Link to a journal by Kerry Muhlestein: https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/joseph-smith-and-egyptian-artifacts-model-evaluating-prophetic-nature-prophets-ideas-about
In 1835 Joseph Smith began translating some ancient Egyptian papyri that he had obtained from an exhibitor passing through Kirtland, Ohio. He soon announced, “Much to our joy [we] found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham.”[1] While we do not know how much the Prophet translated, we Read more…
Link to video about the Book of Abraham: https://devotional.byuh.edu/media131112
Many critics have claimed that Joseph Smith’s translation of Egyptian papyri and his interpretation of Egyptian drawings do not match with what Egyptologists would say about these things. Such critics thus call into question his ability to translate ancient records. A more careful examination reveals that these claims are based Read more…
Many people often ask about how Joseph Smith’s explanations of the Facsimiles compares to those of Egyptologists. This is a question worth asking. As with all things regarding history, symbolism, and interpretations, those who want a simple answer will find themselves unsatisfied with an accurate answer. Sadly, many times people Read more…
For most people, the idea of translating is fairly straightforward. Conventionally, when someone translates, he reads a document in one language he understands and renders it into another language he understands. The difficulty in assessing the Book of Abraham is that while Joseph Smith says he translated the Book of Read more…
As was mentioned in the last column (click here to read it), it was almost universally assumed that all of the papyri Joseph Smith had once owned had been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Thus many were surprised when the papyri surfaced in 1967. One of the Read more…
When Napoleon invaded Egypt he opened it up to a wave of Western exploration that the country had never known. Soon after his defeat there, many European countries sent consuls to Egypt with one major goal: bring back amazing antiquities and that is exactly what they did. Further reading: https://ldsmag.com/article-1-14683/