Why did mormon and moroni write in reformed egyptian. Joseph smith and the ancient world, edited by lincoln h. Apr 06, 2019 in a small but highly valuable and colorful book on the book of abraham, john gees a guide to the joseph smith papyri provo, utah. The egyptian papyrus which smith declared to be the book of abraham, and translated or explained in his fantastical way, and of which three specimens are published in the pearl of great price, are parts of the well known book of the dead. Explores the joseph smith papyrus and demonstrates that joseph smiths claim that he had translated the book of abraham from it was a fabrication. How did joseph smith translate the book of abraham. It is unclear when in 1835 joseph smith began creating the existing book of abraham manuscripts or what relationship the book of abraham manuscripts have to the egyptian language documents. Foundation for ancient research and mormon studies, 2000, gee argues that the kirtland egyptian papers kep, whatever they were, cannot be viewed as a window into joseph smiths production of his translation of the book of abraham. The book is based on a funerary papyrus depicting several scenes from the egyptian book of the dead.
While there is much that is unknown about reformed egyptian, some clues about its nature emerge from a close reading of the book of mormon text. Is the book of mormon and gold plates just a huge fraud. The original claim that the book of abraham had been translated from ancient egyptian papyri scrolls has been proven false when it. Lds egyptologist doubts joseph smith translated the book of. When he translated the gold plates of the book of mormon from the reformed egyptian text 18271829, the prophet stated that he did it by.
Chandler discovered that in connection with two of the bodies, was something. Interested in serious discussion of joseph smith and early mormon history. How the book of abraham exposes the false nature of. Authentic ancient names and words in the book of abraham and. Skeptics of the book of mormon, on the other hand, often dismiss reformed egyptian as a fabrication by joseph smith.
Book of abraham and related manuscripts the joseph smith papers. Where are the gold plates, what ancient inhabitants of a surety, book of abraham, reformed egyptian, predatory church founders, book of mormon madeup schemes. This certainly brings into question his ability to translate the gold plates into the book of mormon, since both the book of mormon and the book of abraham were in reformed egyptian. John gee two notes on egyptian script, journal of book of mormon studies 51 1996. According to smith, these characters were from the golden plates the ancient record from which smith claims to have translated the book of mormon and represent the reformed egyptian writing that was on the plates. Moroni makes it clear that reformed egyptian is the name which the nephites have given to a script based upon egyptian characters, and modified over the course of a thousand years see mormon 9. What similarity was there between the reformed egyptian on. Book of mormonlanguagereformed egyptian fairmormon. The egyptian papyrus which smith declared to be the book of abraham, and translated or explained in his fantastical way, and of which are three specimens are published in the pearl of great price are parts of the well known book of the dead. Why doesnt the translation of the egyptian papyri found in 1967 match the text of the book of abraham in the pearl of great price. Inside the coffins in connection with two mummies were two rolls and fragments of papyri. Why doesnt the translation of the egyptian papyri found in 1967. Smith who had claimed to have translated the book of mormon from golden plates that had been inscribed with reformed egyptian text took an immediate.
The book of abraham, it is hardly necessary to say, is a pure fabrication. Many have wondered what reformed egyptian might be and why book of mormon recordkeepers wrote in such a script. The anthon transcript often identified with the caractors document is a piece of paper on which joseph smith wrote several lines of characters. Reformed egyptian book of mormon archaeological forum. Book of abraham and the english form of the name of the country itself egypt. Mormon handbook the book of abraham since abraham lived before moses, who authored the torah the first five books of the old testament, it would make the papyrus older than the book of genesis. Latterday saints are often fascinated and sometimes perplexed with figuring out what reformed egyptian was or how it. Ptau whose name appears as the last element in the egyptian form was the creator god in the story told of the ancient city of memphis. Jan 30, 2020 joseph smiths signature work of scripture is the book of mormon, which the prophet claimed to have translated from golden plates by the gift and power of god. The book of abraham they especially delighted in because it gave to the mormons without the corrupting influence of any christian translation a new history of the worlds formation direct from abraham himself through the medium of an egyptian mummy. For a discussion of the development of egyptian cursive scripts, see i. The most recent jsp revelations and translation vol.
