Abstract
This essay discusses the connections between “Judaism” and “Christianity” in Late Antiquity, using the Epistle of Barnabas as a basis. A lecture of the Epistle shows how anti-Jewish polemics offer insights into a discourse of distinction between predominantly “Christian” and predominantly “Jewish” religious communities within a specific and limited local context. This shall be exemplified with two topics being discussed in the Epistle of Barnabas: The perspective on the covenant with the people of Israel and the observance of Halacha. It is argued that the relationship between so-called “Christian” and “Jewish” religious communities in Late Antiquity can be described as a complex and location-specific entanglement of interwoven and diverging paths of interaction.