Chapter Five
The Gospel
of
Barnabas
Althoughnone oftoday's officiallyacceptedGospels - or, for tha
matter, the Gospel of Barnabas, whose authenticity continues to be
attacked by the established Church because its contents contradict
official dogma on several fundamental issues - are capable of be
ing objectively authenticated (instead it is sweepingly claimed that
they are 'divinely inspired'), the Gospel of Barnabas does neverthe
less remain interesting reading, especially since it appears to be,
on the face of it, the only known surviving Gospel written by a
close disciple of Jesus, that is, by a man who spent most of his lime
in the actual company of Jesus, peace be on him, during the three
years in which he was delivering his message.
Barnabas therefore had a direct experience and knowledge of
Jesus' s teaching, unlike all theauthorsof the four officiallyaccepted
Gospels. It is not known when he wrote down what he remem
bered of Jesus and his guidance, whether events and discourses
were recorded as they happened, or whether he wrote it soon after
Jesus had left the earth, fearing that otherwise sorne of his teaching
might be changed or lost. It is possible that he did not write down
anything until he had retumed to Cyprus with John Mark. As we
have already seen, the two made this joumey sorne time after Je
sus had left the earth, after parting company with Paul of Tarsus,
who had refused to make any further joumeys with Barnabas on
which Mark was also present. Butno matter when il was written,
and although it, too, like the four accepted Gospels, bas inevitably
suffered from being translated and filtered through several lan
guages, it is, at least on the face of it, an eyewitness account of
Jesus's life.