The Missing Pieces

[_Joe Geisner]

Smith-Pettit have given us one of the most powerful books to come along and we get it right at the beginning of 2012. This could be a sign from heaven that the Mormon book world is being blessed with an incredible year.

In "The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri - A Complete Edition" Robert Ritner has done a service to students of Mormonism and the Book of Abraham. Here is one of the great Egyptologist of today looking at Mormon scripture and taking the subject seriously. Mormon apologists have been quite successful in steering non-Mormon scholars away from Mormon subjects through all kinds of sneaky and underhanded maneuvers. Ritner has decided not to be intimidated by the apologists tactics and takes this on in a straightforward way. Ritner has done for the Book of Abraham what Michael Coe has done for the Book of Mormon. They both have given us a pair of glasses so that we can see clearly what scholars of both subjects think of Mormon scripture and its place in the historical record.

We are quite lucky for this analysis. Thank you Robert Ritner. Here is three paragraphs of Ritner dealing with the missing papyri nonsense. He is talking about the Book of Breathings Made By Isis. This is the papyri that Joseph Smith used to translate the Book of Abraham. Before these paragraphs he is describing the papyri's physical nature. Enjoy Ritner and his book. This is a great work:


Here the papyrus ended. The general wording, implications, basic symbolism and intent of the text are certain. Despite claims to the contrary, no extended portions of this papyrus are missing that might have held the Book of Abraham, which is explicitly tied to this text as indicated by the vignettes/Facsimiles. While the link between the papyrus and the Book of Abraham is indisputable on a rational basis, that conclusion does not serve apologetic ends. In his preface to the 2005 revision of Nibley’s work, Gee has attempted to exploit a semantic distinction in the term “source” to deny this obvious association: “Still, there is no reason to assume that Papyrus Joseph Smith I + IX + X is the source of the Book of Abraham. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had no official position on the issue, and most members of the church do not believe that it is. The Egyptologists are adamant that it is not, and so everyone seems to be in agreement on that issue.”

Gee’s glib remarks on supposed Egyptological agreement suppress the very subtitle of Baer’s basic study of the text, “A Translation of the Apparent Source of the Book of Abraham.” Egyptologists have been adamant that the Book of Abraham does derive from P. Joseph Smith 1, which was its purported source according to Smith himself. The fact that Smith’s published interpretation of the papyrus is pure fantasy is indication not of a lost papyrus or section, but of the ultimate source of Smith’s wording—his imagination. Since there is agreement that Smith could not translate accurately the hieroglyphs on Facsimile 3—despite his published claims to the contrary—there is no reason to believe that he could have translated any supposedly lost section of the papyrus with greater accuracy. Here there is no question of a lost, “extra text,” but a portion of the Breathing Document itself, surviving in Smith’s copy and interpreted fallaciously by Smith himself.

Whether this assessment will have any impact beyond the world of scholarship is questionable, since Gee has noted that “Members of the Church of Jesus Christ in general have no pretensions about holding any dialogue with critics. They simply do not, for the most part, care what their critics say.” While that may well be true for many, it does not account for the extraordinary interest in the Joseph Smith Papyri among Mormons of all opinions, as evidenced by email, chatrooms, web postings, and the continued publications of Nibley, Rhodes and Gee himself. Clearly FARMS has taken a direct interest in the Egyptological opinions concerning these papyri, and it aspires to scholarly acceptance, but where faith and scholarship are irreconcilable, the apologists defer to faith. I prefer scholarship. The reader may choose for himself.

[_Bret Ripley]

Thanks, Joe. I very much look forward to getting my hands on Ritner's book.

[_Fence Sitter]

Thanks, Joe. I very much look forward to getting my hands on Ritner's book.

Me too, except the Amazon price is outrageous.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0071OI5EQ/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&qid=1327853761&sr=1-1&condition=all


$100.00 really?

[_Doctor Scratch]

Congrats to Ritner--this is a real blow against the Mopologists, who have been trying for a long time to damage his reputation. It will be very interesting to see what kind of a response--if any--will be dropped out onto the pages of the FARMS Review. I'll bet that John Gee is just quaking with rage in response to this book.

[_Blixa]

Thanks, Joe. I was hoping you would post this here. I'd love to get a look at Ritner's book myself but I'm going to have to wait 'til I can find a library copy.

[_Fence Sitter]

Joe,

Are there color images of the papyri in the book? Good ones?

[_DrW]

Does anyone know if this book has been discussed over on the MADBoard (MDD)?

From what I can see, this looks like something that Kevin (Xander) Graham could use to consolidate his position over there.

[_Joe Geisner]

I am very glad that people enjoyed the quote from Ritner. This is just scratching the surface.

Fence Sitter,

Yes, the images are in color. I need to ask Gary, but I believe these are high resolution images. The quality of the paper and images is exceptional.

I am a bit confused by the Amazon price, but if people would like to contact book dealers I deal with, I would be more than happy to share their contact information. I know that one is selling the book for retail at $80.00 with free postage and another is giving a 10% discount but charging postage. Send me a PM and I will send details.

As for the price of $80.00, for an Egyptian book, this is quite a reasonable price. FARMS was selling Rhodes The Hor Book of Breathings (2005) for $40.00, but had to raise the price on Books of the Dead Belonging to Tshemmin and Neferirnub (2011) to $90.00. The Ritner book has all the papyri pieces in one volume, and when I say all, I mean all. This is more than both Rhodes books put together.

I want to make clear that I stand by my words on the Rhodes books. I think they are important contributions, in fact significant contributions to the Smith papyri studies. If you are interested, my review of Hor is found: http://user.xmission.com/~research/central/trans17.htm

Ritner does takes to task some of Rhodes translation on the Hor Book of Breathings. I think this is fine and helpful, but for the most part Rhodes did an excellent job.

Personally I think there should have been headlines that a Mormon apologist (Rhodes) showed Smith had no idea what he was doing with the Egyptian papyri. This should be shouted from the roof tops.

I agree Scratch. If Gee is smart, he and Maxwell Institute will not touch this book in their reviews. If their past history is any indication (New Approaches to the Book of Mormon and Insiders View of Mormon Origins) they will write volumes of nonsense and kill a bunch of innocent trees.

[_Doctor Scratch]

I agree Scratch. If Gee is smart, he and Maxwell Institute will not touch this book in their reviews. If their past history is any indication (New Approaches to the Book of Mormon and Insiders View of Mormon Origins) they will write volumes of nonsense and kill a bunch of innocent trees.

It puts them in a bit of a bind, doesn't it? On the one hand, doing nothing would be tantamount to admitting defeat. On the other hand, if they respond, it could very well be disastrous. I have a hard time seeing how they would be able to restrain their vitriol.

[_bcspace]

Ritner has done for the Book of Abraham what Michael Coe has done for the Book of Mormon.

An atheist commenting on scripture?