Posted in Book of Abraham Egyptian language Origins Scholarship Translation

Royal Skousen’s Interesting Theory on the Book of Abraham and Its Relationship to the Papyri

A reader raised an interesting question after reading Dr. Royal Skousen’s C.V. at BYU, where he mentions a theory he is exploring that has not yet been published. Under the…

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Posted in Book of Abraham Egyptian language Problems Translation

Puzzling Content in the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar

When I first started looking at the Kirtland Egyptian Papers in detail on the Joseph Smith Papers site, I was immediately struck by the surprisingly specific and narrowly focused content…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Abraham Egyptian Evidence Scholarship Translation

Do the Kirtland Egyptian Papers Prove the Book of Abraham Was Translated from a Handful of Characters? See for Yourself!

In a small but highly valuable and colorful book on the Book of Abraham, John Gee’s A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and…

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Posted in Antiquity Book of Mormon Egyptian Evidence language Origins

New Life for Ancient Word Plays in the Book of Mormon: Paanchi, Ankh, and Deadly Oaths

It’s no secret that secret combinations are one of the most salient and intelligent aspects of the Book of Mormon. The patterns of behavior and potential dangers in exposed secret…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Abraham Egyptian Evidence Scholarship Translation

Some Resources for the Puzzling Facsimile 3 of the Book of Abraham

Latter-day Saints interested in the Pearl of Great Price have much to be excited about thanks to recent scholarship giving us many more insights into the significance and meaning of…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Abraham Egyptian Evidence history language Scholarship Scripture Translation

John Gee’s Introduction to the Book of Abraham: A Lifetime of Book of Abraham Scholarship Distilled into a Valuable Book for a Broad Audience

It was a pleasure to read John Gee’s recently published An Introduction to the Book of Abraham (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and BYU Religious Studies Center,…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Mormon Egyptian Evidence Hebrew language wordplays

The Rod of Iron: Part of Another Intriguing Wordplay in the Book of Mormon

In a recent article I prepared for The Interpreter, “The Great and Spacious Book of Mormon Arcade Game: More Curious Works from Book of Mormon Critics” (Interpreter: A Journal of…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Mormon Books Egyptian Evidence Hebrew Israel language Mesoamerica Scholarship Translation

Uto-Aztecan and Its Connection to Near Eastern Languages, Part 3: The Egyptian Infusion, Plus the Explanatory Power of Stubbs’ Framework

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we introduced examples of cognates characteristic of two Semitic infusions into Uto-Aztecan, named by Stubbs as the Semitic-p and Semitic-kw infusions,…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Egyptian Evidence Hebrew language Scholarship

Robert F. Smith and the Preposterous Book of Mormon

Having raised the issue of linguistics and Book of Mormon evidence in my last post, let me point to an intriguing recent presentation with some weighty discoveries relevant to the…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Antiquity Book of Abraham Egyptian Evidence history Scholarship Scripture

Truer Than Ever: The Book of Abraham

One of the biggest challenges to my personal testimony of the reality of the Restoration came when I was serving as Bishop years ago. I was exploring one of the…

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