~~  The Lost Book of Abraham  ~~

    The Book of Abraham was first published in 1842 by Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As with the more well known Book of Mormon, Joseph claimed that he received divine inspiration, not in writing a new book of scripture, but instead, in having discovered and translated an existing ancient work.

    Joseph’s translations raised more than a few eyebrows among non-Mormons, but the Church has to this day steadfastly held to the authenticity of the document, and the accuracy of the translation done by Joseph Smith.

    But what if modern Egyptologists could examine the same documents that Joseph used to make his translations in the 1830’s?  Would the scholars, who have long since cracked the Egyptian hieroglyphic and hieratic codes, concur with Joseph’s translation?  If so, it seems his reputation as a prophet of God would be incredibly enhanced and supported.

    On the other hand, what if he was proved to have been inaccurate?  What would the Mormon Church say, what would faithful Mormon’s do?

	Translating Egyptian Listen and watch as Joseph Smith describes translating a lost book of Abraham from an Egyptian papyrus scroll he purchased from a traveling antiquities dealer.
	The Facsimiles Mormon founder Joseph Smith included illustrations from an Egyptian scroll in his Book of Abraham translation. But discrepancies in the copied illustrations were an early clue to Egyptologists that the Mormon prophet may not have understood the ancient Egyptian language.
	A Dramatic Discovery In 1966 the Metropolitan Museum in New York City quietly approached the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with news that it had in its archives ancient Egyptian papyrus manuscripts that once belonged to Mormon prophet Joseph Smith — manuscripts long thought to have been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871!
	The Critical Link Were the ancient Egyptian papyri found at the Metropolitan Museum pieces of the actual scroll from which Mormon founder Joseph Smith produced a lost book of Abraham? Two top Egyptologists examine the papyri and give their verdict.   Dr. Robert Ritner, associate professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago was commissioned to do a complete translation of the scroll Joseph Smith identified as a lost book of Abraham.  He explains what he found.

The Lost Book of Abraham is an award-winning^* documentary film that investigates one of the books in the canon of Mormon scripture called the Book of Abraham. The Book of Abraham was first published in 1842 by Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As with the more well known Book of Mormon, Joseph claimed that he received divine inspiration, not in writing a new book of scripture, but instead, in having discovered and translated an existing ancient work.  In the case of the Book of Abraham, Smith said that a papyrus scroll which he purchased from a traveling antiquities dealer in Kirtland, Ohio in 1835, was, in actuality, an original text from the patriarchal father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  This scroll, according to Joseph’s own words, contained lost writings of Abraham and Joseph claimed to be the “prophet, seer, and revelator” who could decipher it.

Joseph Smith did translate the scroll, and he included pictures from the papyrus! But, no one at the time could verify whether his translations of the text or the explanations he provided of the pictures, or “facsimiles” were accurate, since at the time no one in America could read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic and hieratic text.  

Joseph’s translations raised more than a few eyebrows among non-Mormons, but the Church has to this day steadfastly held to the authenticity of the document, and the accuracy of the translation done by Joseph Smith.

But what if modern Egyptologists could examine the same documents that Joseph used to make his translations in the 1830’s?  Would the scholars, who have long since cracked the Egyptian hieroglyphic and hieratic codes, concur with Joseph’s translation?  If so, it seems his reputation as a prophet of God would be incredibly enhanced and supported.  

On the other hand, what if he was proved to have been inaccurate?  What would the Mormon Church say, what would faithful Mormon’s do?

Find out in this fascinating new documentary, The Lost Book of Abraham: Investigating a Remarkable Mormon Claim.

• See re-creations of Kirtland as it appeared in 1835 when the traveling antiquities dealer rolled into town selling ancient Egyptian artifacts. 

• Learn about the amazing re-appearance of the papyri, 100 years after they were presumed destroyed in the great Chicago fire.

• And listen as prominent scholars – both Mormon and non-Mormon – explain what these documents really were, and what all this means to the church today.

It’s a fascinating story.  It’s bound to be a controversial story.  But while this documentary succeeds in presenting the story and the facts in an interesting and accurate manner, it will be up to each viewer to draw his or her own conclusions.
_______________________________

^* Bronze Telly Award, 2003

Click here for more information on the Book of Abraham (the volume of Mormon scripture).

