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78-621: The Kirtland Egyptian papers (KEP) are a collection of documents related to the Book of Abraham created in Kirtland between July and November 1835, and in Nauvoo between March through May 1842. Because some documents were created in Nauvoo, the collection is sometimes referred to as the Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts and Joseph Smith Egyptian Papers . The papers include an "Egyptian alphabet" written in

156-631: A Coptic scholar from the University of Utah , was looking through the MMA's collection when he came across the Heusser fragments; upon examining them, he recognized one as the vignette known as Facsmile   1 from The Pearl of Great Price. He informed LDS Church leaders, and several months later, on November   27, 1967, the LDS Church was able to procure the fragments, and according to Henry G. Fischer, curator of

234-677: A presentation on the early conversion to Christianity in Egypt at the Coptic Church Centre in London. Gee is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which believes Joseph Smith divinely translated the Book of Abraham from Egyptian papyrus in the 19th century. Because of his expertise in Near Eastern studies and Egyptology, Gee is highly visible in the debate over

312-684: A series of dictionary entries." The LDS Church has been accused of suppressing the Kirtland Egyptian Papers because they were considered potentially damaging to the credibility of Joseph Smith, Jr. as a prophet. The Papers have been in the Church Historian and Recorder 's vault in Salt Lake City since 1855, and there are indications that the Church Historians have been aware of the documents' whereabouts since 1908. Their existence

390-491: A short history of an Egyptian princess named "Katumin" . He wrote: [W]ith W. W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the [scrolls] contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc. – a more full account of which will appear in its place, as I proceed to examine or unfold them. Smith, Joseph Coe , and Simeon Andrews soon purchased

468-506: Is a farrago of nonsense from beginning to end. Egyptian characters can now be read almost as easily as Greek, and five minutes' study in an Egyptian gallery of any museum should be enough to convince any educated man of the clumsiness of the imposture. The controversy intensified in the late 1960s when portions of the Joseph Smith Papyri were located. The translation of the papyri by both Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists does not match

546-509: Is nothing more than the hieratic version of [...] a 'w' in Egyptian. It has no phonetic or semantic relationship to [Smith's] 'Ah-broam. ' " University of Chicago Egyptologist Robert K. Ritner concluded in 2014 that the source of the Book of Abraham "is the 'Breathing Permit of Hôr,' misunderstood and mistranslated by Joseph Smith", and that the other papyri are common Egyptian funerary documents like

624-485: The Book of Abraham is a literal translation of the Joseph Smith Papyri . Some apologists of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) have postulated that many of the papers may have been produced by Smith's scribes without his involvement, and that they may have been intended as a speculative or naturalistic effort rather than a product of revelation. The Kirtland Egyptian papers are housed in

702-495: The Church History Library of the LDS Church. They comprise over a dozen other documents produced ca. 1835 and 1842 in Kirtland, Ohio , and Nauvoo, Illinois . All dates for production are estimates. Due to controversy about the order of production, there is no generally accepted manuscript numbering scheme. The manuscript numbers (MS #) reported below refer to the folder numbers under which the manuscripts are catalogued in

780-576: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in the LDS Church archives. They are now referred to as the Joseph Smith Papyri . Upon examination by professional Egyptologists (both Mormon and otherwise), these fragments were identified as Egyptian funerary texts , including the " Breathing Permit of Hôr " and the " Book of the Dead ", among others. Although some Mormon apologists defend the authenticity of

858-534: The cosmos and its creation . The Latter-day Saints believe the work is divinely inspired scripture, published as part of the Pearl of Great Price since 1880. It thus forms a doctrinal foundation for the LDS Church and Mormon fundamentalist denominations, though other groups, such as the Community of Christ , do not consider it a sacred text . The book contains several doctrines that are particular to Mormonism , such as

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936-479: The "Valuable Discovery" notebook was written in Oliver Cowdery's hand, signed by Joseph Smith, with a translation of some of the characters, it is postulated that it is the same notebook. Most of the copied Egyptian characters in either notebook were untranslated by Smith or his associates. Some of the characters are translated to read "Katumin, Princess, daughter of On-i-tas King of Egypt, who began to reign in

