Perspectives:Muhlestein:The Book of Abraham and Unnoticed Assumptions

How did Joseph Smith translate the Book of Abraham?

How did Joseph Smith translate the Book of Abraham?

Kerry Muhlestein,

So the question is how does he translate the Book of Abraham? Is it one of these methods, is it a combination of all of them or is it something completely different? In the end, we don’t know. We know that he receives the papyri and that he starts translating. He certainly at times refers to the papyri, which suggests one of two things, one, that at least some of the text is on the papyri in a different language, presumably Egyptian, that some of the text, at least some of it is on there and that he is translating from that papyrus to another. It’s also quite possible that the papyri serves as a catalyst just like the English text of the Joseph Smith Translation serves, that as he looks at the papyri, revelation just starts to come to him for what we need as the Book of Abraham.