![FairMormon Logo](https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021_fair_logo_primary.png)
FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
(mod) |
(m) |
||
Line 11: | Line 11: | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{Epigraph|One of the major problems with all anti-Mormon efforts to disprove the divine origin of the book of Abraham is that they never look at the book of Abraham itself. They concentrate on showing that Joseph Smith's method of translation (as they envision it) could not possibly have worked, and yet they completely ignore the evidence of the text itself.<br>–Michael Rhodes{{ | + | {{Epigraph|One of the major problems with all anti-Mormon efforts to disprove the divine origin of the book of Abraham is that they never look at the book of Abraham itself. They concentrate on showing that Joseph Smith's method of translation (as they envision it) could not possibly have worked, and yet they completely ignore the evidence of the text itself.<br>–Michael Rhodes <ref>{{FR-4-1-16}}</ref>}} |
====329-330==== | ====329-330==== | ||
Line 31: | Line 31: | ||
* Most scholars were "unprepared" because they had not prepared themselves to study Egyptian: "...a few faded and tattered little scraps of papyrus may serve to remind the Latter-day Saints of how sadly they have neglected serious education....Wholly committed and given fair warning, the Mormons have deserved even the unfair verdict that the world passed against them and the Prophet in 1912, when eight professional scholars condemned Joseph Smith's interpretations of the Facsimiles as utterly absurd; for had any of the Saints during the past century ever taken the pains to check up on the actual state of Egyptian studies in the world, it would have been an easy thing to show how abyssmally inept the performance of Dr. Spalding's panel of experts really was" (''BYU Studies'' article cited by Tanners). | * Most scholars were "unprepared" because they had not prepared themselves to study Egyptian: "...a few faded and tattered little scraps of papyrus may serve to remind the Latter-day Saints of how sadly they have neglected serious education....Wholly committed and given fair warning, the Mormons have deserved even the unfair verdict that the world passed against them and the Prophet in 1912, when eight professional scholars condemned Joseph Smith's interpretations of the Facsimiles as utterly absurd; for had any of the Saints during the past century ever taken the pains to check up on the actual state of Egyptian studies in the world, it would have been an easy thing to show how abyssmally inept the performance of Dr. Spalding's panel of experts really was" (''BYU Studies'' article cited by Tanners). | ||
* Nibley himself was fairly well suited to a study of the papyri: | * Nibley himself was fairly well suited to a study of the papyri: | ||
− | ::In reality, Dr. Nibley's first study of Egyptian was in 1927; he used it in his Ph.D. dissertation and in articles published in 1945, 1948, 1949, 1956, to mention but a few examples. In 1959, while on sabbatical leave at the University of California at Berkeley, Nibley became Klaus Baer's first student in Egyptian and learned Coptic at the same time. It was during the summer of 1964 that Nibley studied under both Baer and Wilson at the University of Chicago. When the papyri appeared, it had been forty years since Nibley's first introduction to Egyptian. If there was anything Nibley was relatively new at in 1968, it was Coptic, but he had even published in scholarly journals on texts in that language as well.{{ | + | ::In reality, Dr. Nibley's first study of Egyptian was in 1927; he used it in his Ph.D. dissertation and in articles published in 1945, 1948, 1949, 1956, to mention but a few examples. In 1959, while on sabbatical leave at the University of California at Berkeley, Nibley became Klaus Baer's first student in Egyptian and learned Coptic at the same time. It was during the summer of 1964 that Nibley studied under both Baer and Wilson at the University of Chicago. When the papyri appeared, it had been forty years since Nibley's first introduction to Egyptian. If there was anything Nibley was relatively new at in 1968, it was Coptic, but he had even published in scholarly journals on texts in that language as well. <ref>{{FR-4-1-15}}</ref> |
|authorsources= | |authorsources= | ||
*''Daily Universe'', Brigham Young University, December 1, 1967 | *''Daily Universe'', Brigham Young University, December 1, 1967 | ||
Line 52: | Line 52: | ||
|response= | |response= | ||
* The authors are too quick to judge: | * The authors are too quick to judge: | ||
− | ::There are also a number of other ancient Egyptian texts that contain references to Abraham, including a recently discovered Egyptian lion couch scene like that of Facsimile Number 1 of the book of Abraham that explicitly mentions the name of Abraham. Anti-Mormon critics have been quick to point out the absurdity of associating Abraham with this pagan Egyptian scene, and yet now we have clear proof that this association is an ancient one. Again, these things have only been recently discovered, and Joseph Smith could not have known about them nor had access to them.{{ | + | ::There are also a number of other ancient Egyptian texts that contain references to Abraham, including a recently discovered Egyptian lion couch scene like that of Facsimile Number 1 of the book of Abraham that explicitly mentions the name of Abraham. Anti-Mormon critics have been quick to point out the absurdity of associating Abraham with this pagan Egyptian scene, and yet now we have clear proof that this association is an ancient one. Again, these things have only been recently discovered, and Joseph Smith could not have known about them nor had access to them. <ref>{{FR-4-1-16}}; citing {{Ensign1|author=John Gee|article=Abraham in Ancient Egyptian Texts|vol=22|date=July 1992|start=60-62}} {{link|url=https://www.lds.org/ensign/1992/07/research-and-perspectives-abraham-in-ancient-egyptian-texts?lang=eng}}</ref> |
* [[Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Facsimiles/Missing portions|Book of Abraham papyri (Long article) — Restoring gaps in the drawings]] | * [[Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Facsimiles/Missing portions|Book of Abraham papyri (Long article) — Restoring gaps in the drawings]] | ||
Line 114: | Line 114: | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | =={{Endnotes label}} | + | == == |
− | + | {{Endnotes label}} | |
− | + | ||
− | + | <references/> | |
+ | |||
{{Articles Footer 1}} {{Articles Footer 2}} {{Articles Footer 3}} {{Articles Footer 4}} {{Articles Footer 5}} {{Articles Footer 6}} {{Articles Footer 7}} {{Articles Footer 8}} {{Articles Footer 9}} {{Articles Footer 10}} | {{Articles Footer 1}} {{Articles Footer 2}} {{Articles Footer 3}} {{Articles Footer 4}} {{Articles Footer 5}} {{Articles Footer 6}} {{Articles Footer 7}} {{Articles Footer 8}} {{Articles Footer 9}} {{Articles Footer 10}} | ||
[[fr:Specific works/The Changing World of Mormonism/Index/Chapter 11]] | [[fr:Specific works/The Changing World of Mormonism/Index/Chapter 11]] |
Chapter 10 | A FAIR Analysis of: The Changing World of Mormonism A work by author: Jerald and Sandra Tanner
|
Chapter 12 |
One of the major problems with all anti-Mormon efforts to disprove the divine origin of the book of Abraham is that they never look at the book of Abraham itself. They concentrate on showing that Joseph Smith's method of translation (as they envision it) could not possibly have worked, and yet they completely ignore the evidence of the text itself.
–Michael Rhodes [1]
Notes
FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We are a volunteer organization. We invite you to give back.
Donate Now