The Acta Pilati

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irenaeuslyons

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Many of you probably heard of the Acta Pilati which is a 4th century pseudepigrapha.

I came across this book which says it contains a different copy of the Acta Pilati.
https://archive.org/details/actapilatiimport00slut

It’s an old book written by a Presbyterian. They say the one that has already been condemned as false by scholars was a different version of the acts. They claim that the one they have translated is a genuine one that was referenced by figures in the early church. Personally, there is not enough here to convince me its genuine, but I found it interesting, none the less. The biggest problem (among many) is they did not transcribe the original document for the reader. Supposedly, it was in the possession of the Vatican and translated from there.

In any case, it would be a wonderful thing had some document like that actually turned up out of nowhere and was genuine.

P.S. I am not expecting a reply. It was just a musing.
 
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M. R. James’ Apocryphal New Testament, published in 1924, includes the work entitled “The Gospel of Nicodemus or Acts of Pilate.” In his brief introduction to this book, James points out that false “Acts” of the trial of Jesus were written in the pagan interest under Maximin and introduced into schools early in the fourth century, adding: “It is imagined by some that our book was a counterblast to these.”

I wonder whether this book you are linking to here might possibly be one of the works “written in the Pagan interest” that M. R. James was referring to. A quick internet search for George Sluter, named as the editor of your book, yielded nothing at all.
 
BartholomewB said:
M. R. James’ Apocryphal New Testament, published in 1924, includes the work entitled “The Gospel of Nicodemus or Acts of Pilate.” In his brief introduction to this book, James points out that false “Acts” of the trial of Jesus were written in the pagan interest under Maximin and introduced into schools early in the fourth century, adding: “It is imagined by some that our book was a counterblast to these.”

I wonder whether this book you are linking to here might possibly be one of the works “written in the Pagan interest” that M. R. James was referring to. A quick internet search for George Sluter, named as the editor of your book, yielded nothing at all.
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I did look up the Gospel of Nicodemus with the Acts of Pilate on newadvent and it is very different from what Sluter is presenting if you compare them. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0807.htm

But the interesting thing is, Justin Martyr references the existence of the Acta Pilati around ~AD 130 when writing a Roman senator. So there probably was once a genuine version floating around out there. Unless the original itself was also of suspect authorship.
 
Thanks for that. I would think it wasn’t a baseless assumption, or he would be in danger of losing credibility in his apology. I think he uses the reference to further his argument. But who knows.
“And after He was crucified they cast lots upon His vesture, and they that crucified Him parted it among them. And that these things did happen, you can ascertain from the Acts of [Pontius Pilate].”
- Justin Martyr, First Apology
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