Difference between revisions of "The Kirtland Egyptian Papers"

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=={{Criticism label}}==
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The following critical claims relate to the Kirtland Egyptian Papers (KEP):
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|S=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.  
#It is asserted that the KEP were produced prior to the Book of Abraham, and that they therefore represent the "translation working papers" for Abraham 1:1-3. A chronology of events related to the production of the Book of Abraham produced by Edward Ashment is used by critics to support this claim;
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|L1=Background and provenance of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers
#It is asserted that the KEP are intended to deal with the Egyptian language, and that they demonstrate that Joseph did not understand Egyptian;
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|L2=Purpose of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers
#It is asserted that the KEP demonstrate that the Sensen Papyrus was believed to be the source for the Book of Abraham, and that since the Sensen Papyrus is in fact ''not'' the Book of Abraham but an Egyptian Book of Breathings, whatever else the Book of Abraham may be, it is not an accurate translation of an ancient Egyptian text.
 
#It is asserted that the purpose of the KEP was to provide a visible prop in order to convince people that Joseph could indeed translate Egyptian.
 
 
 
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=={{Response label}}==
 
{{Epigraph|Neither side of this debate believes the GAEL was a “key” to translating the papyri. And you have no evidence that JS believed that either...What I meant was that nobody believes the GAEL was used as a translation key. My side of the debate doesn't believe anything was translated. And if JS intended it to be understood that such were the case, the GAEL would be tied closer to the translation.<br>Dan Vogel, ''Mormon Apologetics and Discussion Board'', 13 Aug. 2010. {{link|url=http://www.mormonapologetics.org/topic/50442-will-schryvers-book-of-abraham-talk/page__view__findpost__p__1208895741}} }}
 
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{{Epigraph|Christopher C. Smith has argued at some length that Joseph Smith was the primary author of the Alphabet and Grammar documents, and that those documents served as the source or ''modus operandi'' for the translation of at least the first three verses of the Book of Abraham. According to Smith, "This undoubtedly accounts for the choppiness and redundancy of these three verses, which stylistically are very different from the remainder of the Book of Abraham. Verse 3, for example, reads as though it has been cobbled together from a series of dictionary entries."<br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtland_Egyptian_Papers Wikipedia entry for the Kirtland Egyptian Papers] as of Aug. 14, 2010, referencing Christopher C. Smith, "The Dependence of Abraham 1:1-3 on the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar," John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 29 (2009): 38-54.}}
 
 
 
=={{Topics label}}==
 
 
 
{{SummaryItem
 
|link=/Background
 
|subject=Background and provenance of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers
 
|summary=The Kirtland Egyptian Papers (KEP) are a collection of documents written by various individuals, mostly dating to the Kirtland period of Church history (early- to mid-1830s), constituting some sort of study documents relating to the [[Book of Abraham papyri|Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri]].
 
}}
 
{{SummaryItem
 
|link=/Historical LDS approaches
 
|subject=Historical LDS approaches to the KEP
 
|summary=Critics note at least two evidences which demonstrate an obvious connection between some of the Kirtland Egyptian papers and the Book of Breathings scroll from the Joseph Smith Papyri (JSP). These two evidences are used by critics in an attempt to prove that the existing fragments of the Scroll of Hor is the source of the Book of Abraham and that therefore Joseph was not a prophet.
 
}}
 
{{SummaryItem
 
|link=/Purpose
 
|subject=What is the purpose of the KEP?
 
|summary=For many years, the KEP were not well studied. A variety of possible explanations have been offered by LDS researchers over the years. The most recent approach postulates that the KEP represent an attempt by Joseph and his associates to create a way to encode revelations and other sensitive data in a form approximating "pure language." Research into this theory is ongoing.
 
 
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{{:Book of Abraham/Kirtland Egyptian Papers/Purpose}}
  
==Do the Kirtland "Egyptian" Papers deal with Egyptian?==
 
===Some of the Kirtland "Egyptian" Papers do not contain Egyptian at all===
 
The "Egyptian Counting" document which is part of the KEP, like the grammar documents, has a character, a sound, and an explanation for each, yet none of the characters are Egyptian. Nor do they contain a single character from the Joseph Smith papyri.
 
 
==What was the purpose of the KEP?==
 
===The historical record already indicates that Joseph was interested in encoding certain items===
 
The historical record already confirms that efforts were made to encode certain things in order to prevent them from being read and understood by enemies of the Church. An effort to create such an encoding scheme using the KEP fits very well within the existing historical context. The Grammar seems to have been a project that suffered an early termination, and it was not pursued further.
 
 
=={{Conclusion label}}==
 
 
The KEP do not lend support to the critical theory that the coherent words of the Book of Abraham were produced from a non-inspired analysis of the Egyptian materials before Joseph or his scribes. The text of the Book of Abraham was uttered by the Prophet and recorded by his scribes in much the same way that all of his revelatory translation projects were done. To the critic, this simply means that Joseph made up the coherent text and dictated it; to the believer, it means that Joseph received the text by revelation and dictated it, whether the actual text of the Book of Abraham existed on the papyri or not.
 
 
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=={{Endnotes label}}==
 
#{{note|table1}}John Gee, "Eyewitness, Hearsay, and Physical Evidence of the Joseph Smith Papyri," p. 196.
 
#{{note|fgw1}}Until recently this was believed to be W.W. Phelps' handwriting.
 
#{{note|tanner1}}''Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet & Grammar,'' Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm Company, 1966.
 
#{{note|nytimes1}}''New York Times,'' 2 May 1970.
 
-->
 
 
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==={{FAIR wiki articles label}}===
 
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{{Video:Hauglid:2006:Kirtland Egyptian Papers}}
 
 
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Latest revision as of 14:50, 13 April 2024

Articles about Book of Abraham


The Kirtland Egyptian Papers

Summary: 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.

Jump to Subtopic:


Background and provenance of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers

Summary: The Kirtland Egyptian Papers (KEP) are a collection of documents written by various individuals, mostly dating to the Kirtland period of Church history (early- to mid-1830s), constituting some sort of study documents relating to the Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri.


Jump to details:


Purpose of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers

Summary: For many years, the KEP were not well studied. A variety of possible explanations have been offered by LDS researchers over the years. One of the more recent approaches postulates that the KEP represent an attempt by Joseph and his associates to create a way to encode revelations and other sensitive data in a form approximating "pure language." Research into this theory is ongoing.

Jump to Subtopic: