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A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri
Since the rediscovery of the Joseph Smith Papyri in 1967, the papyri have been the center of conflicting, and often confusing, claims. This full-color, reader-friendly guide contains an overview of the basic facts and major theories about the papyri, along with helpful maps, illustrations, charts, and glossaries of terms and names. Written by Egyptologist John Gee, this guide reflects not only the latest Egyptological research but also the most recent Latter-day Saint thought about the papyri. A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri provides answers to such questions What are the Joseph Smith Papyri? What do they look like? What did they contain? Where did the Joseph Smith Papyri come from and what happened to them? What does the Book of Abraham have to do with the Joseph Smith Papyri? What is a Book of Breathings? How does it relate to the Joseph Smith Papyri? What do Latter-day Saints and non-Latter-day Saints think about the papyri? What issues do they agree on?
67 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 25, 2010
Gee does an excellent job providing the basics about the papyri associated with the Book of Abraham. But it is astonishingly faith promoting as Gee completely omits the most controversial aspects of the papyri. It did little to explain what I consider to be the two primary indicting elements to the Book of Abraham: 1) Facsimile 3 with Joseph's identifications being completely inaccurate according to Egyptologists and 2) The KEP as a literal alphabetic translation for the papyri.
My friend Chris Smith is, in my opinion, by far the better researcher/presenter on the Book of Abraham. Here is a link to his blog specific to the topic:
http://chriscarrollsmith.blogspot.com...
My friend Chris Smith is, in my opinion, by far the better researcher/presenter on the Book of Abraham. Here is a link to his blog specific to the topic:
http://chriscarrollsmith.blogspot.com...
September 1, 2013
An excellent guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri, with useful charts and illustrations, and a superb list of references for further study. Some reviewers have inaccurately claimed that this guide doesn't address the more controversial aspects of the Papyri. Gee addresses the connection between the Papyri and the Book of Abraham (see page 9), differences in interpretations of the facsimiles (see pgs. 33-41), and the Kirtland Egyptian Papers (KEP) Theory (see pgs. 21-23), among other "controversial" topics. This guide is surprisingly comprehensive (given its short length). It's clear, concise, informative, and accurate.
January 23, 2015
Simple presentation of historical facts and images from ancient artifacts. The analysis is very helpful in understanding further, in-depth study on The Book of Abraham, The Apocalypse of Abraham, etc. For next reading, I recommend Hugh Nibley's book Abraham in Egypt.
September 14, 2024
A VISUALLY-APPEALING (IF BRIEF) REVIEW OF THE PAPYRI BY AN LDS EGYPTOLOGIST
John Gee is an Egyptologist who wrote in the Introduction to this 2000 book (published by FARMS), "This guide has been prepared to provide basic information about the Joseph Smith Papyri and an overview of the discussion about the connections that they may have with the Book of Abraham for those who have no knowledge of ancient Egypt and perhaps little of the Latter-day Saints."
He notes, "Because we do not have all the papyri that Joseph Smith had, and because those that have been preserved do not contain a copy of the text of the Book of Abraham, there is no simple answer to the question, 'Did Joseph Smith translate the Book of Abraham correctly?'" (Pg. 19)
He points out, "Three of the documents from the Kirtland Egyptian Papers contain a partial copy of the translated Book of Abraham in which a word or two in Egyptian characters is written in the left-hand margin at the beginning of each paragraph of English text. According to this theory, the text to the right is the translation of the Egyptian characters on the left. Unfortunately for this theory, the Egyptian characters were added after the entire English text was written (as evidenced by the use of different inks, Egyptian characters that do not always line up with the English text, and Egyptian characters that sometimes overrun the English text). Thus it was not a matter of writing the character and then writing the translation but of someone later adding the characters in the margin at the beginning of paragraphs of text without explicitly stating the reason for doing so." (Pg. 21)
He observes, "Some have reasoned that since the preserved papyri account for no more than 13 percent of all the papyri that Joseph Smith possessed, the Book of Abraham does not match the translation of the preserved papyri because it was most likely translated from a portion of the papyri that is now missing... Others have thought that the Book of Abraham was not connected in any way with the papyri but was received by pure inspiration. Mormons and non-Mormons who hold this theory differ as to the source of that inspiration." (Pg. 23)
He states, "Those who argue that the facsimiles are typical vignettes from the Book of the Dead fail to produce parallel vignettes from said book, which is strange if they occur so often." (Pg. 29) Later, he adds, "For example, one of the claims (of critics) is that the Book of Abraham is used primarily to sanction bigotry. A close reading of the text, however, does not sustain such contentions. Furthermore, Latter-day Saints do not use the text in this fashion." (Pg. 43)
This book will be of great interest to anyone studying the Book of Abraham.
