Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: wcsa@iwsgw.att.com (Willard Smith) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Does Anybody Know About .... Message-ID: Date: 30 Mar 91 07:57:57 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Indian Hill West - Naperville, IL Lines: 69 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu There have been a number of articles inquiring about the _Archko Volume_. Just last night, I was looking through back issues of _BYU Studies_ for an article describing the origins of ex nihilo in Christian thought and stumbled upon an article by Richard Anderson, "The Fraudulent Archko Volume," _BYU Studies_ 15 (Autumn 1974):43-64. Anderson's article suggested the most critical analysis of the background and contents of the work can be found in Edgar J. Goodspeed, _Famous Biblical Hoaxes_ (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book, c1956), Chapter 4. Earlier versions by Goodspeed that have related chapters are _Strange New Gospels_ (U of Chicago Press, 1936), and _Modern Apocrypha_ (Boston: Beacon Press, 1956). Anderson also pointed out material contemporary to Mahan that investigated his claims and searched for his sources. The author, Rev William Dennes Mahan, wrote this work in three stages: the first stage (in 1878) was a work called "A correct Transcript of Pilate's court" which he claimed was available from Vatican Records and for which he claimed to have paid thirty-five darics for a copy of the transcript (a daric is a coin that was unknown in modern Italy, but was used in ancient Persia). Mahan reissued the same work several years later, but this time it was expanded by about 1400 words. Later investigation has shown that the "record" seems to have been lifted from a 1842 pamphlet (available in Boston) called "Pontius Pilate's Account of the Condemnation of Jesus Christ," purporting to come from "an old Latin manuscript recently found at Vienne." The second stage was in 1884, in which Mahan issued _Archaeological Writings of the Sanhedrom amd Talmuds of the Jews_. Mahan claimed to have gotten these writings from all sorts of specific places in Italy, Europe, and Constantinople. Analysis of these writings, however, suggest strongly that his source was actually _Ben Hur_. Anderson demonstrated this by setting up in parallel columns Mahan and _Ben Hur_, and the similarity is not simply a phrase now and again, rather, whole paragraphs are lifted word for word from _Ben Hur_ and incorporated in Mahan's work. This plagarism was quickly identified and Mahan was investigated by the New Labanon Presbytery and was suspended from his duties as a minister for 12 months. Mahan publically apologized and promised to remove all the undistributed copies of _Archaeological Writings_ at once. Instead, Mahan reissued a slightly shortened version of work (third stage) as the _Archko Volume_ (thought to be short for Archaeological Volume). Because Mahan continued to portray his work as authentic, the New Labanon Presbytery made his suspension permanent. Investigations in the 1880s (and currently) have found a number of major problems with Mahan's claims: First, although he made specific claims about when and where he found the manuscripts, noone else has been able to locate ANY of them. Moreover, dispite his claim of having traveled to Europe, there is no evidence that he ever left the country. There is evidence that during the time he claimed to be in Constantinople, he was actually in the US. Finally, there are all sorts of associated problems (not the least is the plagarism from _Ben Hur_). For instance, he has his characters using certain types of 19th century colloquialisms that may not have had ancient equivalents. In "Gamaliel's interview with Joseph, Mary and Messalian," Mahan has Gamaliel saying Jesus came from a "third rate family," concerning Jesus, Joseph doubts that "he will ever amount to much," and Mary reports that Jesus always prevails, "no odds what was the subject," though he takes "little interest in ... the great questions of the day." Another problem concerns the accuracy of the accounts. For example, Mahan's "documents" have Pilate reporting that he had only one hundred soldiers at Jerusalem, when it is fairly certain that he had over a thousand. For more detail, refer to the sources listed in the second paragraph. -- Willard C. Smith att!cbnewsc!iwsgw!wcsa wcsa@iwsgw.att.com "It's life, Captain, but not as we know it."