[.ca] The Archko Volume (ISBN 0879830670)

Wise as serpents:
In the 19th century there was a flood of genuine discoveries of ancient manuscripts containing hitherto unknown works from antiquity. This seems to have stimulated the production of numbers of bogus documents, targetted at various communities. The common motive was to get money: the intended victims of the hoaxes could be determined by the language used. Most of these documents have vanished into history, with their target groups - 'Jesus in Tibet' enthusiasts and the like. The Archko volume is one that has not. It was first published in 1884 under the title "The Archaeological and the Historical Writings of the Sanhedrin and Talmuds of the Jews..." and repackaged, reedited and revised as "The Archko Volume" (2nd Edition) during the life of W.D.Mahan, its author (I have both a 1884 and a 1905 edition - Mahan died in 1906). After some difficulty I procured a first edition. One document -'Eli and the Story of the Magi' has been omitted altogether from subsequent editions, without any mention of why. There is, of course, a good reason for this. Apparently the text is copied verbatim from the novel "Ben Hur" (publ. 1880). The rest of the material has been rearranged, although there is no mention of this in the preface. All copies with the title 'Archko volume' are versions of the second edition - the first does not have the preface in the same place. I investigated the 'translators' McIntosh and Twyman, and found that they are not listed as the authors of any other volume in the US Library of Congress catalogue. There is no evidence that they ever existed. The shelfmark given for the material by "Valleus Paterculus", as a Vatican Library shelfmark, is wrong, as this institution classifies its manuscripts by collection, not by author. Since I am interested in other Vatican MSS, I can vouch for this myself. In fact no manuscripts of any work by Velleius Paterculus exist anywhere in the world, as the sole MS of his real history was lost during the 17th century. Since he died in AD30, it naturally does not mention Christ. A general discussion of some of these hoaxes is available:GOODSPEED, Edgar J., Strange New Gospels, Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1931), v+110pp. (There is a copy on the internet). It isn't very scholarly, and some of the judgements seem biased - New Testament Scholars enjoy a low reputation among Christians, and with good reason - but I have checked a number of the facts given and they seem to be correct. The rest must be left to the judgement of the reader. The purpose of the hoax is plain - to make money from Christians living in rural areas of the US. As far as I know, it has not circulated elsewhere. It certainly was not targetted at unbelievers, or scholars, or even persons living outside the US, none of whom were at all likely to be taken in. So what should Christians think? I was reminded of some wise words by the ancient Christian writer, Tertullian: "Manifold are the ways in which the devil has sought to undermine the truth. He is now trying to crush it, by pretending to defend it" (Adversus Praxean 1, 1). Spiritually this is a snare - inviting Christians to put their trust in something false, in the hope of convincing them, when the fraud is revealed, that the bible too is false. Commercially it is circulated for money, since its fraudulent nature has been known for over a century. If something seems too good to be true - it is. So is this.

Pious fraud:
It's Milk the Christians time again, folks. This book was written as a work of fiction in the 1880s and was exposed by Rev. Goodspeed (the fellow who first edited and compiled the modern English edition of the Pseudepigrapha) in the 1930s. Read it for entertainment, the way you'd read Ben Hur.

Hidden faith:
I stumbled upon this book and once I started reading it I knew it was by no accident. It is the first book I have read through in such short amount of time, as I couldn't put it down. I recommend that all people, especially those who have doubts or questions about Christianity or Jesus to read this. I thought I was reading something to educate myself of the Jewish Talmud, being I am curious to others faiths, which for one, I did, but the surprise was, evidence from other religions that knew Jesus more than my own religion did. It describes from the shepherds what Jesus looked like, it described his personal being and ways. I know so many Catholic people out there who are not sure if Jesus ever existed, who still don't know why we are Catholics when Jesus was a Jew, etc. This book clears up so much. What the real question is now that I have read it and feel even closer to Jesus is: If these records are held in the Vatican in Rome, why have not our own priests either known about it or told us about it? So many people leave the church because they need to hear these kind of things that exist. So many people loose faith and hope when they are presented with sickness, this can restore their faith and help them. A little bit of evidence goes a long way. I bought 3 other copies of this book, one for my parents, one for a Spiritual Director of our church and one for the Monsignor of our Church. I am not letting go of mine, as I have details highlighted and many words I looked up that I wasn't familiar with. If you are searching for answers, or wanting to know Jesus more and understand what happend between the Romans/Christians/Jews you will love this book! You even hear from Pontius Pilate and Herod....believe that! You will love it!