Barnabas, Gospel of

Barnabas, Gospel Of.

A spurious gospel, attributed to Barnabas, exists in Arabic, and has been translated into Italian, Spanish, and English. It was probably forged by some heretical Christians, and has since been interpolated by the Mohammedans, in order to support the pretensions of their prophet. Dr. White has given copious extracts from it in his Bampton Lectures, 1784; Sermon 8, p. 358, and Notes, p. 41-69. See also Sale's Koran, Prelim. Dissert. sect. 4. It is placed among the apocryphal books in the Stichometry prefixed by Cotelerius to his edition of the Apostolical Constitutions (Lardner's Credibility, part 2, ch. 147). It was condemned by Pope Gelasius I (Tillemont, Memoires, etc., 1, p. 1055). SEE GOSPELS, SPURIOUS.

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.