The Harvard Theological Review 54.4 (Oct., 1961) 300 --
"Summaries of Dissertations" 

ROBERT ALAN KRAFT [Ph.D.] 
<t>The Epistle of Barnabas Its Quotations and Their Sources</t>.
     
     This thesis examines the explicit quotations in the Epistle
of Barnabas, and especially those which deviate significantly
from known Old Testament texts, in an effort to determine whether
such an approach can shed any light on the enigmas of the Epistle
and on Christian origins in general.

     In Part I, the present state of Barnabean studies is 
summarized and a probe is made into the complex textual problems 
of the Epistle.  There follows a comprehensive overview of the 
quotations and their <lt>formulae citandi</lt> as they are found 
in Barnabas 2-16 and an analysis of the sources available for 
quotation by a late first or early second century author in the 
Jewish and Christian tradition. 

     Against this background, Part II of the thesis investigates
the affinities of Barnabas' quotations with similar materials in
late Jewish and early Christian writings.  The Epistle is found
to be composed of smaller "tradition blocks" consisting of
Hellenistic Jewish school materials which, by means of editorial
comment, have been adapted to Christian use at an early period. 
Thus, for example, Barnabas  2-3 rests on a collection of Jewish
texts concerning "what the Lord needs," and Barnabas 9-10 unites
<gn>Stichwort</gn> collections of quotations concerning "hearing" 
and "circumcision" with traditional ethical interpretations of 
the Mosaic food laws. 

     In the conclusions (Part III), it is suggested that Barnabas
is best described as "anti-cultic," not "anti-Judaic," and may
reflect a Greek-speaking Essenic school tradition (such as seems
to have been present among Philo's "Therapeutae") in which
similar materials and arguments already were used in the inner
Jewish discussion in pre-Christian times.  Indices of Old 
Testament passages (LXX) and passages from Barnabas are appended 
to the study. 

[[end]]