The Truth about Jesus

Mangasar Magurditch Mangasarian (December 29, 1859-June 26, 1943) was an American rationalist and secularist of Armenian decent. Born in Mashger (now within Turkey) in the Ottoman Empire, he attended Robert College in Constantinople, and was ordained as minister in Marsovan in 1878. In about 1880 he enrolled at Princeton University. He was pastor at a Presbyterian church in Philadelphia from 1882 to 1885, when he resigned, becoming an independent preacher and a lecturer on "independent religion" in New York. In 1892 he became leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Chicago, a group established by Felix Adler. In 1900 he organized the Independent Religious Society of Chicago, a rationalist group, of which he remained pastor until 1925. He retired to Piedmont, California, where he lived for the rest of his life. During his life Mangasarian wrote a number of books. His most popular, including The Truth About Jesus - Is He a Myth? (1909) and The Bible Unveiled (1911), deal with the questions of the times. His books and essays were translated into French, German, Spanish, and other foreign languages. The general subject of his writing was the philosophy of religion. Cover photography by Paul Spremulli.