1014-522: The "catalyst theory", though the relative popularity of these theories among Latter-day Saints is unclear. The "missing scroll theory" holds that Smith may have translated the Book of Abraham from a now-lost portion of papyri, with the text of Breathing Permit of Hôr having nothing to do with Smith's translation. John Gee , an Egyptologist and Latter-day Saint, and the apologetic organization FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response; formerly FairMormon) favor this view. Other Latter-day Saints hold to

1092-525: The "catalyst theory," which hypothesizes that Smith's "study of the papyri may have led to a revelation about key events and teachings in the life of Abraham", allowing him to "translate" the Book of Abraham from the Breathing Permit of Hôr papyrus by inspiration without actually relying on the papyrus' textual meaning. This theory draws theological basis from Smith's "New Translation" of the Bible , wherein in

1170-507: The "first estate". Once certain spirits (i.e., those who choose to follow the plan of salvation offered by God the Father of their own accord) take on a mortal form, they enter into what is called the "second estate". The doctrine of the second estate is explicitly named only in this book. The purpose of earthly life, therefore, is for humans to prepare for a meeting with God; the Church, citing Abraham 3:26 , notes: "All who accept and obey

1248-445: The 'Pearl of Great Price.' The 'Book of Abraham,' it is hardly necessary to say, is a pure fabrication. Cuts 1 and 3 are inaccurate copies of well known scenes on funeral papyri, and cut 2 is a copy of one of the magical discs which in the late Egyptian period were placed under the heads of mummies. There were about forty of these latter known in museums and they are all very similar in character. Joseph Smith's interpretation of these cuts

1326-469: The Book of Abraham as a guide, abridging and condensing where he saw fit. As such, since Moses was recalling Abraham's lifetime, his version was in the third person , whereas the Book of Abraham, being written by its eponymous author, was composed in the first person . The Book of Abraham was incomplete when Joseph Smith died in 1844. It is unknown how long the text would be, but Oliver Cowdery gave an indication in 1835 that it could be quite large: When

1404-643: The Book of Abraham has been a source of controversy. Egyptologists, beginning in the late 19th century, have disagreed with Joseph Smith's explanations of the facsimiles. They have also asserted that damaged portions of the papyri have been reconstructed incorrectly. In 1912, the book 'Joseph Smith, Jr., As a Translator' was published, containing refutations to Smith's translations. Refuters included Archibald Sayce , Flinders Petrie , James Henry Breasted , Arthur Cruttenden Mace (refutation below), John Punnett Peters , C. Mercer, Eduard Meyer , and Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing . I return herewith, under separate cover,

1482-440: The Book of Abraham is "confirmed as a perhaps well-meaning, but erroneous invention by Joseph Smith", and "despite its inauthenticity as a genuine historical narrative, the Book of Abraham remains a valuable witness to early American religious history and to the recourse to ancient texts as sources of modern religious faith and speculation". As noted above, a second untranslated work was identified by Joseph Smith after scrutinizing

1560-430: The Book of Abraham, no scholars regard it as an ancient text. Eleven mummies and several papyri were discovered near the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes by Antonio Lebolo between 1818 and 1822. Following Lebolo's death in 1830, the mummies and assorted objects were sent to New York with instructions that they should be sold in order to benefit the heirs of Lebolo. Michael H. Chandler eventually came into possession of

1638-547: The Book of Abraham." In 1970, Richard P. Howard proposed the opposite view: that the Alphabet and Grammar was the modus operandi of the Book of Abraham's translation. Edward H. Ashment has also adopted this view, arguing against Nibley that the scribes of the KEP were all loyal to and in good standing with Joseph Smith at the time the manuscripts were produced. More recently, Christopher C. Smith has argued at some length that Joseph Smith

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1716-492: The Book of Joseph to which Smith had referred. Egyptologist John A. Wilson stated that the recovered fragments indicated the existence of at least six to eight separate documents. The twelfth fragment was discovered in the LDS Church Historian's office and was dubbed the "Church Historian's Fragment". Disclosed by the church in 1968, the fragment was designated JSP   IX. Although there is some debate about how much of

