Difference between revisions of "The Joseph Smith Papyri"

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{{Epigraph|An example of what I am talking about is the recent discovery of the papyrus scrolls from which Joseph Smith was presumed to have translated the book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. Modern scholars, looking at the scrolls, found nothing they considered to be similar to that book. I remarked at the time that such a finding didn't bother me in the least. God doesn't need a crib sheet in the form of a papyrus scroll to reveal Abraham's thoughts and words to Joseph Smith, with any degree of precision He considers necessary for His purposes. If the only function of the scrolls was to awaken the Prophet to the idea of receiving such inspiration, they would have fulfilled their purpose.<br><br>
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==Criticism==
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&mdash;Henry Eyring, ''Reflections of a Scientist'', p. 46}}
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Critics of the Book of Abraham attack it from several directions. This article is a summary of Book of Abraham criticisms with links to corresponding sub-articles.
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{{parabreak}}
  
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{{CriticalSources}}
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<onlyinclude>
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{{T5
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|L=Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri
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|H=The Joseph Smith Papyri
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|V=<embedvideo service="youtube">pNBzMhJFGWo</embedvideo>
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|S=Joseph Smith had in his possession three or four long scrolls, plus a hypocephalus (Facsimile 2). Of these original materials, only a handful of fragments were recovered at the Metropolitan Museum. The majority of the papyri remains lost, and has likely been destroyed. There are a number of criticisms related to the recovered fragments of the Joseph Smith papyri. These criticisms are addressed below. <ref>Criticisms regarding the Book of Abraham and Joseph Smith papyri are raised in the following publications: “Universalism in Ohio,” ''Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate'' (Utica, New York) (12 September 1835): 291. {{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BOMP&CISOPTR=1061&REC=8}}; {{CriticalWork:Ashment:Egyptian Magical Papyri|pages=1&ndash;}}; {{CriticalWork:Larson:By His Own Hand|pages=1&ndash;}}; Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Solving the Mystery of the Joseph Smith Papyri," ''Salt Lake City Messenger'' 82 (September 1992): 1&ndash;12.; {{CriticalWork:Tanner:Changing World|pages=Chapter 11}}; {{CriticalWork:Watchman Fellowship:Articles|pages=3}}</ref>
  
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==Summary==
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<small>Video published by the Church History Department.</small>
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====How did the Book of Abraham come to be?====
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|L1=Online source documents
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In July 1835, Joseph Smith purchased a portion of a collection of papyri and mummies that had been discovered in Egypt and brought to the United States. Believing that one of the papyrus rolls contained, "the writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt," and "purportedly written by his own hand, upon papyrus,"{{ref|hc1}} Joseph commenced a translation. The Book of Abraham was the result of his work.
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|L2=The Joseph Smith Papyri: Source Quotes
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|L3=Identity and nature of the papyrus in the Church's possession
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|L4=When did the Church disclose that the Joseph Smith Papyri were an Egyptian funerary text?
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|L5=Why is the Book of Abraham text not on the papyri?
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|L6=The facsimiles in the Book of Abraham
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|L7=Antiquity of the Book of Abraham
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The translated text and facsimiles of three drawings were published in the early 1840s in serial fashion in the LDS newspaper ''Times and Seasons''. The entire work was published in 1852 in England as part of ''The Pearl of Great Price'', which was later canonized as part of LDS scripture.
 
  
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====What happened to the papyri?====
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{{SeeAlso|Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Kirtland Egyptian Papers}}
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After Joseph's death, the collection was eventually sold and split up. The original papyri were thought to have been completely destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871. Fragments, however, including the illustration represented in [http://scriptures.lds.org/en/abr/fac_1 Facsimile 1], were discovered in 1966 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, who gave them to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in November 1967.
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{{SeeAlso|/Identity and nature|l1=Identity and nature of the papyrus in the Church's possession}}
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{{Source documents label}}
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*View high [http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/egyptian-papyri resolution images of the Joseph Smith Papyri online].
  
