98-606: Kolob is a star or planet described in the Book of Abraham , a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement . Several Latter Day Saint denominations claim that the Book of Abraham was translated from an Egyptian papyrus scroll (which was actually a copy of the Egyptian funerary texts ) by Joseph Smith , the founder of the movement. According to this work, Kolob is the heavenly body nearest to
196-602: A 1,000-year "day" in Kolob time, a "day" meaning a phase of creation), Earth was formed and placed in orbit around the Sun. The idea that the Earth was formed elsewhere and then migrated to orbit around the Sun does not accord with the scientific understanding of Earth's formation, which is that the Earth formed in orbit around the Sun about 4.5 billion years ago by accretion from a protoplanetary disk , and has remained near its original orbit until
294-631: 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
392-553: A Song of Bethlehem", "I Heard the Voice of Jesus", and "We Sing the Mighty Power of God". The tune was also arranged for use in the film Plan 10 from Outer Space . Some of the elements of the two Battlestar Galactica science-fiction television shows seem to be derived from the Mormon beliefs of its creator and chief producer, Glen A. Larson . In both the original series from 1978, and
490-685: 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
588-511: A single "central sun" in the galaxy failed. Another Mormon author has hypothesized that Kolob exists outside the Milky Way at a place called the "metagalactic center", and that this galaxy and other galaxies rotate around it. Within mainstream astronomy, the idea of a metagalactic center was once assumed, but has been abandoned because on large scales, the expanding universe has no gravitational center. Another Mormon author has speculated that Kolob
686-582: A source of controversy, because the translations and interpretations within are not considered accurate by Egyptologists , and have thus stoked questions of whether 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
784-599: A speculative or naturalistic effort rather than a product of revelation. The Kirtland Egyptian papers are housed in 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
882-458: A star called Kli-flos-is-es or Hah-ko-kau-beam, which themselves revolve around Kolob, which he characterized as "the great centre of that part of the universe to which our planetary system belongs". Roberts was confident that astronomers would confirm this hierarchy of stars orbiting other stars. The literal interpretation of Kolob as a star or planet had significant formative impact on Mormon belief and criticism, leading to conceptions such as that
980-508: Is Polaris . In addition to the literal interpretation of Kolob as an actual heavenly body, the LDS Church has proposed that Kolob is also "a symbol of Jesus Christ", in that like Kolob, Jesus "governs" all the stars and planets similar to the Earth. A metaphorical interpretation suggests that Kolob may be construed as a metaphor for Jesus. Some Mormon scholars have sought to link the Kolob doctrine to ancient astronomy. Gee, Hamblin & Peterson (2006) have sought to show that this astronomy
1078-506: 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
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#17328554937311176-428: 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 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from a traveling mummy exhibition on July 3, 1835. According to Smith,
1274-512: 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 the "first estate". Once certain spirits (i.e., those who choose to follow
1372-468: Is more consistent with ancient geocentrism than with 19th-century Copernican and Newtonian astronomy, and thus carries with it the misconceptions of ancient astronomy. For example, in their interpretation, Kolob is the highest and slowest moving of a series of concentric heavenly spheres, which are centered on Earth. These authors believe that Smith, in the 19th century, would not have made this geocentric mistake about Kolob, and therefore, they argue that
1470-463: 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] 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
1568-462: 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
1666-517: Is past" and 2 Peter 3:8 , which says, "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years". Additional, similar information about Kolob is found in the Kirtland Egyptian Papers , constituting manuscripts in the handwriting of Smith and his scribes. According to the traditional, literal Mormon interpretation of the Book of Abraham, Kolob is an actual star in this universe that is, or is near, the physical throne of God. According to Smith, this star
1764-480: 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 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
1862-416: 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 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
1960-462: Is taken from a well-known folk tune known as " Dives and Lazarus ". It was originally published in 1842 in Times and Seasons and is hymn number 284 in the LDS Church's current hymnal . The hymn makes only one reference to Kolob, in its first line (from which the hymn's title is derived). It is the only hymn in the current hymnal that mentions Kolob. The hymn reflects doctrines unique to Mormonism, such as
2058-475: 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 a short history of an Egyptian princess named "Katumin" . He wrote: [W]ith W. W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commenced
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#17328554937312156-641: The Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar paper, Kolob is classified as one of 12 "fixed stars", as distinct from 15 "moving planets". The term " fixed stars " generally refers to the background of celestial objects that do not appear to move relative to each other in the night sky , including all stars other than the Sun , nebulae and other starlike objects. Though "fixed", such objects were proven to have proper motion by Edmund Halley in 1718. Apparently referring to proper motion, Smith said that Kolob moves "swifter than
2254-480: 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 the Book of Abraham, no scholars regard it as an ancient text. Eleven mummies and several papyri were discovered near