    Egypt has always held mysteries in its history, concealing the records of time bound in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Historians had to wait until M. Boussard, a French Officer of Engineers, would discover the famous Rosetta Stone in August of 1799 before deciphering many of the ancient Egyptian texts. Who would have known that this discovery, besides unlocking the mysteries of Egypt, would have helped to show Joseph Smith's fraudulence.

    Joseph Smith, Jun. wasn't an Egyptologist. He was however a religious leader, claiming to be a prophet, seer, and revelator - translator of Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyrian, and Arabic characters. Parts of the golden plates were claimed to be written in Egyptian characters (History of the Church, Vol. 1, pg. 20). Joseph claimed the characters were translated by the power of God to produce the Book of Mormon in 1830. This same power Joseph claimed he possessed would be called upon to translate other Egyptian texts, which we are very lucky to have to compare to his translation (unlike the case for the so called, Book of Mormon "Plates").

    On July 3, 1835, Michael H. Chandler arrived in Kirtland with an exhibit of Egyptian mummies. Joseph describes in his journal:

There were four human figures, together with some two or more rolls of papyrus covered with hieroglyphic figures and devices. As Mr. Chandler had been told I could translate them, he brought me some of the characters, and I gave him the interpretation, and like a gentleman, he gave me the following certificate:

Kirtland, July 6, 1835
This is to make known to all who may be desirous, concerning the knowledge of Mr. Joseph Smith, Jun., in deciphering the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics characters in my possession, which I have, in many eminent cities, showed to the most learned; and, from the information that I could ever learn, or meet with, I find that of Mr. Joseph Smith, Jun., to correspond in the most minute matters.

Michael H. Chandler,
Traveling with, and proprietor of, Egyptian mummies.
(History of the Church, Vol.2, pg. 235)

    Joseph Smith, Jun. had thought he was fortuitously delivered ancient Egyptian records that would give him credibility. Little did he know that those same records would someday, today, show his skill, or lack thereof, at translating. Some of the papyri and facsimiles that Joseph Smith translated are in the LDS Church's possession today and copies of some of them can be viewed at this web site.

    Soon after this rich source of Egyptian hieroglyphics arrived in Kirtland the Saints purchased them from Michael H. Chandler. Joseph writes in his journal:

"...with W.W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc., - a more full account which will appear in its place, as I proceed to examine or unfold them. Truly we can say, the Lord is beginning to reveal the abundance of peace and truth. (Italics and bold added, History of the Church, Vol. 2, pg. 236)

    I do agree with Joseph, that through those papyri, the world will be shown an abundance of truth - Joseph's own failure at translating.

    Joseph Smith and early Latter-day Saints believed that the papyri were the actual writings of Abraham. They were completely unaware that the Egyptian text was part of the Egyptian burial rites.

    Another relevant reference is Benjamin Ashby Autobiography, copy of holograph, BYU-S, pg. 8-9:

"One day with my mother, I visited his [Joseph Smith's] house, he was not in but we spent an interesting time with his mother. She exhibited the mummies from which the Book of Abraham was taken as well as the original papyrus on which it was written."

    Another supporting reference is Benjamin Johnson My Life's Review (1947) pg. 24:

"In the course of that year, the Egyptian mummies were bought from Mr. Chandler, by whom they were received from Egypt. Great was our wonder in looking upon the bodies of those who, 4,000 years ago, were living princes and queens. And when the writings of Abraham upon papyrus, which accompanied them were taken from its ancient casket, it seemed marvelous indeed. And all rejoiced when the Prophet told us these writings would be translated, which are now, in part, in the Pearl of Great Price."

    And even another supporting reference includes Warren Foote Autobiography, typescript, BYU-S, pg. 5-6:

"In the afternoon we went into the [Kirtland] Temple, and saw the mummies and the records which were found with them (we went to the prophet's house to see him. This is the first I saw him, and shook hands with him). Joseph Smith Sen. explained them to us, and said the records were the writings of Abraham & Joseph, Jacob's son. Some of the writing was in black, and some in red. He said that the writing in red, was pertaining to the Priesthood."