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===When did the Church disclose that the Joseph Smith Papyri were an Egyptian funerary text?===
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{{:Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Quotes}}
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[[File:IE_Jan1968_cover.jpg|thumb|400 px|right|Cover of the January 1968 issue of the ''Improvement Era'', the Church's official magazine of the time. Note the color photograph of the recovered [http://scriptures.lds.org/en/abr/fac_1 Facsimile 1].]]
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{{:Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Identity and nature}}
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Critics often charge that the Church did not identify the Joseph Smith Papyri as an Egyptian funerary text until after Egyptologists examined them. This is in fact a false claim. The Church (erroneously) identified the papyrus as the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" in the January 1968 ''Improvement Era''. The papyrus was later correctly identified as a "Book of Breathing."
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{{:Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Church disclosure of "Book of the Dead"}}
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{{:Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Text}}
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{{:Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Facsimiles}}
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{{:Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Preservation of Ancient Core}}
  
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{{Detail|/Church disclosure of "Book of the Dead"|l1=Disclosure of the Joseph Smith Papryi by the Church as the "Book of the Dead"}}
 
  
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===The date of the Book of Abraham vs. the date of the papyrus===
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{{Critical sources box:Book of Abraham/Papyri/Long article/CriticalSources}}
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The Joseph Smith papyri date to about the 2nd century, <small>B.C.</small> Latter-day Saints, however (including, perhaps, Joseph Smith), have claimed that the papyri were written by Abraham who lived about 2,000 years earlier. When Joseph Smith obtained the papyri in 1835, he reportedly said that "one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham...."{{ref|hc2}} According to Joseph's scribes, this scroll was "written" by Abraham's "own hand upon papyrus."{{ref|marquardt1}} It seems reasonable to conclude that Joseph believed that Abraham himself, with pen in hand, wrote the very words that he was translating. The problem is that most modern scholars (including LDS scholars) date the papyri to a few centuries before Christ, whereas Abraham lived about two millennia before Christ. Obviously, Abraham himself could not have penned the papyri.
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{{endnotes sources}}
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{{Detail|/Dating|l1=Dating of the Joseph Smith Papyri}}
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[[Category:Book of Abraham]]
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===The Kirtland Egyptian Papers===
 
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From what may be surmised from the "Kirtland Egyptian Papers" the surviving Egyptian papyri are claimed by critics to be the source for the Book of Abraham. Critics point out that Egyptologists agree that these papyri are part of a collection of Egyptian funerary documents known as the ''Book of Breathings'' and do not deal with Abraham.
 
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Among the early Book-of-Abraham-related-manuscripts that have survived from the days of Joseph Smith are a number of papers collectively referred to as the "Kirtland Egyptian Papers" (KEP). These pages were written while the Saints lived in Kirtland, Ohio, and were recorded in the general time frame that Joseph was translating the Book of Abraham. They are in the same handwriting of several of Joseph's scribes. Critics charge that the KEP represent Joseph's attempt to translate the hieroglyphics from those portions that are still extant, noting that Egyptologists tell us that the alleged "translations" do not accurately reflect the meanings of the hieroglyphics. In some cases, several paragraphs of the English translation of the Book of Abraham are associated with Egyptian characters from the Joseph Smith papyri. In some instances, one Egyptian character seems to yield several sentences of English text. To the critics, this is proof that Joseph was a false prophet.
 
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{{Detail|/Kirtland Egyptian Papers|l1=Kirtland Egyptian Papers}}
 
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===Missing papyrus===
 
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It should first be undestood that we do not have all the papyri that Joseph Smith had when he translated the Book of Abraham. Some of the papyri were burned in the Chicago fire and it's possible that other fragments were lost or destroyed elsewhere. Yale-trained Egyptologist, Dr. John Gee, believes that Joseph Smith originally had five papyrus scrolls (one of which was the hypocephalus).{{ref|gee1}} Of these five scrolls, only eleven fragments of two scrolls have survived. The "Scroll of Hor" (the Egyptian Book of Breathings) from where we get Facsimile 1 (and almost certainly [http://scriptures.lds.org/abr/fac_3 Facsimile 3]&mdash;which didn't survive) is incomplete.
 