1794-479: The Book of the Dead. Original manuscripts of the Book of Abraham, microfilmed in 1966 by Jerald Tanner, show portions of the Joseph Smith Papyri and their purported translations into the Book of Abraham. Ritner concludes, contrary to the LDS position, due to the microfilms being published prior to the rediscovery of the Joseph Smith Papyri, that "it is not true that 'no eyewitness account of the translation survives ' ", that

1872-539: The Church archives. These folder numbers were assigned by Hugh Nibley ca. 1971. The order given below mirrors the authoritative Joseph Smith Papers project. When Michael Chandler arrived in Kirtland in 1835 with the Egyptian Papyri, he allowed Oliver Cowdery to copy "four or five different sentences" from the papyri. A translation of the lines by Joseph Smith were given to Michael Chandler to his satisfaction. Given that

1950-481: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from a traveling mummy exhibition on July 3, 1835. According to Smith, the book was "a translation of some ancient records... purporting to be the writings of Abraham , while he was in Egypt , called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus ". The Book of Abraham is about Abraham's early life, his travels to Canaan and Egypt, and his vision of

2028-679: The Egyptian Collection at the MMA, an anonymous donation to the MMA made it possible for the LDS Church to acquire the papyri. The subsequent transfer included ten pieces of papyri, including the original of Facsimile   1. The eleventh fragment had been given to Brigham Young (then church president) previously by Chief Banquejappa of the Pottawatomie tribe in 1846. Three of these fragments were designated Joseph Smith Papyrus (JSP) I, X, and XI . Other fragments, designated JSP   II, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII, are thought by critics to be

2106-541: The Egyptian language. Much like a dictionary, there are columns with the character, pronunciation and the definition of the character. The documents are incomplete, with many of the characters lacking definitions. Some of the characters do not come from the Papyri, but from what Joseph Smith told William W. Phelps were Adamic language characters. Egyptologist I. E. S. Edwards stated that the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar

2184-534: The English Book of Abraham text". The Community of Christ , formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, does not include the Book of Abraham in its scriptural canon, although it was referenced in early church publications. The Strangite branch of the movement does not take an official position on the Book of Abraham. The branch notes, "We know that 'The Book of Abraham'

2262-521: The Joseph Smith Papers project, Brian Hauglid , is also critical of Gee's interpretations of the Joseph Smith Papyri. In 2018, Hauglid wrote, "I no longer agree with Gee or Mulhestein. I find their apologetic "scholarship" on the BoA abhorrent." Gee's 2020 book Saving Faith: How Families Protect, Sustain, and Encourage Faith caused immediate controversy with its suggestion that sexual abuse might be

2340-786: The Society's committees and board of trustees. He was also on the board of directors for the Aziz S. Atiya Fund for Coptic Studies at the University of Utah . He has participated in the International Association for Coptic Studies, the Society of Biblical Literature , the American Research Center in Egypt, and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies . Gee has written an overview of Coptic literature. In May 2008 Gee gave

2418-578: The ancients." In so doing, Smith worked closely with Cowdery and Phelps. The result of this effort was a collection of documents and manuscripts now known as the Kirtland Egyptian papers . One of these manuscripts was a bound book titled simply "Grammar & A[l]phabet of the Egyptian Language", which contained Smith's interpretations of the Egyptian glyphs. The first part of the book focuses almost entirely on deciphering Egyptian characters, and

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2496-571: The authenticity of the Book of Abraham. His interest in these issues led to his involvement with the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) at BYU since the late 1980s. He has also presented on the Joseph Smith Papyri to the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR). In 2010 Gee made a presentation with Louis C. Midgley at the BYU Mormon Media Studies Symposium reporting on their study into

2574-517: The conflagration. After the fire, however, it was believed that all the sources for the book had been lost. Despite this belief, Abel Combs still owned several papyri fragments and two mummies. While the fate of the mummies is unknown, the fragments were passed to Combs' nurse Charlotte Benecke Weaver, who gave them to her daughter, Alice Heusser. In 1918 Heusser approached the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) about purchasing

2652-495: The cosmos, the exaltation of humanity, a pre-mortal existence , the first and second estates, and the plurality of gods . The Book of Abraham expands upon the nature of the priesthood in the Latter Day Saint movement, and it is suggested in the work that those who are foreordained to the priesthood earned this right by valor or nobility in the pre-mortal life. In a similar vein, the book explicitly denotes that Pharaoh