Reference to kolob is found in the book of abraham described here a work published by joseph smith, jr. Hauglid, the book of abraham and the egyptian project. Last week pearl of great price central published a book of abraham insight that explores the very real probability that the word shinehah in the book of abraham is attested in ancient egyptian texts from abrahams day. The result was hugh nibleys revelation that the papyrus had as much to do with reformed egyptian as the cat in the hat. According to smith, the book was a translation of some ancient records. Mar 15, 2020 so just like the book of mormon conveniently hid its supposed language within the guise of reformed egyptian, joseph used the still unknowntomany language of egyptian as a cover for his translation of the book of abraham and his descriptions of the facsimiles. Shinehah in the book of abraham is attested in ancient egyptian. Moreover, no such script has been found in the new world. Moroni indicates that he and his father mormon wrote in a script called reformed egyptian. More information and relevant examples are given in the article, jewish and other semitic texts written in egyptian characters by john a. In time more and more men would become familiar with the egyptian language. A knowledge of hidden languages, in approaching antiquity. The few copied bits of book of mormon characters written down by early lds followers of smith reveal no similarity to any form of egyptian script. In this video i discuss joseph smiths procurement of egyptian papyri and mummies in july 1835 and explore the documents he produced while translating what he called the book of abraham.
The characters shown in that example do bear a strong resemblance to some other characters found in both the old and new worlds. The book of abraham is a work produced between 1835 and 1842 by joseph smith based, he said, on egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. Smith claimed to be able to translate the papyri because they were written in the same language as the book of mormon. Thompson presented his reasons for concluding that joseph smith did not produce the book of abraham by translating it, as he claimed, from an egyptian papyrus scroll he had obtained in 1835. The who, what, and why of reformed egyptian in the book. The purpose of this post is to aggregate quotations from early lds history with respect to the text of the book of abraham and the egyptian papyri, as reported in the journal of discourses. If we accept a jewish redactor adapting egyptian motifs to a hebrew understanding, we can easily appreciate the possibility that jred attached the book of abraham manuscript to the book of breathings the sensen text in order to graphically convey the doctrines portrayed in the book of abraham document. Standing side by side with the bible, book of mormon and doctrine and covenants, this was included as part of mormonisms standard works. Apologetics press the book of mormon and the ancient evidence. Maybe the gold plates were really written in reformed egyptian, and maybe if moroni would bring them around again we would have to go through the whole translation process all over again just to make sure joseph smith channeled them correctly, just like we did with the book of abraham. Far from being inspired scripture, the book of abraham was shown to be a fraud years later when the papyrus was rediscovered. It is evident that the writings of abraham while he was in egypt, of which our printed book of abraham is a copy, must of necessity be older than. Boundless blog just another weblog archive for the tag reformed egyptian 16 aug 2011 1 comment.
Archaeologists and egyptologists have found no evidence that this language ever existed. Critical appraisal of the book of abraham wikipedia. Chandler, a traveling entrepreneur from pennsylvania. The prophet moroni indicated that he and his father mormon wrote their abridgement of the nephite records in a script called reformed egyptian mormon 9. This is the last of my threepart presentation on the book of mormon characters. The book of abraham is a work produced between 1835 and 1842 by the latter day saints lds movement founder joseph smith that he said was based on egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition.
Joseph smith claims to have translated it from an ancient egyptian scroll he purchased. Pdf the book of abraham and the egyptian project brian m. In this video i will discuss what i think is the probable method joseph smith used to create the characters on the. So, it is no surprise that egyptians or jews have no script called reformed egyptian, as this was a nephite term. However, hugh nibley, a mormon apologist, argues that reformed egyptian is actually meroitic egyptian. Under the heading introductory note, previous editions of the pearl of great price said the book of abraham is a translation from the egyptian papyri, thus giving the impression that smith rendered the egyptian text into english using a generally understood method. Egyptologists react to the book of abraham zelph on the. The mummies and papyri had been discovered in egypt several years earlier by antonio lebolo. Do the kirtland egyptian papers prove the book of abraham was. Class action lawsuit because the lds corporation duped us into giving money with false claims. In 1880 the mormon church canonized the book of abraham and it became part of the pearl of great price. The book of mormon uses the term reformed egyptian in only one verse, mormon 9.
Before we begin our look at joe smiths false interpretation of egyptian hieroglyphs today, im compelled to give the reader a heads up. One of the astronomical terms defined in the book of abraham is shinehah. The book of abraham is a book of lds scripture that joseph smith translated from a collection of ancient egyptian papyri the church purchased. Joseph smith claimed to have translated the book of mormon from a language called reformed egyptian. In july 1835, while living in kirtland, ohio, the prophet joseph smith purchased, on behalf of the church, four egyptian mummies and accompanying papyri from michael h. Students of the book of abraham ought to know, for example, that the time and place of the origin of the joseph smith papyri, namely thebes around 200 b. Whatever the true opinion of charles anthon, something in that experience convinced martin harris. When these fragments were discovered in the metropolitan museum many years ago, hugh nibley wrote a book called the message of the joseph smith papyri, an ancient egyptian endowment showing how the fragments that had been discovered had nothing to do with the book of abraham but everything to do with egyptian funeral texts from the book of the. The imagery and practices found in the book of mormon are compared with certain phrases and material concerns found in jewish and christian apocryphal writings.
