Category: Translation
Is the Book of Abraham Translation Dependent on the Kirtland Egyptian Papers? Revisiting The Pearl of Greatest Price
A potentially troublesome flaw in the discussion of the Book of Abraham in the generally good book by Terryl Givens (with Brian Hauglid), The Pearl of Greatest Price, is its…
Points to Consider in the Concoted “Egyptian” Characters in the KEP
Update, Dec. 24 and 26, 2019: The statement describing the papyri originally occurs in a letter signed by Oliver Cowdery, so it is his, not Joseph’s description. Perhaps because it…
More on the Meaning of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers: Recent Explorations Based on Comments at Interpreter
One of the best things about finally having a reply from the Joseph Smith Papers Project on the issue of alleged flaws in scholarship in their volume on the Book…
Back and Forth with the Book of Abraham: Fascinating Circular Footnotes
One of the things I love about blogging and writing occasional articles for The Interpreter, Meridian Magazine or other places is the ability to get rapid feedback from those with…
Review of Terryl Givens and Brian Hauglid, The Pearl of Greatest Price: Mormonism’s Most Controversial Scripture
A new book related to the Pearl of Great Price has just been published by two well-known LDS scholars, Dr. Terryl Givens and Dr. Brian Hauglid, both currently associated with…
Feeling Blue About the Red Sea in the Book of Mormon?
Criticism about the Book of Mormon’s references to the Red Sea came up in some recent comments, so I thought I’d share a couple of perspectives that might be helpful…
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…
Ifs, Ands, or Buts: A Reminder on the Origins of the Book of Mormon
In a past Maxwell Institute publication, Daniel Peterson made a great point about the nature of the language in the Book of Mormon that seems to defy theories of Joseph…
Did Joseph’s Scribes Think He Translated Paragraphs of Text from a Single Egyptian Character? A View from W.W. Phelps
In using the Kirtland Egyptian Papers (KEP) to discredit Joseph’s “translation” of the Book of Abraham, it is assumed that these papers show that Joseph and his scribes thought that…
The Smoking Gun for Joseph’s Translation of the Book of Abraham, or Copied Manuscripts from an Existing Translation?
Thanks to the Joseph Smith Papers website and its section on the Book of Abraham, we can explore in detail the surviving manuscripts related to production and translation of the…
