William Dennes Mahan
Cumberland Presbyterian Minister
1824 - 1906
http://www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/minister/MahanWilliamDennes.htm
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STRANGE NEW GOSPELS
by Edgar J. Goodspeed
https://www.tertullian.org/articles/goodspeed_strange_new_gospels.htm
Scroll down to:
“V. PILATE’S COURT, AND THE ARCHKO VOLUME”
“IN 1879, the Rev. W. D. Mahan, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, of Boonville, Missouri, published a pamphlet of thirty-two pages, entitled ‘A Correct Transcript of Pilate’s Court.’”
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Look for works by Isaac M. Wise
The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth
A Historic-Critical Treatise of the Last Chapters of the Gospel
A Defense of Judaism
Versus
Proselytizing Christianity
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William Dennes Mahan aka Dr. Mahan, had a vivid imagination. He studied the works of Isaac M. Wise, and thereby “knew” some history of the middle East.
IIRC, Mahan and Wise communicated by mail, and might have met in person, once or twice (I forget).
Anyway, Mahan “published a pamphlet of thirty-two pages, entitled ‘A Correct Transcript of Pilate’s Court.’” That was also included in a much-expanded form, published as The Archko Volume.
That can be downloaded at:
https://archive.org/download/archkovolume00mahaiala/archkovolume00mahaiala.pdf
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Mahan’s work was believeable for many, and still is. But Goodspeed investigated, and discovered errors in Mahan’s works.
At some point in the investigation of Mahan’s work, Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur and a Union general in the Civil War, was the U.S. consul or ambassador to Turkey.
Wallace was asked to ask some questions at the Library of _____ (again, I forget) in Constantinople (sp?), because some documents of Pilate were supposed to be there?
Wallace asked, and the librarian said, No such papers . . . or words to that effect.
So, the provenance (usage?) of Mahan’s work, was not there.
The irony, in my view, is that Lew Wallace’s book, Ben Hur, became popular fiction.
And, if William Mahan had published his own work as fiction, Mahan would probably have been a financially successful author.
I remain interested, because Lew Wallace took the word of the fellow in charge at the Constantinople library . . . and I wonder if that was true.