Information AboutBarnabas |
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Barnabas was an early Christian mentioned in the . In many English translations of the Bible, including the (see below). HIS LIFE Barnabas is one of the first prophets and teachers of the church at . The prosperity of the church at Antioch led the apostles and brethren at Jerusalem to send Barnabas there to superintend the movement. He found the work so extensive and weighty that he went to Tarsus in search of Paul to assist him. Paul returned with him to Antioch and labored with him for a whole year (Acts 11:25, 26). At the end of this period, the two were sent up to Jerusalem (AD 44) with the contributions the church at Antioch had made for the poorer members of the Jerusalem church (11:28-30). Shortly after they returned, bringing John Mark with them, they were appointed as missionaries to , Peter , and John , on the other, that the two former should in the future preach to the pagans, not forgetting the poor at Jerusalem. This matter having been settled, they returned again to Antioch, bringing the agreement of the Council that Gentiles were to be admitted into the church. Having returned to Antioch and spent some time there (15:35), Paul asked Barnabas to accompany him on another journey (15:36). Barnabas wished to take John Mark along, but Paul did not, as he had left them on the former journey (15:37-38). The dispute ended by Paul and Barnabas taking separate routes. Paul took Silas as his companion, and journeyed through Syria and Cilicia; while Barnabas took his younger cousin, John Mark, to visit Cyprus (15:36-41). Barnabas is not again mentioned by Luke in the Acts. However, in Gal. 2:13 a little more is learned about him, and his weakness under the taunts of the Jewish Christians is evident; and from 1 Corinthians 9:6 it may be gathered that he continued to labor as missionary. OTHER SOURCES Other sources bring Barnabas to Rome and Alexandria . In the "Clementine Recognitions" (i, 7) he is depicted as preaching in Rome even during Christ's lifetime, and Clement Of Alexandria (''Stromata'', ii, 20) makes him one of the Seventy Disciples that are mentioned in the Gospel Of Luke . Not older than the 3rd Century is the tradition of the later activity and martyrdom of Barnabas in Cyprus, where his remains are said to have been discovered under the Emperor Zeno . The Cypriot Church claimed Barnabas as its founder in order to rid itself of the supremacy of the Antiochian Bishop , just as did the Milan Church afterward, to become more independent of Rome. In this connection, the question whether Barnabas was an apostle became important, and was often discussed during the Middle Ages (compare C. J. Hefele, ''Das Sendschreiben des Apostels Barnabas,'' Tübingen, 1840; O. Braunsberger, ''Der Apostel Barnabas,'' Mainz, 1876). The statements as to the year of Barnabas's death are discrepant and untrustworthy. ALLEGED WRITINGS Tertullian and other Western writers regard Barnabas as the author of the Epistle To The Hebrews . This may have been the Roman tradition -- which Tertullian usually follows -- and in Rome the epistle may have had its first readers. But the tradition has weighty considerations against it. According to Photius (''Quaest. in Amphil.,'' 123), Barnabas wrote the Acts Of The Apostles . (Current consensus ascribes the book to Luke .) He is also traditionally assocatiated with the Epistle Of Barnabas , although modern scholars think it more likely that that epistle was written in Alexandria in the 130s. A book named the ''"Gospel of Barnabas"'' is listed in two early catalogs of apocryphal texts . A different book using that same title, '' Gospel Of Barnabas '' survives in two post-medieval manuscripts in Italian and Spanish (compare T. Zahn, ''Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons,'' ii, 292, Leipsig, 1890). Although the book is ascribed to Barnabas, close examination of its text suggests that the book was written either by a 14th Century Italian or a 16th Century Morisco . There is no evidence to suggest that it is the earlier listed ''Gospel of Barnabas''. In accordance with Muslim belief, rather than other Christian gospels, this later '' Gospel Of Barnabas '' states that Jesus was a prophet, not the son of God, and calls Paul ''"the deceived."'' The book also indicates that Jesus rose alive into heaven without having been crucified, and that Judas Iscariot was crucified in his place. Literature: Epistle of Barnabas
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