The book of mormon, a work of scripture of the latter day saint movement, describes itself as having a portion originally written in reformed egyptian characters on plates of metal or ore by prophets living in the western hemisphere from perhaps as early as the 6th century bc until as late as the 5th century ad. Book of abraham and egyptian material in early july 1835, joseph smith and other latterday saints in kirtland, ohio, acquired four ancient egyptian mummies and several papyrus scrolls from michael chandler, an antiquities dealer visiting the area. Shirts has written several articles on the book of abraham, and is probably best known for his research on the joseph smith hypocephalus, or hypocephalus of sheshonq in identifying the egyptian name khnum ra in connection with figures 1, 22, and 23, of facsimile 2. Book of abraham and egyptian material the joseph smith. Truth of the book of abraham part 3 egyptian alphabets. In these extrabiblical stories, abraham s father worshiped idols, people tried to murder abraham because of his resistance, and abraham was learned in astronomyall features of joseph smiths narrative. The book of abraham is a work produced between 1835 and 1842 by the latter day saints. Disproves lds claims that joseph smith received the book of abraham through revelation and proves that joseph smiths source for his translation was a pagan egyptian text, the book of breathings. As in the case of the golden text revealed to him by the angel moroni and to whom they were returned, translation of the papyri was by means.
Egyptologists react to the book of abraham zelph on the shelf. Oct 07, 2017 his book of abraham picked up themes found in texts like the book of jasher and flavius josephuss antiquities of the jews. There are many proofs that joseph smith was a false prophet, but mormons typically will not accept them. The book of abraham and the egyptian project saints, alongside the bible, the. Since the book of mormon s publication in 1830, significant progress has been made in the fields of egyptology, near eastern and precolumbian american archaeology, linguistics, and latterday saint history. Known as the semitic adaptation theory, it posits that the egyptian funerary texts were adopted by an ancient jewish redactor to illustrate the book of abraham story. Since joseph claimed to have translated reformed egyptian to produce the book of mormon mormon 9. Did joseph smiths intimate knowledge of reformed egyptian. Mercer, custodian of the hibbard collection of egyptian reproductions at the western theological seminary the papyrus which joseph smith declared to be the book of abraham and explained in his fantastic way, are parts of the wellknown book of the dead. Is the book of mormon and gold plates just a huge fraud, just. Zeptah, the form used originally by joseph smith, likely means son or daughter of ptau. Since he had gotten away with this ploy for five years by claiming that the book of mormon was written in reformed egyptian, why shouldnt this ruse work.
The original manuscripts of the book of abraham, as they appear in joseph smiths egyptian alphabet and grammar, reveal joseph was using characters from this second papyrus jsp xi when he translated the first chapter of the book of abraham. The lost book of abraham full show the book of abraham papyri and joseph smith. A passage in the book of mormon explained that the writings on the plates were in the characters, which are called among us the reformed egyptian, being. Ancient near east, egypt, book of mormon, language, reformed egyptian, pearl of great price, book of abraham abstract an announcement made in jerusalemclaiming that parts of the text found in the pyramid of wenis were ancient semitic and not egyptian could have implications applicable to the latterday saints. From ancient egyptian into 16 thcentury kings james english, no less are you aware that what joseph smith claimed to be a correct translation of the book of abraham has since been proven to be a fraud. Mormon handbook the book of abraham introduction in 1835 a traveling exhibit of egyptian mummies visited joseph smiths town. The book was published with three facsimiles taken from an ancient papyrus, which was lost. And yet another prominent mormon theory avoids the extant papyri altogether, suggesting that the book of abraham must be a true ancient text based on parallels that its authors have identified with. In 20 the lds church announced a new edition of its scriptures. I return herewith, under separate cover, the pearl of great price.
Posted in book of abraham, tagged abraham, anthon transcript, egyptian hieroglyphs, false prophet, joseph smith, translation of reformed egyptian on 11222015 leave a comment. Last week pearl of great price central published a book of abraham insight. In 1835, smith purchased some mummies that were accompanied by ancient egyptian papyri. In 1912, a letter about the book of abraham was published by arthur cruttenden mace, assistant curator in the department of egyptian art in new yorks metropolitan museum of art. Jul 11, 2018 the most recent jsp revelations and translation vol. In 1829, as joseph smith was finishing his translation of the book of mormon, a french scholar named jeanfrancois champollion was busy preparing the first dictionary and grammar of the egyptian language, which were published after his death in 1832. The lost book of abraham investigating a remarkable mormon claim introduction the book of abraham is found in the pearl of great price and is considered scripture by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. The book of mormon was supposedly written in a reformed egyptian script, but no such language is known to scholars of the ancient near east. Dec 09, 2010 martha beck describes her father hugh nibleys effort to translate the papyrus into the book of abraham the pearl of great price in her book leaving the saints.