    Even when people raised questions about the mummies and the Egyptian papyri the response provided by the LDS Church described the:

"... brief history of the manner in which the writings of the fathers, Abraham and Joseph, have been preserved, and how I came in possession of the same -- a correct translation of which I shall give in its proper place." (History of the Church, vol. 2, pg. 348)

    Can there be any doubt that Joseph meant that the papyri had the "writings" of Abraham and Joseph? I do not think so. Although one can argue the definition of translation, one cannot argue the fact that papyri that the LDS Church now possess do not show a record of Abraham and Joseph. Now what about the missing scroll theory? Or should I say the missing TWO scroll theory? This is very very very unlikely because the papyri that we can now see is from two different scrolls. Anyone can look at the photographs of the papyri and match up the "threads" like a fingerprint and see that there are two distinctly different scrolls of papyri. Moreover there is no account of there being any possibility of four scrolls from the personal recorded accounts.

    Also, there are many references indicating that Joseph was translating the Egyptian text in the traditional sense of the word. For instance, Joseph remarked in History of the Church, vol. 2, pg. 238, "The remainder of the month , I was continually engaged in translating an alphabet to the Book of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of Egyptian language as practiced by the ancients." Also as recorded in History of the Church, vol. 2, pg. 286, "This afternoon I labored on the Egyptian alphabet, in company with Brothers Oliver Cowdery and W.W. Phelps, and during the research, the principles of astronomy as understood by Father Abraham and the ancients unfolded to our understanding, the particulars of which will appear hereafter."

Facsimile No. 1

    Statements made by Richard A. Parker, Wilbour Professor of Egyptology and Chairman of the Department of Egyptology at Brown University in the Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 3, no. 2, Summer 1968, p. 86. :

"This is a well-known scene from the Osiris mysteries, with Anubis, the jackal-headed god, on the left ministering to the dead Osiris on the bier. The penicilled(?) restoration is incorrect. Anubis should be jackal-headed. The left arm of Osiris is in reality lying at his side under him. The apparent upper hand is part of the wing of a second bird which is hovering over the erect phallus of Osiris (now broken away). The second bird is Isis and she is magically impregnated by the dead Osiris and then later gives birth to Horus who avenges his father and takes over his inheritance. The complete bird represents Nephthys, sister to Osiris and Isis. Beneath the bier are the four canopic jars with heads representive of the four sons of Horus, human-headed Imseti, baboon-headed Hapy, jackal-headed Duamutef and falcon-headed Kebehsenuf. The hieroglyphs refer to burial, etc. ...."

    Statements made by Klaus Baer, Associate Professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute in the Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1968, pp. 118-119 :

"The vignette on P. JS I is unusual, but parallels exist on the walls of the Ptolemaic temple of Egypt, the closest being the scenes in the Osiris chapels on the roof of the Temple of Dendera. The vignette shows the resurrection of Osiris (who is also the deceased owner of the papyrus) and the conception of Horus. Osiris (2) is represented as a man on a lion-couch (4) attended by Anubis (3), the jackal-headed god who embalmed the dead and thereby assured their resurrection and existence in the hereafter. Below the couch are the canopic jars for the embalmed internal organs. The lids are the four sons of Horus, from the left to right Imset (8), Hapi (7), Qebeh-senuwef (6), and Duwa-mutef (5), who protect the liver, lungs, intestines, and stomach, respectively. At the head of the couch is a small offering stand (10) with a jug and some flowers on it and two larger vases on the ground beside it. The ba of Osiris (1) is hovering above his head.

The versions of Osiris myth differ in telling how Seth disposed of Osiris after murdering him, but he was commonly believed to have cut Osiris into small peices, which he scattered into the Nile, leaving Isis the task of fishing out and assembling the parts of her brother and husband so that he could be resurrected and beget Horus. In this she was helped by Horus in the shap of a crocodile, who is represented in the water (the zigzags) below the vignette (9). Below that is a decorative pattern derived from the niched facade of a protohistoric Egyptian palace.