2730-444: The course of rereading the first few chapters of Genesis, he dictated as a revelatory translation the much longer Book of Moses . FAIR has claimed the church "favors the missing scroll theory". However, in 2019, the Joseph Smith Papers ' documentary research on the Book of Abraham and Egyptian papyri makes it "clear that Joseph Smith and/or his clerks associated the characters from the [surviving Breathing Permit of Hôr] papyri with

2808-522: The creation of the Book of Abraham, including high resolution images of all the Egyptian Papyri, KEPs, and Nauvoo papers. Book of Abraham The Book of Abraham is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement , first published in 1842 by Joseph Smith . Smith said the book was a translation from several Egyptian scrolls discovered in the early 19th century during an archeological expedition by Antonio Lebolo , and purchased by members of

2886-491: The creation of the world. The book has five chapters: Nearly half of the Book of Abraham shows a dependence on the King James Version of the Book of Genesis . According to H. Michael Marquardt , "It seems clear that Smith had the Bible open to Genesis as he dictated this section [i.e., Chapter   2] of the 'Book of Abraham. ' " Smith explained the similarities by reasoning that when Moses penned Genesis, he used

2964-515: The early 1900s, it became the foundation of church policy in regards to the priesthood ban. The 2002 Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual points to Abraham 1:21–27 as the reasoning behind not giving black people the priesthood until 1978 . Chapter 3 of the Book of Abraham describes a unique (and purportedly Egyptian) understanding of the hierarchy of heavenly bodies, each with different movements and measurements of time. In regard to this chapter, Randal S. Chase notes, "With divine help, Abraham

3042-494: The effect of the tendency of Evangelical Christians to attack the right of other groups to call themselves Christians and how this affected Mitt Romney 's presidential campaign. One of Gee's former Yale professors, Robert K. Ritner , later publicly criticized some of Gee's interpretations of the Joseph Smith Papyri as well as his failure to share drafts of his work with Ritner, as his other students have. One of Gee's former co-authors, fellow professors at BYU, and editor of

3120-513: The four mummies and at least five papyrus documents for $ 2,400 (equivalent to $ 71,000 in 2023). During Smith's lifetime, the recent decoding of Ancient Egyptian writing systems with the Rosetta Stone was not widely known in the Americas. Between July and November 1835 Smith began "translating an alphabet to the Book of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of the Egyptian language as practiced by

3198-577: The gospel of Jesus Christ" and that all will be revealed "according to that which was ordained in the midst of the councyl [ sic ] of the eternal God of all other Gods before this world was." Three images ( facsimiles of vignettes on the papyri) and Joseph Smith's explanations of them were printed in the 1842 issues of the Times and Seasons . These three illustrations were prepared by Smith and an engraver named Reuben Hedlock. The facsimiles and their respective explanations were later included with

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3276-509: The gospel." Jerald and Sandra Tanner , critics of the Church, obtained an unauthorized copy of a microfilm strip containing images of the documents in 1966, and published them as Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet & Grammar . This publication was criticized in a BYU Studies article by Hugh Nibley in 1971 because it did not contain all of the manuscripts, and included no critical apparatus to aid readers in distinguishing one manuscript from another. Nibley's article included images of ten of

3354-599: The governing star in all the universe." Time moves slowly on the celestial body; one Kolob-day corresponds to 1,000 earth-years. The Church also notes: "Kolob is also symbolic of Jesus Christ, the central figure in God's plan of salvation." The Book of Abraham also explores pre-mortal existence. The LDS Church website explains: "Life did not begin at birth, as is commonly believed. Prior to coming to earth, individuals existed as spirits." These spirits are eternal and of different intelligences. Prior to mortal existence, spirits exist in

3432-607: The grand key-words of the holy priesthood. Facsimile No.   3 portrays Abraham in the court of Pharaoh "reasoning upon the principles of Astronomy". The Book of Abraham was canonized in 1880 by the LDS Church, and it remains a part of the larger scriptural work, the Pearl of Great Price. For Latter-day Saints, the book links Old and New Testament covenants into a universal narrative of Christian salvation, expands on premortal existence, depicts ex materia cosmology, and informed Smith's developing understanding of temple theology, making

