Page:Ragg Gospel of Barnabas.djvu/11



i. The Italian and Spanish MSS.:—Barnabas in the eighteenth century—Story of the Italian MS.—Story of the Spanish MS.—Relation of Spanish to Italian—Description of the Vienna MS.

ii. Supposed Arabic original:—An hypothesis based on hypotheses.

i. Dependence on the Christian Bible:—Use of the Canonical Books in Barnabas—Dependence betrayed especially in the writer's 'Harmony of the Gospels'—No first-hand knowledge of Palestine in first century—Barnabas and the Vernacular versions—Use of the Vulgate—Bearing on question of authorship.

ii. Jewish and Mohammedan material:—Barnabas and the Qorân—Use of apocryphal Gospels—Use of Rabbinic legends—Barnabas systematizes and develops hints in Qorân—Specific points of contact—Mohammed and the Messiahship—Religious practices—Traces of later controversy—Predestination—Mysticism—Universalism—Asceticism of mediaeval type.

iii. Mediaeval Colouring of  'Barnabas'  :—Question of an earlier Italian MS.—Characteristically Italian and mediaeval touches—Points of contact with Dante—The hundred years' Jubilee—Conclusions as to date and authorship—Conflicting data—Scribe apparently Venetian—Arabic original improbable.