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The facsimiles in the Book of Abraham
Summary: In the Book of Abraham, Joseph included three facsimiles of illustrations from the papyri, along with commentary about what the images and their individual parts represented. Some of Joseph's interpretations are similar to those of trained Egyptologists, but most are not. A number of criticisms relate to the three facsimiles associated with the Book of Abraham. It is noted that Joseph Smith's translation of the facsimiles does not agree with that provided by Egyptologists, and that some missing portions of the facsimiles were incorrectly restored before they were published.
Jump to details:
- Book of Abraham Facsimile 1: The "lion couch" scene
- An analysis of the Charles M. Larson restoration of Facsimile 1 compared against the original papyrus
- Book of Abraham Facsimile 2: The hypocephalus
- Book of Abraham Facsimile 3: The throne scene
- Restoration of missing portions of the facsimiles
Why is the Book of Abraham text not on the papyri?
Summary: We do not claim to know why the text of the Book of Abraham (or the missing Book of Joseph) is not in evidence on the fragments of papyrus that were recovered. Critics, of course, simply assume this to be conclusive evidence that Joseph was a fraud. From a believer's perspective, however, there are several possible theories to account for this: 1) The text was revealed much in the same manner as that of the Book of Mormon, without the need for the actual papyri, 2) The text was present on portions of the papyri that are missing, and 3) The Book of Abraham manuscript was attached to the Book of Breathings manuscript and was lost. 4) Perhaps there was a way of understanding the Egyptian ideograms anciently that is unknown to Egyptology in our day, yet to be discovered, deciphered or acknowledged, that could yield an interpretation of a text that is different than the standard Egyptological reading.
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: Was the text of the Book of Abraham received through revelation?
- Question: What is the Book of Abraham "Missing Papyrus theory"?
- Historical Sources on Translation of Book of Abraham
- Gospel Topics on LDS.org, "Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham"
An analysis of the Charles M. Larson restoration of Facsimile 1 compared against the original papyrus
Summary: The book "...by his own hand upon papyrus" presents a "restoration" of Facsimile 1 (p. 65), which purports to be "based upon the modern study of Egyptology, and similar scenes in numerous existing papyri." However, the recent availability of high-definition images of the papyri on the Church History website now provides the opportunity to compare the Larson restoration with the original. There are a number of discrepancies which indicate that the restoration contains a number of significant inaccuracies. We examine those inaccuracies in this sub-article.
Jump to details:
- Question: Does Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 show a hand, or does it show the wing of a second bird?
- Bell: "the questionable traces above the head of the Osiris figure are actually the remains of his right hand"
- Question: Should the restoration of Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 include a phallus?
- Bell: "there would not be enough available space to restore the hand of Anubis, the erect phallus of the Osiris, and the body and wings of Isis"
- Question: Was the original head of the priest in Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 actually the jackal head of Anubis?
- Question: Was the priest depicted in Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 holding a knife or was it some other object?
Did Joseph Smith plagiarize a patriarchal blessing compiled by Oliver Cowdery?
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Listing of Publications on Controversies Surrounding the Book of Abraham from Official, Semi-Official, and Extra-Official Venues
Summary: The claim is sometimes made by critics that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has hidden critical information on The Book of Abraham. The following chronological database demonstrates conclusively that this is simply not the case. The various claims about the Book of Abraham have been widely acknowledged in official, semi-official, and outside sources from the late 19th through 21st centuries.
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- LDS-Authored Publications (1879-1968)
- LDS-Authored Publications (1969-1978)
- LDS-Authored Publications (1979-1983)
- LDS-Authored Publications (1984-1989)
- LDS-Authored Publications (1990-1997)
- LDS-Authored Publications (1998-2003)
- LDS-Authored Publications (2004-Present)
Thomas Dick’s The Philosophy of a Future State
Jump to details:
- Could Joseph Smith's theology as described in the Book of Abraham have been influenced by Thomas Dick's book The Philosophy of a Future State?
- How do the theological concepts of Joseph Smith actually compare to those of Thomas Dick?
Hugh Nibley notes the following,
[I]t is important to emphasize what many Egyptologists are insisting on today as never before, namely, the folly of giving just one interpretation and one only to any Egyptian representation. This is the pit into which Joseph Smith's critics have always fallen: "This cannot possibly represent 'A' because it represents 'B'!" "The value of an Egyptian presentation," Eberhard Otto reminds us, "depended on seeing the greatest possible number of meanings in the briefest possible formulation."3 Heretofore, critics of the Joseph Smith explanations have insisted on the least possible number of meanings, namely one, to every item, and as a result have not only disagreed widely among themselves, but also exposed their efforts to drastic future revision. The Egyptians "considered it a particular nicety that symbols should possess multiple significance," wrote Henri Frankfort, "that one single interpretation should not be the only possible one."4 [1]
There are at least two possibilities here:
- Kevin Barney hypothesizes that the Book of Abraham was written by Abraham himself, then passed from generation to generation until it fell into the hands of a hypothetical Jewish editor in the second century B.C. This editor attached it to a the Egyptian papyri because of the useful symbolism contained on the Egyptian funerary text.[2]
For a detailed response, see: A Jewish redactor
- Richard D. Draper, S. Kent Brown, and Michael D. Rhodes have similarly theorized that "the original illustration drawn by Abraham had been modified and adapted for use by Hor, the owner of the papyrus. What Joseph Smith did with the facsimiles is thus similar to the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible—he gave the original meaning of Abraham's illustrations, correcting for the changes and distortions that had taken place over nearly two millennia."[3]
Notes
- ↑ Hugh Nibley, "All the Court's a Stage: Facsimile 3, a Royal Mumming", Abraham in Egypt [citation needed]
- ↑ Kevin L. Barney, “The Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources,” in John Gee and Brian M. Hauglid (editors), Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 2006), 107–130.
- ↑ Richard D. Draper, S. Kent Brown, Michael D. Rhodes, "Introduction to the Book of Abraham," in The Pearl of Great Price: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 243.