The Washington times., 1921-09-04
BIOGRAPHY OF JESUS i'm
EGYPT CALLED FORGERY
So-Called "Benan Letters" Revealing the
Boyhood Of Christ, Which Caused Tremen-
dous Sensation Ten Years Ago. Now De-
nol1nced by Two Foremost German Church
Historians as Unbiased on Fact

thirty-four years later. brought out
the result Of their first study.
Indeed, II IL strange that the
Benan letters. that priceless origi-
nal manuscript, should have been
lost under such remarkable circum-
stances!
II II possible that the great his.
torian's servant threw the parch.
ment into the waste basket through
mistake? .u..
The great romancer. Won der
Pianitz, was upon finding a sub
stitute. He got hold Of q second
and almost more remarkable and
valuable document which was also
In Egyptian papyrus. and. according
to the contents. language and writ
ing Of this later manuscript, II was
written in the earliest Christian
period. It referred in one passage
to the residence Of Jesus In Egypt,
according to Won ders Planits. This
wonderful document Is still pre-
served in a European museum, and
contains likewise striking confirma.
ton Of the account given in the
Benan letters.
AZ the peculiar account Of the
discovery Of the Benan letters by
Ernest Won der Pianitz is enough
to arouse the suspicious Of many
critical observers. II would have
been passed with q smile had It not
been for the fact that the great
forger has been playing with a
sacred question.
Unfortunately the religious his.
torians throughout the world were
forced TO preserve silence for many
years. but now the time has come
when the Won der Planitz discovery
must be branded In whole az a for
gerry. Under the critics lens the
entire account Of the discovery is
revealed to be flimsy tissue Of lies
and vanishes in blue smoke. After
exhausting the subject in our ef
forts to arrive at the truth we
came to the following conclusions:
That no letter written BY an
Egyptian physician Bonan has ever
existed in tho Greek or in the Cop
tic language.
That tho alleged translation OF
an ancient original, which Won der
Pianitz gives US In his five vol.
umes, h . pure product Of ilnaxina.
ton; in fact, to put II more plainly.
IL In modern forgery--a romance
from the pen Of an obscure roman.
tic writer.
That no such historian rs Erie.
herr Won Rabenau, who was sup.
posed to have discovered the docu.
ment and translated the manu-.
script. ever existed.
That this fictitious name conceaIs
real person, namely the EgyptoIo.
gist, j. r. Lauth. Lauth was born
In lSez and died I'm 1895. From
1S4s to 1879 he resided ut Munich.
where he was professor at the uni.
versity and . member Of the Acad.
emy Of Sciences.
Lauth was q man Of deep learn.
ing, but superficial, and uncritical
In the highest degree. He was the
victim of an undisciplined imagi.
nation. Lauth's works and treat.
ises are mixed and intermixed with
valuable original discoveries and
the widest and most arbitrary
deductions from them.
Consequently we traced in Won
der PLAINTIFFS forgery aud fake the
basis on which he has worked. He
has borrowed all the dates, names
and antiquarian lore OF his fanci.
full romance from the long-forgot.
ten writings Of this deceased, un
reliable savant, Lauth.
It must also be added that Lauth
himself had very decided views re.
garding the close connection be.
tween the Christian doctrine and
Egyptian learning land Oriental
teaching in generaD. some Of which
have been completely contradict.
ed and proved to be baseless by
later research.
We again reiterate that the Ben.
an letters are q modern forged
biography Of Jesus by, Ernst Won