Getrennte Wege, Gemeinsame Wege: Zum Verhältnis „jüdischer“ und „christlicher“ Religionsgemeinschaften der Spätantike in der Rezeption des Barnabasbriefs

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.