The Gospel of Barnabas—Chps. 22–32

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[Click HERE for the color coding scheme. Opens a separate tab.]         20.    Jesus answered, “Truly I say to you that a dog is better than an uncircumcised man.”         [XXII:21b, p. 45] 21. “And therefore if the flesh hinders the service of God it ought to be spurned like clay and trampled on, for he that hates his soul in this world will keep it to life eternal.”         [XXIII:23a, p. 49]         • Mk 9:43 & par.; Jn 12:25.                   COMMENT: Cf. Marcionite dualism. 22. Jesus answered, “Keep your flesh like a horse, and you will live securely. For food is given to a horse by measure, yet labor without measure; and the bridle is put on a horse that it … Continue reading →

The Gospel of Barnabas—Chps. 17–21

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11. Jesus said: “If the world will hate you, then you will truly be my disciples. For the world has always been an enemy of the servants of God.”        [XVIII:17a, p. 35]         • Cp. Jn 15:19. 12. “Is there any one among you who, perchance, cares more for his shoes than for his own son? Of course not! How much less should you think that God would abandon you even while he cares for the birds. But why speak of the birds? Even a leaf does not fall from the tree except by the will of God.”        [XVIII:17b p. 35]         • Mt 6:26; cp. Lk 12:24. [Click HERE for the color coding scheme. Opens a separate tab.]         13. “The world will greatly … Continue reading →

The Gospel of Barnabas—Chps. 1–16

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1. “Do you not know that the service of God ought to come before father and mother?”        [IX:9a, p.15]         • Mt 10:37   “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…”         • Cf. Bdst AN II.iv.2 “Even if one should carry about one’s mother on one shoulder and one’s father on the other… for a hundred years… one would not repay them… But anyone who rouses his ignorant mother and father, settles and establishes them in wisdom, to this extent one repays them and more than repays them for what they have done.” (Bhikkhu Bodhi translation.) [Click HERE for the color coding scheme. Opens a separate tab.]         2.“Even as a man cannot see with his eyes the heaven … Continue reading →

The Gospel of Barnabas—Introduction (cont.)

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Is the Gospel of Barnabas early? While mainline Christian scholarship considers GBar as a medieval work, muslims generally date it to the first centuries CE. Yet, both views may be too general. GBar is a complex work, and I will be presenting the thesis that the gospel is a composite of numerous layers (see below), some of which do not fully agree with others. As regards the Islamic elements, for example, some passages show clear knowledge of the Koran (the name Muhammad appears several times). Primarily on this basis, some scholars quickly conclude that the entire gospel postdates the seventh century and is an Islamic forgery. However, that conclusion is hasty, for numerous passages also betray little understanding of Islam. … Continue reading →

The Gospel of Barnabas—Introduction

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For a long time I have been wanting to write a series of posts on the astonishing and virtually unknown Gospel of Barnabas. As is so frequent in early Christian studies, there is a reason for this seminal gospel’s obscurity—suppression. The enormously long, quite elaborate, and emphatically ‘Christian’ gospel came to my attention some five years ago. Though GBar has existed in two versions and in two languages (Italian and Spanish) since the Renaissance, it’s obscurity—half a millennium later—is still virtually total. Have you heard of it? I thought not. This is the introductory post to a series of what I imagine will extend to 20+ posts. My aim is not to give an extended assessment, or even description, of … Continue reading →

Essenism and Buddhism–Pt. 3

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By M. André Dupont-Sommer [In: Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles- Lettres, 124e année, N. 4, 1980. pp. 698-715.] Abridged and translated from the French by René Salm For footnotes, please see the original PDF. Part 3 (Final) [P. 711. M. Dupont-Sommer writes:] As for the Essenes of Palestine, I wish to emphasize—and this with the greatest force—that the community’s structure clearly derived from that of Buddhism. Philo, the Jewish philosopher, characterizes that structure as follows: In the first place, then, there is no one who has a house so absolutely his own private property that it does not in some sense also belong to every one. For besides that they all dwell together in companies, … Continue reading →

Essenism and Buddhism–Pt. 2

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By M. André Dupont-Sommer [In: Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles- Lettres, 124e année, N. 4, 1980. pp. 698-715.] Abridged and translated from the French by René Salm For footnotes, please see the original PDF. Part 2 [705] Let us now consider the famous Emperor Ashoka, who lived in the third century before the common era. King over Magadha, he was in fact emperor of the entire Indian subcontinent with the exception of its southern tip. Ashoka’s grand father Sandragupta (known to the Greeks as Sandracottos) founded the Maurya dynasty and was the contemporary of Alexander the Great. Ashoka was consecrated in the year 260 BCE and he soon conquered Kalinga, a vast province of the … Continue reading →

Essenism and Buddhism–Pt. 1

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I am indebted to Mr. Klaus Schilling for bringing to my attention a 1980 article by the French scholar, A. Dupont-Sommer, on the influence of Buddhism on Essenism. This article is included here as part of the ongoing discussion—promoted by the late Dr. H. Detering and by myself—concerning Buddhist influence on early Christianity. While that discussion has taken place for over a century in the perennial subfield known as “comparative religion” (see, e.g., Roy C. Amore), it has yet to be taken seriously in the more entrenched domains of Christian scholarship on the one hand, and Buddhist scholarship on the other. Here, however, we begin to tread old and forgotten pathways that ultimately link Christianity up with Buddhism. Readers familiar … Continue reading →

The Hermann Detering Legacy/6—Curriculum Vitae 2017–18

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The final years Detering and music   No account of Dr. Detering’s legacy is complete without mentioning his deep interest in the music of J. S. Bach. Detering considered Bach “the fifth evangelist”–and this was not simply hyperbole. Being a musician myself (who also esteems Bach most highly), Hermann’s devotion to Bach provided another link between him and myself–in addition to our work in early Christian studies and Jesus mythicism. These three links enabled the two of us forge and maintain a working relationship and long-distance friendship, one strong enough to reach across the Atlantic despite the fact that we never actually met. Until I undertook this recent review of Dr. Detering’s legacy, however, I had no idea of the … Continue reading →

The ancient battle over ‘fake news’: the heroes Judas and Thomas become villains

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In this post I present some very brief reflections on the Gospel of Thomas. Thomas the Twin. Thomas was the quintessential messenger of truth in early Christian gnosticism. The name appears twice in the Gospel of Thomas, once in the title at the end of the work, and once in Saying 13, where Thomas outshines both Peter and Matthew: Jesus says to his disciples: “Compare me, and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter says to him, “You are like a just angel!” Matthew says to him, “You are like a wise man and a philosopher!” Thomas says to him, “Master, my tongue cannot find words to say whom you are like.” Jesus says, “I am no longer your … Continue reading →