Posted on 05/11/2007 10:12:33 AM PDT by bedolido
Yes, I can see you do. But the papyri were funeral directions for the mummification and burial of the mummy with whose body the papyrus was found. The text had nothing to do with what Joe Smith made up for your supposed sacred text from which you quote so liberallly and upon which you place so much faith. It doesn’t seem embarrassing to you to be placing so much faith in a fraudulent ‘translation’ by your founder of Mormonism. Interesting ...
No personal offense intended towards you, but the whole concept of dumping the Pope and his priests was to eliminate the intermediaries between God and man.
I don’t need any help from them. I sure don’t need any help from your bible quotations that written in the court of an English King.
I am fine with the Lord. He and I talk frequently.
I appreciate the intent, but I am all set, thank you very much.
Actually; it's THEIR post.
I merely cut it out and colored it.
2007 Update: Understanding the Egyptian Facsimiles Through a Semitic Lens (?)
Kevin Barney's chapter, "The Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources" in Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant, edited by John Gee and Brian M. Hauglid (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 2005), pp. 107-130, is now available online. In this excellent work, Barney considers precedents for Egyptian stories that have been assimilated into Jewish literature, with the Egyptian elements having been modified when viewed through a Semitic lens. He suggests that this approach helps explain some aspects of the Book of Abraham facsimiles. When the Semitic lens is applied to the Egyptian representations, Joseph Smith's comments make much more sense. Here is an excerpt:
Specifically, we will suggest that the facsimiles may not have been drawn by Abraham's hand but may have been Egyptian religious vignettes that were adopted or adapted by an Egyptian-Jewish redactor as illustrations of the Book of Abraham. We will illustrate general processes of Jewish adaptation of Egyptian sources and then describe in detail three specific examples from the Greco-Roman period (the same period when the Joseph Smith Papyri were produced) that each relates in some way to Abraham. We will suggest that such Jewish adaptation of Egyptian sources was common during this time period and would explain the adaptation of the facsimiles to illustrate the Book of Abraham, which may have come under this redactor's care as part of the ancient transmission of the text.Having articulated this Semitic adaptation theory, we will examine Stephen Thompson's critique of Joseph's interpretations of the facsimiles, showing how this theory resolves the issues raised by Thompson.
You’ve been on FR just a hair longer than I have, so you’ve seen plenty of give and take in these threads over the years.
I’ve learned a lot, from many different folks, about their beliefs, politics and life in general. Even about me, as I’ve had to articulate (can I say that now? ;^) what I think to others.
I’ve always wonder where people GET their beliefs, especially if they do not feel a link, somehow, to the God I worship, or to the book which was supposedly written at His direction.
Just a thumbnail reply:
1. Book of Breathings in Egyptology is very commonly copied as the introductory mummification text. Unique features displayed are very important. The knife (why display a knife?), the arms pointing heaven, one hawk (usually two), and the lion couch conveys a unique story different from a typical Book of Breathings illustration.
2. In 1998, The lion couch scene was dicovered up in the ‘Testament of Abraham’ vignette. So when we discover the only other lion couch scene from antiquity, it also refers to Abraham.
3. Jewish Redactor theory. There have a few texts where semitic authors have used Egyptology (i.e., the Egyptian symbol of Hor to represent God) to convey Jewish theology. See above for the references.
4. In all accounts, the total length of all the scrolls comined was nearly 35 feet. The fragments that we have in possession are only about 4 feet in length in total.
5. Egyptian text/scroll are historically tack-ons. Egyptians have been shown to add to the scrolls from various sources and from various cultures. They do not filter out stories but add them to their stories.
6. And finally, the translated English text contains numerous historical evidences (see above) which were not known in Joseph Smith’s day but have proven amazingly accurrate.
Thanks, I was wondering what the current church spin would be on the fraud. I suppose any spin to keep the faith will do for ya ... frankly, reputable egyptologist and hieroglyphic scholars have thoroughly debunk the previous spin so it figures there would be new spin rather than throw the fabrication out.
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