BARNABAS, EPISTLE OF

BARNABAS, EPISTLE OF. Considered part of the New Testament by Clement of Alexandria, Origen (qq.v.), and the compiler of D\Codex Sinaiticus, it is now usually numbered among the “Apostolic Fathers” and was probably written at the end of the 1st c. or the beginning of the 2nd c. A.D. Although claiming authority by association with Barnabas the apostle, the companion of Paul, the writing proper does not contain his name and is actually an anonymous epistle (not a personal letter) addressed to the newly baptized, reflecting Alexandrian ideas in tract or treatise form. The main point of view originating within it is a warning to Christians against a literal, “Judaistic” interpretation of the Old Testament-all to be replaced by a “spiritual” or allegorical (q.v.) understanding. Main sections of the work are concerned with a Christian apology against Judaism (chs. 2–17) and the two ways (q.v.) (chs. 18–20).