There are some problems about restoring the missing parts of the body of Osiris. He was almost certainly represented as ithuphallic, ready to beget Horus, as in many of the other scenes at Dendera. I know of no representations of Osiris on a couch with both hands in front of his face. One would expect only one hand in front of his face, while the other was either shown below the body (impossible in P. JS I) or grasping the phallus. It the latter case it would be hard to avoid the suggestion of Professor Richard A. Parker that what looks like the upper hand of Osiris is actually the wingtip of a representation of Isis as a falcon hovering in the act of copulation."

 

Facsimile No. 2

    Facsimile No. 2 is by far one of the most interesting of all of the facsimiles in my opinion. The facsimile no. 2 is a copy of a hypocephalus, an Egyptian funerary amulet that is placed under the head of the deceased. Its purpose was to keep the head warm.

    Sir Wallis Budge, a world renowned Egyptologist, remarked that Joseph Smith's translation of the hypocephalus had "... no archeological value." (The Mummy, A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archeology, by E.A. Wallis Budge, 1989, [first published in 1893], by Dover Publications, Inc., New York, pg. 477.

    Facsimile No. 2 has obviously been altered from the original. Missing portions of the facsimile were copied from other pieces of the papyri Joseph Smith had purchased in 1835. The central figure labeled (1) by Joseph Smith appears to have been copied from figure 2 of the same facsimile. Normally the a four headed Amen-Re appears in this location. Furthermore, figure 3 is an almost exact copy from the Joseph Smith Papyri IV. Also, portions of the outer circle of the facsimile appear to have been copied from the Sensen text of the Joseph Smith papyri XI. The Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar clearly shows these missing portions. Also, the Sensen (Book of Breathings) text lines up with the border of facsimile no. 2 .

    Joseph Smith claimed that the Book of Abraham facsimile no. 2 was "A FACSIMILE FROM THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM". This claim is still displayed above the facsimile to this day in the Pearl of Great Price. But can this be true? Is the facsimile really from the Book of Abraham?

    The Book of Abraham facsimile no. 2 has nothing to do with Abraham at all. Egyptologists have identified facsimile no. 2 as a hypocephalus. A hypocephalus is an Egyptian magic amulet that is placed under the head of the deceased mummy to keep the body warm.

    Joseph Smith published the hypocephalus (facsimile no. 2) in the Times and Seasons in 1842. In this publication Joseph not only claimed that the facsimile was "FROM THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM", but that he could interpret sections of it. He even had numbers placed on specific locations of the facsimile so that he could give his explanation of the figures. Who would have ever guessed that the figures and text that he would attempt to explain were not even from the hypocephalus in the first place?

ABOVE FIGURE: The drawing of the hypocephalus on the left was preserved in what is commonly called the Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. The figure on the right is how the facsimile was presented in the Times and Seasons in 1842.

    The facsimile no. 2 as presented in the Times and Seasons shows what appears to be a complete hypocephalus. However, the drawing of the hypocephalus as shown in Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar shows significant missing portions, including parts of the outer ring, central figure, and much of the upper right quadrant. This indicates that Joseph Smith had the missing portions filled in.

    How can one be so certain that Joseph Smith filled in the missing portions? It's really easy to know, like a jig-saw-puzzle, we can exam where the missing portions existed and see what Joseph Smith put in its place. In these location, we find that Joseph copied from the Book of Breathings and the Book of the Dead scrolls, showing a complete lack of understanding of the Egyptian language.

ABOVE FIGURE: The above figure shows how the Sensen Text from the Book of Breathings scroll was used to fill in the missing portions of the hypocephalus.

    Joseph Smith used the "Small" Sensen Text of the Book of Breathings scroll (lines two, three and four, of the Joseph Smith Papyri IX) to copy and paste them into the outer ring. This not only shows that Joseph Smith didn't know Egyptian, but also that the papyri was not in "perfect preservation". Some Mormons have argued that because Joseph Smith did not provide an explanation of the outer ring that it was not necesary to have it restored correctly. To me, this argument is very weak. If Joseph Smith knew the Egyptian language and was divinely inspired he most certainly should have restored the hypocephalus to its original form. Furthermore, many of the missing portions were numbered and explanations were given to them.

