John Gee's Latest Hit Piece

[_Sophocles]

Any body know what was going on in LDS church when it cannonized the Book of Abraham?
In other words, why?

When the PoGP was canonized the Book of Abraham was far from the most controversial thing in it. As I recall, the JST was the issue. Brigham Young wasn't keen on the idea of canonizing something that came from the RLDS apostates. So after Young died, one of the first things John Taylor did was canonize the PoGP in 1880.

There were already scholarly articles in circulation at the time claiming that the source material for the Book of Abraham was funerary in nature and had nothing to do with Abraham (they could tell from some of the pixels, and from seeing quite a few 'shops in their time) but an 1878 booklet by George Reynolds (of Reynolds v. US) entitled The Book of Abraham: Its Authenticity Established as a Divine and Ancient Record appears to have put the matter at rest in the minds of the Saints.

Short answer: they just thought it was great stuff. Hell, it was scriptures with pictures--who could beat that? They had no idea that it would turn out to be such a headache for them.

[_Kishkumen]

Short answer: they just thought it was great stuff. Hell, it was scriptures with pictures--who could beat that? They had no idea that it would turn out to be such a headache for them.

I think a lot of the stuff in LDS scripture is cool. If you take out the racism and sexism, there's a lot of great material in there. I simply don't find it at all important or valuable to argue against its obvious 19th century context.

[_harmony]

It beggars belief that a PhD bearing Egyptologist of Gee's raw intelligence and intensive training would squander his talents, education, and reputation on this utter nonsense.

You can buy anything on this earth with money, including intelligence, talents, education, and reputation.

Maybe he just wanted to be one of the important guys?

[_Kishkumen]

You can buy anything on this earth with money, including intelligence, talents, education, and reputation.

Maybe he just wanted to be one of the important guys?

Important in LDS circles?