2352-528: 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 the second part deals with a form of astronomy that was supposedly practiced by the ancient Egyptians. Most of
2450-446: The Pearl of Great Price as part of the canon of Mormonism. The Book of Abraham 1:1–2:18 were dictated in 1835 and the remaining part in 1842 by Smith after he purchased a set of Egyptian scrolls that accompanied a mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the scrolls described a vision of Abraham, in which Abraham: saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto
2548-468: 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 the idea that God organized eternal elements to create the universe (instead of creating it ex nihilo ),
2646-549: 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 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
2744-418: The throne of God . While the Book of Abraham calls Kolob a "star", it also calls planets "stars", and therefore some Latter Day Saint commentators consider Kolob a planet. The body also appears in Latter Day Saint culture , including a reference to Kolob in an LDS hymn . The first published reference to Kolob is in the Book of Abraham , first published in 1842 in Times and Seasons and now included within
2842-522: 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
2940-525: 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
3038-445: 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
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3136-531: The 2003 new series , the planet Kobol is the ancient and distant mother world of the entire human race and the planet where life began, and the "Lords of Kobol" are sacred figures to the human race. They are treated as elders or patriarchs in the old series, and versions of the Twelve Olympians in the new series. According to academic Jana Riess , this is one of many plot points Larson has borrowed from Mormonism. Book of Abraham The Book of Abraham
3234-431: 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 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,
3332-450: The Biblical creation is a creation of the local Earth, Solar System, or galaxy, rather than the entire known physical universe. The Book of Abraham is unclear as to whether Kolob is a star or a planet, and Mormon writings have taken both positions. One part of the Book of Abraham states that Abraham "saw the stars ... and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; ... and the name of
3430-411: 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 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
3528-643: 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,
3626-440: 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
3724-636: The Book of Abraham is of ancient origin. John Tvedtnes suggested that "Another possible Hebrew etymology is the Hebrew KLB 'dog' originally pronounced kalb just as it is in Arabic. This is used to denote the star Regulus in Arabic while the Syriac, which is also kalb denotes the star Sirius, the brightest star in the heavens." He also suggested that the Hebraic use of "KLB" as both the word dog and an astronomical term refers to
3822-550: 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
3920-492: 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
4018-479: 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
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4116-524: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), spoke of Kolob as a planet, as did LDS Church apostles John Taylor , Orson Pratt (a mathematician with an interest in astronomy), Orson F. Whitney , and Alvin R. Dyer . Other Mormon theologians have also viewed Kolob as a planet, but several Mormon writers have called Kolob a star, including B. H. Roberts and LDS Church president David O. McKay . According to several Mormon writers (such as W. Cleon Skousen in his book The First 2000 Years ),
4214-588: The Earth was created near Kolob over a period of 6,000 years, then moved to its present position in the Solar System. This hypothesis is based on oral comments attributed to Smith. The hypothesis is also based on a passage from the Book of Abraham stating that in the Garden of Eden , time was measured "after the Lord's time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed to Adam his reckoning". According to
4312-486: The Earth, the Moon, and the Sun, each with different movements and measurements of time, where at the pinnacle, the slowest-rotating body is Kolob, where one Kolob-day corresponds to 1000 Earth-years. The time also applies to other celestial bodies in the vicinity of Kolob, such as Oliblish , and other neighboring objects. This is similar to Psalm 90:4 , which says, "For a thousand years in [God's] sight are but as yesterday when it
4410-665: The Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar 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
4508-679: 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
4606-448: 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
4704-534: 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'
4802-485: 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 the mummies and artifacts and began displaying them, starting in Philadelphia . Over the next two years Chandler toured
4900-472: 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 the cosmos and its creation . The Latter-day Saints believe the work is divinely inspired scripture, published as part of
4998-472: The celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of the Earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh. The Book of Abraham describes a hierarchy of heavenly bodies, including
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#17328554937315096-451: 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 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
5194-493: 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 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
5292-517: 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
5390-519: 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 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
5488-506: 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
5586-466: 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 the time, Kirtland was the home of the Latter Day Saints, led by Joseph Smith . In 1830 Smith published