ABOVE FIGURES: The top figure on the left shows the Egyptian characters as they appeared in the drawing preserved in Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. The top figure on the right shows the missing portions filled in. Notice that these figures are numbered 12, 13, 14, 15 as shown in the Book of Abraham facsimile no. 2. The bottom figure shows the Egyptian characters aligned with the "Small" Sensen Text from the Book of Breathings scroll.

    Again, Joseph Smith clearly filled in the missing portion of the hypocephalus and he even numbered these areas so as to identify them for an explanation. In this case, Joseph Smith only noted that the explanation of these figures (12, 13, 14, 15) were to "given in the own due time of the Lord". If you are to examine the areas that were filled in closely you can determine that Joseph Smith once again copied from the Book of Breathings scroll, fourth line of the "Small" Sensen Text.

ABOVE FIGURES: On the left one can see Figure 3 as published in the Times and Seasons. On the right once see the same figure as shown in the Book of the Dead Scroll (Joseph Smith Papyrus IV).

    Joseph Smith not only used the Book of Breathings scroll for material to fill in the missing portions, he also used the Book of the Dead scroll. Furthermore, Joseph Smith provides an interpretation to this figure, as if it existed in the original. The fabrication doesn't stop there....

    Even the central figure (Figure 1, of Facsimile no. 2) which Joseph Smith associates with "Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the Celestial, or the residence to God." is restored incorrectly. Joseph Smith draws the head of the diety off of its shoulders. This is very easy to see when you compare the central figure of other hypocephali (numbered above as 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7) with the one shown in facsimile no. 2 (lettered M). But what source did Joseph Smith use to draw in the head because this piece was missing in the original?

    To fill in the head of the seated diety Joseph Smith simply copied from the standing diety in figure 2 of the same facsimile.

The original for facsimile no. 2 is certainly not from the Book of Abraham as Joseph Smith claimed. In fact, as I have shown, facsimile no. 2 is a combination of the hypocephalus, the Book of Breathings text, and the Book of the Dead figure. In my view, this not only shows that Joseph Smith did not know the Egyptian language, but that he made an effort to hide his lack of understanding by filling in the missing portions. What does this mean to you? I do not know. But, for me, it is just one more example where Joseph Smith acted to misrepresent the truth.

The above figures were reproduced from Gerald and Sandra Tanner's Mormonism: Shadow or Reality, by Jerald and Sandra Tanner , Utah Lighthouse Ministry, P.O. Box 1884, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84110, (801) 485-8894. The images were changed slightly in appearance by drawing an outline, adding descriptive text, and erasing copy blemishes.

Facsimile No. 3

    Facsimile No. 3 is a depiction of a common funerary scene.

    Egyptologist Klaus Baer provides this information about facsimile No. 3 in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1968, pp. 126-127:

    Fascimile No. 3 shows a man (5) his hand raised in adoration and a cone of perfumed grease and a lotus flower on his head (ancient Egyptian festival attire), being introduced by Maat (4), the goddess of justice, and Anubis (6), the guide of the dead, into the presence of Osiris (1), enthroned as king of the Netherworld. Behind Osiris stands Isis (2), and in front of him is an offering-stand (3) with a jug and some flowers on it. Over the whole scene is a canopy with stars painted on it to represent the sky.

    The scene comes from a mortuary papyrus and is similar to, but not identical with the scenes showing judgement of the deceased before Osiris such as P. JS III. It is a summary in one illustration of what the Breathing Permit promised: The deceased, after successfully undergoing judgement is welcomed into the presence of Osiris.

    The texts, poorly copied as they are, carry us one step further. As far as it can be made out, the line of hieroglyphics below the scene reads.

'O Gods of ..., gods of Caverns, gods of the south, north, west, and east, grant well-being to Osiris Hor, justified, ...'

    The characters above and to the left of the man are probably to be read: 'Osiris Hor, justified forever.' Even though Hor is a relatively common name in Greco-Roman Egypt, this does suggest 'Fascimile No. 3' reproduces part of the same manuscript that 'Facsimile No. 2' does. Hor's copy of the Breathing Permit would then have had two vignettes, one at the beginning and another ('Facsimile No. 3) at the end, an arrangement that is found in other copies of the same text."

