A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This "guide", publish by FARMS, is just 70 pages consisting of 44 pages of text with the remainder mostly credits, glossary and further reading. The pages are very colourful and almost every one contains a diagram or table. It was an enjoyable read which lasted about 15 minutes.
This book tracks the history of the actual papyri, some of the current theories in regard to the canonized translation and a brief discussion on the facsimiles.
In regards to explaining why the papyri have no direct correlation to what was translated, the author mentions the most common theories, argues against the non-Mormon ones, but then fails to commit to the remaining, leaving the reader unsure of what the point was if there was any.
The best explanations presented are in regards to Facsimile No.1. The first point is on the irrelevancy of the priest's head not being a jackal head as most sceptics would argue (because a priest without the headdress is still a priest), and secondly he argues that the hands of Abraham on the lion's couch could not be the wings of a bird (as most sceptics believe), and he shows why.
Having addressed these two "issues", the author then ends the book and fails to touch on the dozens of other issues current with the "Book of Abraham".
I'm unsure who the target audience is, but a more thorough work to match the "By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus" (Charles M. Larson) would have made this a highly recommended *book*.


Click Here to see more reviews about: A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri

Since the rediscovery of the Joseph Smith Papyri in 1967, the papyrihave been the center of conflicting, and often confusing, claims. Thisfull-color, reader-friendly guide contains an overview of the basicfacts and major theories about the papyri, along with helpful maps,illustrations, charts, and glossaries of terms and names.Written by Egyptologist John Gee, this guide reflects not only thelatest Egyptological research but also the most recent Latter-daySaint thought about the papyri. A Guide to the Joseph SmithPapyri provides answers to such questions as: What are the JosephSmith Papyri? What do they look like? What did they contain? Where didthe Joseph Smith Papyri come from and what happened to them? What doesthe Book of Abraham have to do with the Joseph Smith Papyri? What is aBook of Breathings? How does it relate to the Joseph Smith Papyri?What do Latter-day Saints and non-Latter-day Saints think about thepapyri? What issues do they agree on?

Click here for more information about A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri