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.
Difference between revisions of "Purpose of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers"
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A key assertion claimed by critics is that these documents were produced ''prior'' to the Book of Abraham manuscript, and that they therefore constitute a "smoking gun" that proves that Joseph was making up translations for Egyptian characters taken from the existing fragments of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Critics often refer to these papers as the "translation documents" for the Book of Abraham, and believe that they were used specifically to produce the first three verses in Abraham, Chapter 1. | A key assertion claimed by critics is that these documents were produced ''prior'' to the Book of Abraham manuscript, and that they therefore constitute a "smoking gun" that proves that Joseph was making up translations for Egyptian characters taken from the existing fragments of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Critics often refer to these papers as the "translation documents" for the Book of Abraham, and believe that they were used specifically to produce the first three verses in Abraham, Chapter 1. | ||
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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. For the initial presentation of this theory, see William Schryver, [http://vimeo.com/user439270/videos/sort:oldest The Meaning and Purpose of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers], August 2010 FAIR Conference. A number of the following paragraphs make use of conclusions made in this presentation. | 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. For the initial presentation of this theory, see William Schryver, [http://vimeo.com/user439270/videos/sort:oldest The Meaning and Purpose of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers], August 2010 FAIR Conference. A number of the following paragraphs make use of conclusions made in this presentation. | ||
Revision as of 21:02, 14 January 2011
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Contents
- 1 Purpose of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers
- 1.1 Questions
- 1.2 Detailed Analysis
- 1.3
- 1.3.1 Were the KEP produced prior to the Book of Abraham?
- 1.3.2 The earliest document in the KEP (pre-dating the recovery of the papryi) assigns meanings to non-Egyptian characters, and a later document assigns new meanings to these same characters
- 1.3.3 Some source material used in the KEP is taken from sections of the D&C
Purpose of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers
==Questions
==
A key assertion claimed by critics is that these documents were produced prior to the Book of Abraham manuscript, and that they therefore constitute a "smoking gun" that proves that Joseph was making up translations for Egyptian characters taken from the existing fragments of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Critics often refer to these papers as the "translation documents" for the Book of Abraham, and believe that they were used specifically to produce the first three verses in Abraham, Chapter 1.
==Detailed Analysis
== 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. For the initial presentation of this theory, see William Schryver, The Meaning and Purpose of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, August 2010 FAIR Conference. A number of the following paragraphs make use of conclusions made in this presentation.
Were the KEP produced prior to the Book of Abraham?
The placement of a translation of the Book of Abraham prior to the production of the KEP renders Ashment's chronology, and the entire discussion regarding which document came before which other documents, irrelevant. The production of the KEP after the Book of Abraham indicates that the KEP does not represent "translation documents" documenting a physical process by which translation was attempted.
It should be noted that this does not change the relationship of the Book of Abraham to the Joseph Smith Papyri. It does not address the issue of whether or not the text of the Book of Abraham was actually present on the Scroll of Hor (the "long scroll" theory), or whether the scroll was simply a catalyst for revelation (the "short scroll" theory).
The earliest document in the KEP (pre-dating the recovery of the papryi) assigns meanings to non-Egyptian characters, and a later document assigns new meanings to these same characters
The earliest datable document in the collection is a letter from W. W. Phelps to his wife describing a selection of the "pure language". It is dated to May of 1835. The document contains a sequence of six characters, three of which may belong to a Masonic cipher. Each character is also given a name, a pronunciation and an explanation. However, what is significant is that all six of these characters appear in an identical order in other KEP documents, except they are given different names, sounds and explanations. None of these six characters come from the Papyri.
Some source material used in the KEP is taken from sections of the D&C
In the KEP, when a character in the Grammar is given multiple degrees, it does so usually by taking the source text and break it up into consecutive pieces. So, the first line might be the first degree, the second line the second degree, and so on. There is evidence that some of the source material in these explanations comes from sections of the D&C rather than the Book of Abraham.