    Although the recovered papyri from the Metropolitan Museum did not contain the original of the illustration published in the Book of Abraham as Facsimile 3, modern Egyptologists have added their agreement to the earlier criticisms of the 1800s.

From: Larson, p. 108

    Variations of the scene shown on page 109 (Facsimile No. 3) are probably the single most common form of Egyptian funerary scene known -- the deceased being led into the presence of the Court of Osiris, god of the underworld. Eventually the major elements became standardized into chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead, and the particular version in the Joseph Smith papyri is from a later, simplified text. The deceased, wearing the traditional perfumed cone and lotus flower on his head, is led by Maat, goddess of justice (identified by the plume within the orb on her head) into the presence of Osiris. He is supported from behind by Anubis, guide of the dead, who has helped him complete his journey (and assisted him in the use of the spells that were contained in his funeral book). Osiris wears his double-plumed crown, holds the royal flail and crook across his chest, and sits before the ever present libation platform that is common in nearly all drawings containing major god-figures. It is topped by the customary stylized papyrus blossom. Behind him stands his wife Isis, identified by her solar disc and cow horn. The object in her hand is probably an ankh, symbol of life and resurrection.

    Thus the individual Smith identified as the Patriarch Abraham … "reasoning upon astronomy in Pharoah's court" … is actually the pagan Egyptian god Osiris. And the individuals that Joseph Smith identified as Pharoah and his son were actually the goddess Isis, wife of Osiris, and the Egyptian goddess Maat.

From: Larson, pp. 32-33

    Smith's ''Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar,'' as it has come to be called, had never really been lost or missing. For a long time it was simply ignored, and more recently it had been considered restricted. It was among that portion of early Church records the Mormons managed to take with them when they left Nauvoo in 1846, and it was included in the list of materials recorded in the Church Historian's Office Journal as having been deposited in the Historian's fireproof vault in Salt Lake City in 1855. There the manuscript lay, apparently all but forgotten for eighty years, before being "rediscovered" in 1935 during the course of some historical research by Dr. Sidney B. Sperry of Brigham Young University, James R. Clark, a student of Sperry's, and A. William Lund, Assistant Church Historian at the time.2

    These documents were not released for public examination or study, however. For the time being their discovery was not even announced.3 It was not until 1938 that Dr. Sperry was allowed to publish a pair of rather indistinct photographs of two pages from the Alphabet and Grammar notebook which contained part of a translation manuscript from the Book of Abraham. The existence of the entire Grammar was still only hinted at for many years, and only a select handful of scholars and authorities within the LDS Church were allowed access to the material.4 This, despite the great historical significance attached to it by LDS writers like William Berrett, who proudly described it as Joseph Smith's "most notable achievement . . . the development of a Grammar for the Egyptian hieroglyphic form of writing," and "the first Egyptian Grammar in America."

    Curiously, even as late as 1960 (by which time it had been known for some twenty-five years that the "Alphabet and Grammar" had survived and was in the Church's possession) Dr. Sperry remarked at BYU's Pearl of Great Price Conference that he did not know whether or not the Church authorities would yet allow it to be published, adding that he thought "it would be a little premature, perhaps, to do it now, until we can really do a good job of it."6

    Others who had occasion to come into contact with the material apparently disagreed with the Church's reluctance in the matter. Late in 1965 a microfilm copy of the entire work was "leaked" to Jerald and Sandra Tanner of Modern Microfilm Company (now Utah Lighthouse Ministry). The Tanners were former Mormons who were rapidly gaining a reputation for printing documents relating to Mormonism that, though authentic, made Church officials uncomfortable. By 1966 the Tanners had produced the first complete photomechanical reprint and transcription of the entire Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar.

    But contrary to what most Mormons evidently expected, publication of the Alphabet and Grammar in no way substantiated Joseph Smith's ability to translate ancient Egyptian. Quite the opposite, for the book turned out to be nothing but page after page of nonsensical gibberish. Though it had apparently succeeded at one time in impressing unsophisticated minds, the work was unable to withstand the scrutiny of experts.

