Barnabas and the Riddle of the Didache Revisited

Most scholars in recent years have concentrated on identifying the sources of the Epistle of Barnabas, minimizing the creativity of its author and denying that it has a recognizable context. This article focuses on the use of the Two Ways material in Barnabas and its redaction to argue that there is a clear polemical thrust against Jewish Christianity. The author utilizes the classical rhetorical strategy of irony to subvert the original setting of the Two Ways material in catechesis for Gentile converts. Instead the material is recast as advanced gnosis for the elite. It is in this capacity that the Two Ways survives in the West. This purpose and strategy pervades the whole document.