Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 11

Chapter 10

A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: Jerald and Sandra Tanner

Chapter 12

Claims made in Chapter 11: Fall of the Book of Abraham

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
329-330	Joseph claimed that the papyrus was written by Abraham himself.|| Book of Abraham papyri (Long article)
330-331	Hugh Nibley said that the papyri does not prove the Book of Abraham to be true and the LDS scholars were unprepared.	Nibley was not of the opinion that scripture could be provided save by the Holy Ghost. 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).	Daily Universe, Brigham Young University, December 1, 1967 BYU Studies, Winter 1968, pp.171-72 (Vol. 8, No. 2, [http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php? CISOROOT=/byustudies&CISOPTR=2412&REC=8 Prolegomena to Any Study of The Book of Abraham"])
335	Since the translation of the papyri was turned over to Hugh Nibley, this proves that the prophet does not have the ability to translate ancient records.	The Book of Abraham has already been given to us. Why would it need to be "retranslated"? Prophets only translate when no one else is able to do the job (2 Nephi 27꞉15-20). Nibley insisted that the papyri in the Church's possession were not the Book of Abraham.
336	Facsimile 1 does not show Abraham fastened to an altar being sacrificed, but instead shows Hor being prepared for burial.	[[Book of Abraham/Papyri/Long article#Restoring gaps in the drawings|Book of Abraham papyri (Long article) — Restoring gaps in the drawings]]
337	LDS leaders were unable to detect the Hofmann forgeries. If they were really led be revelation, they should have been able to figure out that the documents were fake.||  Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints Mark Hofmann	[ATTENTION!]
339	"Mormon elder" Dee Jay Nelson, who claimed to be an Egyptologist, translated the papyri but was unable to find any mention of Abraham. Even though Nelson was later exposed to be a fraud, "This is not to say that his work has no merit."	Absurd claim: the work was a fraud, and Nelson had no qualifications, but since it attacks the Church, Tanners aren't willing to dispense with it!	[ATTENTION!]
342	Joseph Smith's "Egyptian Alphabet and Grammer" contain text that matches a portion of one of the papyri. Joseph Smith translated a "large number of English words" from each Egyptian character.|| Book of Abraham papyri (Long article) —The Kirtland Egyptian Papers	[ATTENTION!]
343	Joseph used four lines from the papyrus to generate 49 verses in the Book of Abraham.	Book of Abraham papyri (Long article) —The Kirtland Egyptian Papers	[ATTENTION!]
351	The papyri have been dated to a much later time than Abraham, therefore they could not have been written by Abraham's "own hand on papyrus."|| Book of Abraham papyri (Long article) —The date of the Book of Abraham vs. the date of the papyrus	[ATTENTION!]
358-361	In Facsimile #1, the penciled-in restoration is incorrect.	Book of Abraham papyri (Long article) — Restoring gaps in the drawings	[ATTENTION!]