3510-436: The hand of Joseph Smith , other Egyptian language related materials and early manuscript versions of the Book of Abraham in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery , W. W. Phelps , Warren Parish , Willard Richards , and Frederick G. Williams . The papers have been a source of controversy, because the translations and interpretations within are not considered accurate by Egyptologists , and have thus stoked questions of whether

3588-405: The idea that God organized eternal elements to create the universe (instead of creating it ex nihilo ), the potential exaltation of humanity, a pre-mortal existence , the first and second estates, and the plurality of gods . The Book of Abraham papyri were thought to have been lost in the 1871 Great Chicago Fire . However, in 1966 several fragments of the papyri were found in the archives of

3666-404: The items; at the time, the museum curators were not interested, but in 1947 they changed their mind, and the museum bought the papyri from Heusser's widower husband, Edward. In the 1960s the MMA decided to raise money by selling some of its items which were considered "less unique". Among these were the papyri that Heusser had sold to the museum several decades earlier. In May 1966, Aziz S. Atiya ,

3744-478: The left-hand side of the book. Next, a postulation as to what the symbols sounded like was devised. Finally, an English interpretation of the symbol was provided. Smith's subsequent translation of the papyri takes on the form of five "degrees" of interpretation, each degree representing a deeper and more complex level of interpretation. In translating the book, Smith dictated, and Phelps, Warren Parrish , and Frederick G. Williams acted as scribes. The complete work

3822-498: The manuscript pages. The Tanner publication was revised and updated by H. Michael Marquardt in 1981. Marquardt added a critical apparatus and some interpretive material. A new critical edition of the Book of Abraham manuscripts by Brian M. Hauglid appeared in 2011, with a second volume planned to publish the remainder of the KEP. On October 29, 2018, the Joseph Smith Papers project released all existing documents relating to

3900-477: The mummies and artifacts and began displaying them, starting in Philadelphia . Over the next two years Chandler toured the eastern United States, displaying and selling some of the mummies as he traveled. In late June or early July 1835, Chandler exhibited his collection in Kirtland, Ohio . A promotional flyer created by Chandler states that the mummies "may have lived in the days of Jacob, Moses, or David". At

3978-662: The mummies, along with some papyri, to the St. Louis Museum in 1856. Upon the closing of the St.   Louis Museum, these artifacts were purchased by Joseph H. Wood and found their way to the Chicago Museum in about 1863, and were promptly put on display. The museum and all its contents were burned in 1871 during the Great Chicago Fire . Today it is presumed that the papyri that formed the basis for Facsimiles   2 and   3 were lost in

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4056-880: The original papyri. He said that one scroll contained "the writings of Joseph of Egypt". Based on descriptions by Oliver Cowdery, some, including Charles M. Larson, believe that the fragments Joseph Smith Papyri II, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII are the source of this work. John Gee Gee graduated from BYU in 1988. Later, he became a graduate student in Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and received his M.A. in Near Eastern Studies in 1991. He earned his Ph.D. in Egyptology at Yale University in 1998, completing his dissertation on ancient Egyptian ritual purity , entitled: The requirements of ritual purity in ancient Egypt . Gee

4134-443: The papyrus collection is missing, there is broad agreement that the recovered papyri are portions of Smith's original purchase, partly based on the fact that they were pasted onto paper which had "drawings of a temple and maps of the Kirtland, Ohio area" on the back, as well as the fact that they were accompanied by an affidavit by Emma Smith stating that they had been in the possession of Joseph Smith. Since its publication in 1842,

4212-481: The possession of his mother, Lucy Mack Smith , and she and her son William Smith continued to exhibit the four mummies and associated papyri to visitors. Two weeks after Lucy's death in May 1856, Smith's widow, Emma Hale Smith Bidamon, her second husband Lewis C. Bidamon , and her son Joseph Smith III , sold "four Egyptian mummies with the records with them" to Abel Combs on May   26, 1856. Combs later sold two of

