='20'height='20' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/30px-Inkscape.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/40px-Inkscape.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='60' data-file-height='60'/></a> Image <a href='http://www.wga.hu/html/b/berchem/paulbarn.html' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Information icon.svg'src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png' width='20'height='20' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x,//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='620'data-file-height='620' /></a> Info about artwork Original artist: Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (1621/1622–1683)

• File:Dante_Luca.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Dante_Luca.jpg License: Public domain Contribu-tors: [1] Original artist: Luca Signorelli

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• File:Thedecapolis.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Thedecapolis.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Con-tributors: ? Original artist: ?

13.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0