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Dr. Nibley writes:
 
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:We are told that papyri were in beautiful condition when Joseph Smith got them, and that one of them when unrolled on the floor extended through two rooms of the Mansion House.{{ref|nibley2}}
 
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Nothing like this has survived today. Dr. Gee estimates that the Scroll of Hor (likely the putative [supposed] source for the Book of Abraham) may have been ten feet long{{ref|gee2}} and that in all, Joseph may have had eight times as much papyri as what is currently extant.{{ref|gee3}} A number of scholars contend that the reason that the extant papyrus fragments don't have anything to do with the Book of Abraham is because we don't have that portion of the papyrus that served as the text from whence Joseph translated the Book of Abraham.  At the very least, the critics ought to be cautious if only 13% of the ancient scrolls are currently known!
 
  
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{{Detail|Book_of_Abraham/Size_of_missing_papyrus|l1=How much of the original papyrus is still missing?}}
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[[de:Buch Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri]]
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[[es:El Libro de Abraham/Papiros de José Smith]]
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===Possibility of Jewish redaction===
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[[pt:O Livro de Abraão/Joseph Smith Papiros]]
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And while it's true that the extant portions of the JSP are from the Book of the Dead and the Book of Breathings and do not, according to Egyptologists, translate to anything like the LDS Book of Abraham, this doesn't necessarily mean that the translation didn't derive from Joseph's papyri. There are other scenarios that are compatible with Joseph's claims. We know from other sources, for instance, that sometimes scrolls were attached together.
 
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{{Detail|/Jewish redaction|l1=Jewish redaction}}
 
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===Facsimiles===
 
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Part of the drawings (vignettes) on the papyri have been destroyed. Before the facsimiles were published, the missing sections were filled in. While it appears that Joseph or someone else "restored" these missing parts, non-LDS Egyptologists do not recognize these restorations as accurate. Critics charge that the sections that were filled in are incorrect, and that this proves that Joseph Smith was not a prophet.
 
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{{Detail|Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Facsimiles/Missing portions|l1=Restoration of the missing portions of the facsimiles}}
 
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==Endnotes==
 
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#{{note|hc1}}{{HoC|vol=2|start=235, 236, 348|end=351}}
 
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#{{note|hc2}}{{HoC1|vol=2|start=236}}
 
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#{{note|marquardt1}}Michael H. Marquardt, "A Book Note &mdash; Hugh Nibley's ''Abraham in Egypt''" (2000).
 
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#{{note|gee1}}{{Ensign|author=John Gee|article=Research and Perspectives: Abraham in Ancient Egyptian Texts|date=July 1992|start=60|end=?}}; {{FR-7-1-5}}
 
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#{{note|nibley2}}{{Dialogue1|author=Hugh W. Nibley|article=Phase One|vol=3|num=2|date=Summer 1968|start=101}}{{link|url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/dialogue&CISOPTR=1659&REC=10}}
 
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#{{note|gee2}}Gee, ''A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri,'' 12&ndash;13.
 
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#{{note|gee3}}John Gee, "Facsimile 3," lecture given at the FARMS Book of Abraham Conference (16 October 1999), personal notes of conference talks by Michael Ash; see also, John Gee, "The Ancient Owners of the Joseph Smith Papyri" (Provo: FARMS, 1999), 1.
 
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==Further reading==
 
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===FAIR wiki articles===
 
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{{BookofAbrahamWiki}}
 
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===FAIR web site===
 
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{{BookofAbrahamFAIR}}
 
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===External links===
 
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{{BookofAbrahamLinks}}
 
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===Printed material===
 
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{{BookofAbrahamPrint}}
 
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[[Category:Book of Abraham]]
 

Latest revision as of 20:59, 1 May 2024


An example of what I am talking about is the recent discovery of the papyrus scrolls from which Joseph Smith was presumed to have translated the book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. Modern scholars, looking at the scrolls, found nothing they considered to be similar to that book. I remarked at the time that such a finding didn't bother me in the least. God doesn't need a crib sheet in the form of a papyrus scroll to reveal Abraham's thoughts and words to Joseph Smith, with any degree of precision He considers necessary for His purposes. If the only function of the scrolls was to awaken the Prophet to the idea of receiving such inspiration, they would have fulfilled their purpose.

