A Note on Notovitch

This is amusing. Apparently a BYU professor named Alonzo Gaskill just published a book which cited a 19th Century Russian named Nicholas Notovitch who claimed to have discovered lost writings of Jesus Christ in India.

To an untutored layman, Gaskill's work appears to be on par with most of the stuff streaming out of BYU.

What I find interesting is the fervor with which LDS pundits are denouncing Notovitch and Gaskill. Many of the LDS apologists denouncing Notovitch would go apoplectic if anyone used the same words in regards to Joseph Smith.

BTW: I recently I discovered that LDS Apologists get upset for seemingly benign statements like "Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Moses." Apparently, the LDS claim is that Joseph Smith was channeling Moses, Enoch and Abraham when the Pearl of Great Price, the Book of Abraham and the Book of Mosses flowed from Joseph Smith's pen in the 1830s.

The seemingly benign statement that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Moses is considered blasphemy and a vile attack on the LDS Faith and must be shouted down.

Anyway, here's a link to "The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ" by Nicholas Notovtich written circa 1887.

I quickly scanned Notovitch's text and decided to render my unlearned judgment of its authenticity. So, here goes:

The first thing I noticed was that the book is written in a narrative style akin to HG Wells.

As everyone who's read the King James Bible knows: God speaks with an Old English Accent.

If "The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ" were authentic, it would be written in King James style Old English. Dag-nabbit!