4290-470: The priesthood from black individuals. An 1868 Juvenile Instructor article points to the Pearl of Great Price as the "source of racial attitudes in church doctrine", and in 1900, First Presidency member George Q. Cannon began using the story of Pharaoh as a scriptural basis for the ban. In 1912, the First Presidency responded to an inquiry about the priesthood ban by using the story of Pharaoh. By

4368-422: The records are those of Abraham and Joseph...and a larger volume than the Bible will be required to contain them." The Book of Abraham text is a source of some distinct Latter Day Saint doctrines, which Mormon author Randal S. Chase calls "truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ that were previously unknown to Church members of Joseph Smith's day." Examples include the nature of the priesthood , an understanding of

4446-415: The roll of embalming salve which contained them, and some parts entirely lost but Smith is to translate the whole by divine inspiration, and that which was lost, like Nebuchadnezzar's dream can be interpreted as well as that which is preserved[.] The Book of Abraham's narrative tells of Abraham's life, travels to Canaan and Egypt, and a vision he received concerning the universe, a pre-mortal existence , and

4524-520: The saving principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ will receive eternal life, the greatest gift of God, and will have 'glory added upon their heads for ever and ever'." Also notable is the Book of Abraham's description of a plurality of gods, and that "the gods" created the Earth, not ex nihilo , but rather from pre-existing, eternal matter. This shift away from monotheism and towards henotheism occurred c.  1838–39 , when Smith

4602-524: The scripture "critical to understanding the totality of his gospel conception". Church leadership traditionally described the Book of Abraham straightforwardly as "translated by the Prophet [Joseph Smith] from a papyrus record taken from the catacombs of Egypt", and "Some have assumed that hieroglyphs adjacent to and surrounding facsimile 1 must be a source for the text of the book of Abraham". However, modern Egyptological translations of papyrus fragments reveal

4680-402: The second part deals with a form of astronomy that was supposedly practiced by the ancient Egyptians. Most of the writing in the book was written not by Smith but rather by a scribe taking down what Smith said. The "Egyptian Alphabet" manuscript is particularly important because it illustrates how Smith attempted to translate the papyri. First, the characters on the papyri were transcribed onto

4758-460: The stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God;   [...] and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest. Based on this verse, the LDS Church claims that "Kolob is the star nearest to the presence of God [and]

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4836-430: The surviving Egyptian text matches the Breathing Permit of Hôr, an Egyptian funerary text, and does not mention Abraham. The church acknowledges this, and its members have adopted a range of interpretations of the Book of Abraham to accommodate the seeming disconnect between the surviving papyrus and Smith's Book of Abraham revelation. The two most common interpretations are sometimes called the "missing scroll theory" and

4914-406: The text of the Book of Abraham as purportedly translated by Joseph Smith. Indeed, the transliterated text from the recovered papyri and facsimiles published in the Book of Abraham contain no direct references, either historical or textual, to Abraham, and Abraham's name does not appear anywhere in the papyri or the facsimiles. Edward Ashment notes, "The sign that Smith identified with Abraham [...]

4992-415: The text of the Pearl of Great Price in a re-engraved format. According to Smith's explanations, Facsimile No.   1 portrays Abraham fastened to an altar, with the idolatrous priest of Elkenah attempting to sacrifice him. Facsimile No.   2 contains representations of celestial objects, including the heavens and earth, fifteen other planets or stars, the sun and moon, the number 1,000 and God revealing

5070-501: The time, Kirtland was the home of the Latter Day Saints, led by Joseph Smith . In 1830 Smith published the Book of Mormon which he said he translated from ancient golden plates that had been inscribed with " reformed Egyptian " text. He took an immediate interest in the papyri and soon offered Chandler a preliminary translation of the scrolls. Smith said that the scrolls contained the writings of Abraham and Joseph , as well as

5148-457: The time. This view is also accepted by John Gee . Samuel M. Brown has argued for a slightly more nuanced version of this view, attributing to W. W. Phelps a "major" role in authoring the Alphabet and Grammar, while at the same time conceding that the project was carried on under Smith's direction. Brown asserts that it is "unlikely, though not impossible, that the Grammar was actively used in producing

5226-514: The translation of the Egyptian Hieroglyphicks [sic] as he claimed to receive it by direct inspiration from Heaven." Wilford Woodruff and Parley P. Pratt intimated second hand that the Urim and Thummim were used in the translation. A non-church member who saw the mummies in Kirtland spoke about the state of the papyri, and the translation process: These records were torn by being taken from