—Henry Eyring, Reflections of a Scientist, p. 46
∗       ∗       ∗


The Joseph Smith Papyri

Summary: Joseph Smith had in his possession three or four long scrolls, plus a hypocephalus (Facsimile 2). Of these original materials, only a handful of fragments were recovered at the Metropolitan Museum. The majority of the papyri remains lost, and has likely been destroyed. There are a number of criticisms related to the recovered fragments of the Joseph Smith papyri. These criticisms are addressed below. [1]

Video published by the Church History Department.

Jump to Subtopic:


See also: Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Kirtland Egyptian Papers


Online source documents


The Joseph Smith Papyri: Source Quotes

Summary: A collection of source quotes related to the Joseph Smith Papyri


Jump to details:


Identity and nature of the papyrus in the Church's possession


Jump to details:


When did the Church disclose that the Joseph Smith Papyri were an Egyptian funerary text?

Summary: Critics often assert that the Church did not identify the Joseph Smith Papyri as an Egyptian funerary text until after Egyptologists examined them. They also claim that the Church is hiding or "covering up" the papyri's actual contents. Both assertions are incorrect. In fact, the Church ran a multi-part series with color pictures of the papyri in the Improvement Era (the predecessor to the Ensign) less than two months after they were received from the Metropolitan Museum. The series repeatedly affirmed that the recovered papyri contained Egyptian funerary materials and not the text of Book of Abraham.


Jump to details:


Why is the Book of Abraham text not on the papyri?

Summary: We do not claim to know why the text of the Book of Abraham (or the missing Book of Joseph) is not in evidence on the fragments of papyrus that were recovered. Critics, of course, simply assume this to be conclusive evidence that Joseph was a fraud. From a believer's perspective, however, there are several possible theories to account for this: 1) The text was revealed much in the same manner as that of the Book of Mormon, without the need for the actual papyri, 2) The text was present on portions of the papyri that are missing, and 3) The Book of Abraham manuscript was attached to the Book of Breathings manuscript and was lost. 4) Perhaps there was a way of understanding the Egyptian ideograms anciently that is unknown to Egyptology in our day, yet to be discovered, deciphered or acknowledged, that could yield an interpretation of a text that is different than the standard Egyptological reading.

Jump to Subtopic:


The facsimiles in the Book of Abraham

Summary: In the Book of Abraham, Joseph included three facsimiles of illustrations from the papyri, along with commentary about what the images and their individual parts represented. Some of Joseph's interpretations are similar to those of trained Egyptologists, but most are not. A number of criticisms relate to the three facsimiles associated with the Book of Abraham. It is noted that Joseph Smith's translation of the facsimiles does not agree with that provided by Egyptologists, and that some missing portions of the facsimiles were incorrectly restored before they were published.


Jump to details:

Antiquity of the Book of Abraham


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Source(s) of the criticism
Critical sources
  • Edward H. Ashment, The Use of Egyptian Magical Papyri to Authenticate the Book of Abraham: A Critical Review, Salt Lake City: Resource Communications, 1993.
  • Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri, 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Institute for Religious Research, 1992), .
  • Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Solving the Mystery of the Joseph Smith Papyri," Salt Lake City Messenger 82 (September 1992): 1–12.
  • Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), Chapter 11.( Index of claims )

Notes

  1. ↑ Criticisms regarding the Book of Abraham and Joseph Smith papyri are raised in the following publications: “Universalism in Ohio,” Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate (Utica, New York) (12 September 1835): 291. off-site; Edward H. Ashment, The Use of Egyptian Magical Papyri to Authenticate the Book of Abraham: A Critical Review (Salt Lake City: Resource Communications, 1993), 1–.; Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri, 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Institute for Religious Research, 1992), 1–.; Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Solving the Mystery of the Joseph Smith Papyri," Salt Lake City Messenger 82 (September 1992): 1–12.; Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), Chapter 11.( Index of claims ); Watchman Fellowship, The Watchman Expositor (Page 3)
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