Scholarly Reflections
Muilenburg, James. "Chapter Four: Literary Character." The Literary Relations of the Epistle of Barnabas and the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. Marburg, 1929, 48-84.
Muilenburg moves his inquiry toward identifying the specific literary character of the Epistle of Barnabas and of the
Didache (Muilenburg 1929, 48). He takes the Epistle to be quite literally a letter addressed to a real Christian community, though perhaps not expressed as warmly and naturally as it would be by some authors (Muilenburg 1929, 49). Barnabas suggests the former Law of God as expressed in the Old Covenant has been replaced by a new law in Jesus (Muilenburg 1929, 53). The writing throughout has a rabbinic tone in its organization and use of argumentation. Muilenburg gives numerous examples of the type of exegesis used in the Epistle, presumably demonstrating that it is similar in method to rabbinic examples (Muilenburg 1929, 55ff). Muilenburg also finds the Epistle of Barnabas to have a characteristically Jewish construction, not incoherent at all. He continues by presenting an outline (Muilenburg 1929, 59). Barnabas is characterized by considerable verbal parallelism and restatement of ideas, another common Jewish literary technique (Muilenburg 1929, 60ff). Muilenburg provides lists of parallelisms in some detail, particularly on pp. 65-66. Though we might expect the Hebraisms to point to a work translated from Hebrew, Muilenburg notes that the passages are almost all drawn from the Septuagint (Muilenburg 1929, 67). After reviewing peculiarity in word choice, Muilenburg sums up the style as clumsy (Muilenburg 1929, 68), zealoous for the distinction between Jewish and Christian thought (Muilenburg 1929, 69), and expressed throughout by odd phraseology (Muilenburg 1929, 70-71).
The Didache finds broad scholarly agreement about its literary character (Muilenburg 1929, 72). It is apparently gathered from a number of sources, compiled for catechesis and use as a church order. Muilenburg provides a detailed outline, referring to sources of material where possible (Muilenburg 1929, 73-77). The text has a clear arrangement throughout, showing a desire for orderliness (Muilenburg 1929, 77). It is brief and memorable, focused on the catechetical goals (Muilenburg 1929, 79). From a linguistic standpoint, Muilenburg finds numerous Hebraisms, and a vocabulary which may suggest the Didache preceded Barnabas (Muilenburg 1929, 80). Where we find parallel passages in Barnabas, however, the Didache makes them more orderly. This suggests Barnabas preceded the Didache (Muilenburg 1929, 83).