If anyone is into old books, they have a 1872 first edition of Destroying Angel on Amazon.com for $80. I am tempted to buy it and still might, but I like to mark up my books with underlines and notes. Still might pull the trigger and buy it if none of you want it.
Willy Law wrote:If anyone is into old books, they have a 1872 first edition of Destroying Angel on Amazon.com for $80. I am tempted to buy it and still might, but I like to mark up my books with underlines and notes. Still might pull the trigger and buy it if none of you want it.
(I wonder I my wife would notice another $80.00 charge?)
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
"After these background evens comes an unsuccessful attempt to murder two non-Mormons traveling south in February 1857 authorized by secret letters from Brigham Young to his southern bishops.A miscarried plot succeeded in inadvertently wounding four other men, Using these same letters, Springville's bishop Aaron Johnson ordered the execution of "apostates" in March 1847, resulting in three deaths and an attempt of a fourth. Four months later, the Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred"
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
"After these background evens comes an unsuccessful attempt to murder two non-Mormons traveling south in February 1857 authorized by secret letters from Brigham Young to his southern bishops.A miscarried plot succeeded in inadvertently wounding four other men, Using these same letters, Springville's bishop Aaron Johnson ordered the execution of "apostates" in March 1847, resulting in three deaths and an attempt of a fourth. Four months later, the Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred"
Springville and environs was kind of an epicenter of this violence for a while. You should read Polly Aird's book, "Mormon Convert, Mormon Defector," for an "on the ground" account of these times.
I just got Playing with Shadows: Voices of Dissent in the Mormon West in the mail today. I've been waiting for it for a long time: Polly writes about George Armstrong Hicks and I'm glad that his memory will be done some justice. He's one of a score of Saints from that era that deserve to be lauded and better known by their brethern.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
While recent disputes over this or that feature of Smith's interpretation typically dominate these exchanges, often lost in the greater picture is the simple fact that the Mormon defense of the Book of Abraham has been lost for well over a century. Long past are the days when any speculation could be attributed to the Egyptian language or history; such fantasies are intellectual casualties from Napoleon's Egyptian expedition and the decipherment of hieroglyphs by Champollion. As noted in the included essay by Christopher Woods, the depiction of Mesopotamian society in the Book of Abraham is no less problematic. The basic events of Smith's romance do not correspond with either Mesopotamian or Egyptian history, and outside Mormon confessional institutions, the Book of Abraham is not taught--or usually even noted--in studies of ancient history, religion or society.
"The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri" Robert K Ritner pg 8
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Clearly, the need for a full edition of these texts is both justified and long past-due, and, given their importance in American religious and social history, the publication must be accessible not merely to Egyptologist but to non-specialist within and outside of the LDS religious community for whom the Book of Abraham was produced. This dual focus necessarily repeats older, and obsolete, translations of minor value for modern Egyptologist, but of great significance for the historiography of the papyri and for demonstrating to non-Egyptologist the evolving process of deciphering the fragmented documents. Rather than restricting these variant translations to footnotes, as originally suggested, the variants are provided in the body of the text for easy comparison. In return, the editions contain specialized transliterations and often complex notes establishing major or minor differences in the Egyptian readings and interpretations. Such minutiae have been largely confined to the footnotes so that the non=specialist reader need not be detained.
Published criticism by Mormon apologist (often vituperative) is further treated in the notes (often bluntly), where they may be ignored by Egyptologist, who have little interest in such parochial matters.
The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri" Robert K Ritner pg 8 & 9
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Blixa wrote: " I do not question whether Hickman actually wrote Brigham’s Destroying Angel. It is too accurate in its details to have been written by anyone else."
Wouldn't this make Hickman some kind of squealer who broke the omerta? Seems if you are going to be a made man, you need to keep your vows. Keeping your trap shut against the Godfather is a given unless one entered into the Territorial Witness Protection program.
In Ptolemaic Thebes, a well-to-do Egyptian could be buried with various funerary papyri in order to ensure a life in the hereafter free of care. Horos, the original owner of the Joseph Smith Papyri, had a least one other funerary composition at his disposal in the underworld, for in 1998 his abbreviated copy of the Book of the Dead surfaced in Paris, France.
Maybe the Book of Isaac exists?
Last edited by Guest on Sat Feb 11, 2012 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Blixa wrote: " I do not question whether Hickman actually wrote Brigham’s Destroying Angel. It is too accurate in its details to have been written by anyone else."
Wouldn't this make Hickman some kind of squealer who broke the omerta? Seems if you are going to be a made man, you need to keep your vows. Keeping your trap shut against the Godfather is a given unless one entered into the Territorial Witness Protection program.
His goose was already pretty much cooked when he spilled the beans.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