    Professional Egyptologists to whom the Alphabet and Grammar was submitted for examination were quick to point out that the material in Joseph Smith's notebook bore no resemblance at all to any correct understanding of the ancient Egyptian language. As one of them, I. E. Edwards, put it, the whole work was, "largely a piece of imagination and lacking in any kind of scientific value." He added that it reminded him of "the writings of psychic practitioners which are sometimes sent to me." There were many similar verdicts, all confirming that the person responsible for what Berrett had glowingly called "the first Egyptian grammar in America" could not possibly have understood the ancient Egyptian language.

    The Joseph Smith papyri and the Egyptian the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar are distinctly connected. Soon after Joseph Smith aquired the Egyptian papyri in early July 1835, he started working on the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. The History of the Church, Vol.2, Ch.17, p.238 indicates that Joseph Smith devoted the rest of the month of July to his work:

    "The remainder of this month, I was continually engaged in translating an alphabet to the Book of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of the Egyptian language as practiced by the ancients."

    Joseph Smith's use of the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar continued beyond the month of July. In October 1835 he is reported to have used the Egyptian Alphabet to interpret some of the Egyptian artifacts. See History of the Church, Vol.2, Ch.21, p.286:

    "This afternoon I labored on the Egyptian alphabet, in company with Brothers Oliver Cowdery and W. W. Phelps, and during the research, the principles of astronomy as understood by Father Abraham and the ancients unfolded to our understanding, the particulars of which will appear hereafter."

    What appears to be the Joseph Smith Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar has been published by the Modern Microfilm Company (Utah Lighthouse Ministry) in 1966. A copy of the document can still be obtained from them for approximately seven dollars. After looking over the document it is no surprise that Mormon scholars been making incredible rationalizations for its existence. Without going into to much detail I will present some evidence that you the reader can verify for yourself.

    First, the hypocephalus (facsimile no. 2) shown on one of the pages of the Joseph Smith Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar shows missing portions. These same missing portions have been filled in on the facsimile no. 2 which is now in the Book of Abraham. The "filled in" portions of facsimile no. 2 have been shown to be reproductions from both the Sensen Text of Joseph Smith Papyri XI and a figure from Joseph Smith Papyri IV. So the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar reproduction of the hypocephalus verifies the fact that Joseph Smith fabricated and altered sections of the facsimile no. 2.

    Secondly, the text the Sensen text that is "translated" in the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. The word "translated" is used loosely here because one Egyptian character is aligned with an entire sentence of the Book of Abraham text. Obviously there is not enough information in one character to translate the amount of material that is shown in the Joseph Smith Alphabet and Grammar, yet this is what was done. Interestingly enough the same Sensen text that was used to fill in the missing portions of facsimile no. 2 are aligned in the columns of the "translated" Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. In my opinion, it is obvious that Joseph Smith had written the Book of Abraham using his research on Abraham and then later reconstructed the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. This reverse engineering theory is the only logical alternative in my opinion.

 Evaluation

    It is understandable that people with their whole lives invested in involvement with the LDS Church … perhaps even going back many generations in their family … would desperately attempt to find "excuses" for Joseph Smith in this matter of the Book of Abraham. After all, the issues at stake are at the very foundation of the organization. If Joseph Smith was actually utterly unable to translate Egyptian, and thus the Book of Abraham is just the product of his own imagination, then there is no reason to believe any of his other claims of authority as a Prophet, and the Restorer of Christianity after 1800 years of apostasy. This is no doubt a totally unacceptable outcome for those whose whole identity has been as Mormons for perhaps their entire life. And thus, indeed, the leadership of the organization has made numerous attempts to "explain away" the obvious conclusion of this whole matter, from the time the papyri were found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to today. For that obvious conclusion, based on all of the facts at hand, is that the Book of Abraham is a total hoax.

    While it is understandable for Mormons themselves to be willing to deceive themselves about this reality in order to maintain their "faith" in their founding Prophet, and thus not have to disrupt their lives, there is no reason at all for others to buy into such delusions.

    And thus it is important for anyone even vaguely considering "buying into" the claims of Mormonism … perhaps as a result of visits from Mormon missionaries to their home … to clearly understand the facts of the controversy surrounding the Book of Abraham. If this brief overview has raised questions in the minds of any readers, they are urged to consult the references in the documentation section below for as much information as they could possibly need to come to their own conclusion on this matter.