5684-457: The eternal nature of spirit (including man's spirit) and matter. It also conveys doctrines elaborated by Smith, the first Latter-day Saint prophet , about the plurality of gods and eternal progression . The tune was arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1906) for the English Hymnal and can be found in today's hymnals under the name "Kingsfold". The tune is also used in other hymns: "O Sing
5782-464: The folder numbers under which the manuscripts are catalogued in 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
5880-406: 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 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
5978-432: 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
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#17328554937316076-577: 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
6174-510: 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
6272-607: 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
6370-453: The great one is Kolob." But the book defines the word Kokaubeam (a transliteration of the Hebrew "כּוֹכָבִים" [c.f., Gen. 15:5]) as meaning "all the great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven". This would appear to include planets as among the "stars", and the Book of Abraham calls Earth a star. In addition, it appears to classify Kolob among a hierarchy of "planets". On the other hand, in
6468-460: The hypothesis, the reason that Earth time was measured in Kolob time was that the Earth was near Kolob. As a corollary, some Mormon writers argue that at the end times , the Earth will be plucked from the Solar System and returned to its original orbit near Kolob. LDS Church apostle Bruce R. McConkie came to a different conclusion, arguing that during the first "day" of creation (not necessarily
6566-404: 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 ,
6664-570: The lines by Joseph Smith were given to Michael Chandler to his satisfaction. Given that 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
6762-501: 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
6860-662: 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
6958-662: 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. Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar 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,
7056-443: 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,
7154-472: 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 the saving principles and ordinances of
7252-481: 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
7350-514: 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 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in the LDS Church archives. They are now referred to as
7448-472: The present. Several Mormon authors have attempted to situate Kolob within modern astronomy . Skousen speculated that Kolob is a star at the Galactic Center , Sagittarius A* , of our own galaxy . This view also had the support of several former general authorities of the LDS Church, including J. Reuben Clark and George Reynolds (with Janne M. Sjödahl ). In the mid-19th century, early efforts to find
7546-426: 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 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
7644-545: 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 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
7742-448: The rest of the twelve fixed stars". Also, the Book of Abraham refers to "fixed planets", thereby including planets in the set of celestial objects that may be "fixed". It also calls the Sun a "governing planet", further complicating the terminology. So it is unclear whether Smith understood Kolob to be a planet or a star. Writers in the Latter Day Saint movement have taken both positions on the issue. Brigham Young , second president of
7840-524: 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
7938-493: 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 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
8036-430: 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
8134-449: 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 was first published serially in the Latter Day Saint movement newspaper Times and Seasons in 1842, and
8232-406: 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 [...]
8330-415: 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
8428-426: 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. In an explanation of an Egyptian hypocephalus that was part of the Joseph Smith Papyri , Smith interpreted one set of hieroglyphics as representing: Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to
8526-409: 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
8624-482: 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 the four mummies and at least five papyrus documents for $ 2,400 (equivalent to $ 71,000 in 2023). During Smith's lifetime,
8722-519: The universality of Sirius as the "Dog Star". According to Fawn Brodie , Smith's idea of Kolob may have been derived from the "throne of God" idea found in Thomas Dick 's The Philosophy of a Future State , which Brodie said Smith "had recently been reading" before dictating the Book of Abraham, and which "made a lasting impression" on him. "If You Could Hie to Kolob" ( hie , hurry ) is a Latter-day Saint hymn by early Mormon W. W. Phelps . The music
8820-429: 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 the left-hand side of the book. Next, a postulation as to what the symbols sounded like was devised. Finally, an English interpretation of
8918-602: 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
9016-421: 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 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
9114-419: 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
9212-449: Was discovered by Methuselah and Abraham by looking through Urim and Thummim , a set of seer stones bound into a pair of spectacles. LDS Church leader and historian B. H. Roberts (1857–1933) interpreted Smith's statements to mean that the Solar System and its governing "planet" (the Sun) revolved around a star known as Kae-e-vanrash, which itself revolved with its own solar system around
9310-694: 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
9408-569: 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 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
9506-403: 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
9604-465: 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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