Barnabas

For a long time, the role of Barnabas as a co-worker of Paul was neglected. Markus Öhler shows that he was in fact more important to early Christianity than Luke's portrait of him in Acts suggests. Barnabas functioned as a mediator between the Jerusalem community centered around the Torah and the Christians in Antioch who tried to establish a mission to the pagans without being bound by the law. In Paul's eyes, Barnabas acted as his patron in Antioch and in his first journey as a missionary, but they differed considerably in their personalities and their theology. Although Luke gives a subtly differentiated portrait of the Cypriot Levite, Barnabas is nevertheless clearly overshadowed by Paul. In this work, the author's purpose is to show Barnabas in a new light.