5304-428: The translation of these valuable documents will be completed, I am unable to say; neither can I gave you a probable idea how large volumes they will make; but judging from their size, and the comprehensiveness of the language, one might reasonably expect to see sufficient to develop much on the mighty of the ancient men of God. A visitor to Kirtland saw the mummies, and noted, "They say that the mummies were Epyptian, but

5382-600: The year of the world 2962. Katumin was born in the 30th year of the reign of her father and died when she was 28 years old which was in the year 3020." The Egyptian Hieratic characters have been translated by modern Egyptologists to read "Recitation by the Osiris". The name Onitas appears in other Kirtland Egyptian manuscripts, and Joseph Smith's mother would later state that the mummies were "King Onitus and his royal household." The three Egyptian alphabet documents created by Joseph Smith and his associates are an attempt to systematize

5460-518: Was "largely a piece of imagination and lacking in any kind of scientific value." Hugh Nibley commented that the Grammar was "of no practical value whatever." In 1968, Jay Todd suggested that the Grammar may have been reverse-engineered from an inspired Book of Abraham translation. In 1971, Hugh Nibley expanded on Todd's argument, explaining that the Alphabet and Grammar materials were largely an uninspired production of Joseph Smith's scribes, who had turned against him and were working independently of him at

5538-404: Was a descendant of Ham and thus "of that lineage by which he could not have the right of Priesthood". This passage is the only one found in any Mormon scripture that bars a particular lineage of people from holding the priesthood. Even though nothing in the Book of Abraham explicitly connects the line of Pharaoh and Ham to black Africans, this passage was used as a scriptural basis for withholding

5616-460: Was able to gain greater comprehension of the order of the galaxies, stars, and planets than he could have obtained from earthly sources." At the pinnacle of the cosmos is the slowest-rotating body, Kolob , which, according to the text, is the star closest to where God lives. The Book of Abraham is the only work in the Latter Day Saint canon to mention the star Kolob. According to the Book: [Abraham] saw

5694-419: Was denied until 1935, when James R. Clark and Sidney B. Sperry were informed that they were in the vault. Even then, Clark and Sperry were not permitted to inform the public about the discovery until some time thereafter. When the documents' existence was finally revealed, Clark stated that he did not believe the Alphabet and Grammar should be submitted to scholars. He preferred to "depend on our testimonies of

5772-431: Was first published serially in the Latter Day Saint movement newspaper Times and Seasons in 1842, and was later canonized in 1880 by the LDS Church as part of its Pearl of Great Price . Eyewitness accounts of how the Papyri were translated are few and vague. Warren Parish, who was Joseph Smith's scribe at the time of the translation, wrote in 1838 after he had left the church: "I have set by his side and penned down

5850-694: Was imprisoned in the Liberty Jail in Clay County, Missouri (this was after the majority of the Book of Abraham had been supposedly translated, but prior to its publication). Smith noted that there would be "a time come in the [ sic ] which nothing shall be with held [ sic ] whither [ sic ] there be one god or many gods they [ sic ] shall be manifest all thrones and dominions, principalities and powers shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have indured [ sic ] valiently [ sic ] for

5928-403: Was published in an early periodical as a text 'purporting to be the writings of Abraham' with no indication of its translation process (see Times and Seasons, March 1, 1842), and therefore have no authorized position on it." The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints holds to the canonicity of the Book of Abraham. After Joseph Smith's death, the Egyptian artifacts were in

6006-754: Was the William "Bill" Gay Research Professor of Egyptology at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU. In this role, he is an editor for the Studies in the Book of Abraham series and a member of the editorial board of the Eastern Christian Texts series. Gee has been involved with various professional societies. He is editor of the Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, and has served on

6084-465: Was the primary author of the Alphabet and Grammar documents, and that those documents served as the source or modus operandi for the translation of at least the first three verses of the Book of Abraham. According to Smith, "This undoubtedly accounts for the choppiness and redundancy of these three verses, which stylistically are very different from the remainder of the Book of Abraham. Verse 3, for example, reads as though it has been cobbled together from

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