John Gee is an Egyptologist who wrote in the Introduction to this 2000 book (published by FARMS), "This guide has been prepared to provide basic information about the Joseph Smith Papyri and an overview of the discussion about the connections that they may have with the Book of Abraham for those who have no knowledge of ancient Egypt and perhaps little of the Latter-day Saints."
He notes, "Because we do not have all the papyri that Joseph Smith had, and because those that have been preserved do not contain a copy of the text of the Book of Abraham, there is no simple answer to the question, 'Did Joseph Smith translate the Book of Abraham correctly?'" (Pg. 19)
He points out, "Three of the documents from the Kirtland Egyptian Papers contain a partial copy of the translated Book of Abraham in which a word or two in Egyptian characters is written in the left-hand margin at the beginning of each paragraph of English text. According to this theory, the text to the right is the translation of the Egyptian characters on the left. Unfortunately for this theory, the Egyptian characters were added after the entire English text was written (as evidenced by the use of different inks, Egyptian characters that do not always line up with the English text, and Egyptian characters that sometimes overrun the English text). Thus it was not a matter of writing the character and then writing the translation but of someone later adding the characters in the margin at the beginning of paragraphs of text without explicitly stating the reason for doing so." (Pg. 21)
He observes, "Some have reasoned that since the preserved papyri account for no more than 13 percent of all the papyri that Joseph Smith possessed, the Book of Abraham does not match the translation of the preserved papyri because it was most likely translated from a portion of the papyri that is now missing... Others have thought that the Book of Abraham was not connected in any way with the papyri but was received by pure inspiration. Mormons and non-Mormons who hold this theory differ as to the source of that inspiration." (Pg. 23)
He states, "Those who argue that the facsimiles are typical vignettes from the Book of the Dead fail to produce parallel vignettes from said book, which is strange if they occur so often." (Pg. 29) Later, he adds, "For example, one of the claims (of critics) is that the Book of Abraham is used primarily to sanction bigotry. A close reading of the text, however, does not sustain such contentions. Furthermore, Latter-day Saints do not use the text in this fashion." (Pg. 43)
This book will be of great interest to anyone studying the Book of Abraham.
March 16, 2024
A quick read to refresh my understanding of the backstory to the Book of Abraham. It does a great job with that and other simple glossaries in the back which are helpful. I was lost a bit on all the competing theories regarding the fragments - but still an important part of the LDS canon to understand.
October 14, 2019
Very Disappointing!
This “book” is a very short...something. I don’t know what to call it, because it’s ridiculously short to call it a book, and definitely not worth more than $1. I’m returning it for a refund!
This “book” is a very short...something. I don’t know what to call it, because it’s ridiculously short to call it a book, and definitely not worth more than $1. I’m returning it for a refund!
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July 5, 2023Basic background material.
March 5, 2008
This book represents an apologetic attempt by a BYU professor at FARMS to draw a connection between the Egyptian papyri the church purchased from Michael Chandler and the Book of Abraham that Joseph claimed to have translated from it. I read this book hoping to find an answer to what I view as a very serious problem in Mormon theology.
The author works hard to draw parallels between ancient Egypt and the Book of Abraham, while ignoring the fact that LDS and non-LDS Egyptologists have conclusively determined the papyri to be common Egyptian funerary texts, produced 2000 years too recently to be written by Abraham, as Joseph claimed.
The author works hard to draw parallels between ancient Egypt and the Book of Abraham, while ignoring the fact that LDS and non-LDS Egyptologists have conclusively determined the papyri to be common Egyptian funerary texts, produced 2000 years too recently to be written by Abraham, as Joseph claimed.
December 3, 2010
This little primer on the J.S. papyri was brief and to the point, probably most helpful for those who have zero background on the subject. It's obviously written with a scholar's eye for academic documentation (all sources are scrupulously noted; very little speculation is mentioned, although the author mentions several theories out there in the research communities, both LDS and non-LDS based). I had hoped for a few more comments on facsimile no. 1, and the use of a priest's cap on the body of what looks like it should be the jackal Anubis. But it was a quick read, and interesting in its own right.
December 26, 2013
I don't know what I expected from this. It's short, I had it on my shelf, so I read it. If someone read Gee's little book and nothing else, the takeaway would be that the Book of Abraham is mildly controversial but ultimately the faithful view will win out. There are no clear conclusions drawn, mostly a handwaving exercise with arguments broken down by subtopic only to be dismissed one by one. The book's one redeeming quality is the full-color illustrations. For actual substance, read Charles M. Larson instead.
April 14, 2008
A great source for Egyptian translations and the background of the papyri.
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December 15, 2008A short little book telling what is known about the papyri. It was on a bookshelf at the HC and I read it in about 1/2 an hour. Lots of illustrations. I learned some things I didn't know.
July 20, 2009
Worth the read to better understand these documents.
August 7, 2010
2010.0807-2010.0807
Short but a useful little read.
Short but a useful little read.
May 19, 2013
Short and informative history. Comes with a glossary and readings list for those who want to delve further into the current research.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews