Talk:Bar abba

{{merge|Barabbas}}

Unless this article starts going somewhere, I think it might be a good idea to merge it with Barabbas. The original contribution was pretty POV; I countered it with an alternative from Reader Response theory, but that was pretty off-the-wall too. The latest edit seemed too much opinion for the article page so I'll post it below, and attribute the authors IP. --Gareth Hughes 22:11, 1 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The obvious objection is that the readers or listeners could only reach such an insight if they understood Aramaic, since none of the Gospels provide a translation or an explanation of the name Barabbas. This objection is not insurmountable, since it is probable that an Aramaic Gospel preceded those in Greek. More importantly, the fact that Barabbas, as a separate person, exists in the story to provide an ideological counterweight to Jesus makes it more likely, not less, that his separate existence is a fiction, created to make a point, and not historical reality. Moreover, even if this invention was not created for anti-Semitic purposes, it certainly was thus used, early and often. --66.99.3.143