Criticism
Critics claim that
- Jews or Israelites (like the Nephites) would not have used the language of their slave period — Egyptian — to write sacred records.
- there is no evidence in Egyptology of something called "Reformed Egyptian," and that the Book of Mormon's claim to have been written in this language is therefore suspect.
Source(s) of the Criticism
- John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Mormonism (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1992), 294-5.
- Francis J. Beckwith, Carl Mosser, et al., The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement (Grand Rapids, Mich. : Zondervan, 2002). ISBN 0310231949.
- Marvin W. Cowan, Mormon Claims Answered, (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1997), chapter 4.
- Latayne Colvett Scott, The Mormon Mirage : a former Mormon tells why she left the church (Grand Rapids : Zondervan Pub. House, 1979),63-4.
- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), 141-5.
- Kurt Van Gorden, Mormonism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 8, footnote 7.
Response
Would an Israelite use Egyptian?
The claim that Israelites would not use Egyptian is clearly false. By the ninth to sixth centuries before Christ, Israelites used Egyptian numerals mingled with Hebrew text. The Papyrus Amherst 63 contains a text of Psalms 20:2-6 written in Aramaic (the language of Jesus) using Egyptian characters. This text was originally dated to the second century B.C., but this has since been extended to the 4th century B.C.[1]
- More significant, however, was an ostracon uncovered at Arad in 1967. Dating "toward the end of the seventh century B.C.," it reflects usage from shortly before 600 B.C., the time of Lehi. The text on the ostracon is written in a combination of Egyptian hieratic and Hebrew characters, but can be read entirely as Egyptian. Of the seventeen words in the text, ten are written in [Egyptian] hieratic and seven in Hebrew. However, all the words written in Hebrew can be read as Egyptian words, while one of them, which occurs twice, has the same meaning in both Egyptian and Hebrew.19 Of the ten words written in hieratic script, four are numerals (one occurring in each line).20 One symbol, denoting a measure of capacity, occurs four times (once in each of the four lines), and the remaining Egyptian word occurs twice. Thus, while seventeen words appear on the ostracon, if one discounts the recurrence of words, only six words are written in hieratic (of which four are numerals), and six in Hebrew.[2]
What is "Reformed Egyptian"?
Moroni makes it clear that "reformed Egyptian" is the name which the Nephites have given to a script based upon Egyptian characters, and modified over the course of a thousand years (See Mormon 9:32). So, it is no surprise that Egyptians or Jews have no script called "reformed Egyptian," as this was a Nephite term.
There are, however, several varient Egyptian scrips which are "reformed" or altered from their earlier form. Hugh Nibley and others have pointed out that the change from Egyptian hieroglphics, to hieratic, to demotic is a good description of Egyptian being "reformed." By 600 BC, hieratic was used primarily for religious texts, while demotic was used for daily use.off-site
[[Image:180px-Egyptian_hieroglyphs_Black_Schist_sarcophagus_Ankhnesneferibre.jpg|frame|left|Hieroglyphics: Hieroglyphs from the Black Schist sarcophagus of Ankhnesneferibre. Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, about 530 BC, Thebes.off-site]
[[Image:180px-Prisse_papyrus.jpg|frame|left|Hieratic: A section of the Prisse papyrus from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, containing the Precepts of Kakemna and the Precepts of Ptahhotep in hieratic. Enlarge Source: Plate IV. The S.S. Teacher's Edition: The Holy Bible, (New York: Henry Frowde, Publisher to the University of Oxford, 1896).off-site]
Demotic: Inscription from the Rosetta Stone in demotic.
off-site
One can see how hieroglphics developed into the more stylized hieratic, and this process continued with the demotic:
Development of hieratic script from hieroglyphs; after Jean-François Champollion.
off-site
What could be a better term for this than an Egyptian script that has been "reformed"?
Conclusion
There was a clear evolution of Egyptian script in the Old World, and these modified scrips were in use in Lehi's day. People of Lehi's time and place did use both Hebrew and Egyptian, just as Nephi claimed (See 1 Nephi 1:2).
Given that Moroni says the Nephites then modified the scripts further, "reformed Egyptian" is an elegant description of both the Old World phenomenon, and what Moroni says happened among the Nephites.
Endnotes
- [note] John Gee and John A. Tvedtnes, "Ancient Manuscripts Fit Book of Mormon Pattern," Insights 19:2 (February 1999): 4–5.*
- [note] John A. Tvedtnes and Stephen D. Ricks, "Jewish and Other Semitic Texts Written in Egyptian Characters," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5:2 (1996): 156.*
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
Reformed Egyptian and the Book of Mormon
FAIR web site
External links
- Ariel Crowley, "The Anthon Transcript," Improvement Era, 45:1 (January 1942) and 45:2 (February 1942), 45:3 (March 1942). *
- John Gee and John A. Tvedtnes, "Ancient Manuscripts Fit Book of Mormon Pattern," Insights 19:2 (February 1999): 4–5.off-site
- John L. Sorenson, "Digging into the Book of Mormon: Our Changing Understanding of Ancient America and Its Scripture, Part 2," Ensign (October 1984): 17.off-site
- Stephen D. Ricks and John A. Tvedtnes, "Jewish and Other Semitic Texts Written in Egyptian Characters," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5/2 (1996). [156–163] link
- John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper, "One Small Step (Review of: The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement)," FARMS Review 15/1 (2003): 147–199. off-site
Printed material
- William J. Hamblin, "Reformed Egyptian" (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1995).
- Carl H. Jones, "The 'Anthon Transcript' and Two Mesoamerican Cylinder Seals," Newsletter and Proceedings of the Society for Early Historical Archaeology 122 (September 1970): 1–8.
- Hugh W. Nibley, Since Cumorah, 2d edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co., 1988), 149–150.