The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Pseudepigrapha - The Acts of Barnabas

There are many writings from the earliest centuries claiming to be written by the Apostles, or by reputable persons. When this claim of authorship is known to be false, the work is called pseudepigrapha. Among these works are a series of ‘Acts’ attributed to each of the apostles, and if time and interest permits, I would like to explore some of these pseudepigraphical writings with the purpose of discerning the objective and intent of why these pseudepigraphical writings have existed, and who might be there actual authors.

The first attempt will be with the **Acts of Barnabas **(not to be confused with the Gospel of Barnabas, and the Epistle of Barnabas, which I may discuss at another time). I will firstly give the entire writing in the quote field below, and ask for anyone to read through and jot down notes where they discover some anomalies inconsistent with the biblical accounts. What is worthy to remember is that the author, who ever it was, took pains to describe the events with as much accuracy as possible, and even to ‘sound’ like the authorship is inspired. The usual clandestine purpose is to present historically accurate events along side spurious events in order to confuse the truth and the lie. If this is done often enough, with dozens of pseudepigraphical writings, then the infant church would not know truth from error if it bit them on their infant buttocks. This will become more recognizable as other pseudepigraphical writings are examined. At first the differences might be too subtle, but eventually you develop a skill for detecting the gall in the wine.

I will see if there is any interest in which to follow up with more pseudepigraphical writings. If anyone would like to discuss any particular book, we could prioritize books that are of more interest. I would perhaps like to follow up with the pseudepigraphical writings dealing with Mary and Joseph.

[size=85]Note: A research paper on the Acts of Barnabas is found in the following PDF: google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CDcQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdissertations.ub.rug.nl%2FFILES%2Ffaculties%2Ftheology%2F2002%2Fi.czachesz%2Fc8.pdf&ei=y7CjUo7uAoebigeKl4G4DA&usg=AFQjCNGHKh5KPTs230fygDsD2m3jXRrpnA&bvm=bv.57752919,d.aGc I don’t agree with all of the PDF’s content, but it is a reasonable start to examining the data.[/size]

Steve

That is a LOT to absorb, Steve. I will follow as best as time allows - it is a very interesting subject, one I know very little about.