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[Shulem]

Ed, is this board your peer review? Or will you (have you) sent it out into the wider (non lds) realms of egyptology for feedback?

I'm going to provide Ed the courtesy of reviewing his paper and I trust he will value my comments and look forward to what I might have to say. I do plan to be respectful and avoid being condescending about his work. I'll just tell him what I think and let him do with it what he may.

He can't ask for anything more from me. I trust that will satisfy. But, I'm in no rush, bit by bit -- here a little and there a little.

[Shulem]

The conclusion in this paper is that the GAEL author (perhaps Joseph Smith)

Let's start out on the right foot, shall we? There was one man appointed to receive revelations for the whole church. The one man, like unto a Moses, appointed as THE Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator for the entire Church was Joseph Smith. It was Smith who authored Mormonism from the beginning -- he being the author and proprietor of the Book of Mormon and moreover the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

The GAEL does in fact contain handwritten sections written by Smith himself but his preferred method was to dictate while appointed scribes wrote what fell from the author's lips. Such was the case with the Book of Abraham texts including the Explanations of the Facsimiles. Those things were written down according to what was worded by the author, Joseph Smith.

No man received revelations for the entire Church except it be through Joseph Smith. That was the standing law of the Church and Smith stood by it. The GAEL was maintained by the office of the First Presidency. It was kept and preserved under lock and key by Joseph Smith himself. Later, First Presidency member, Willard Richards removed the records in his luggage to Salt Lake where the records would continue to be preserved under lock and key of the First Presidency.

So, there is no "perhaps" about it. The author of the GAEL was none other than Joseph Smith himself.

Just so we're clear on that!

[Ed1]

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[Ed1]

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[Shulem]

The conclusion in this paper is that the GAEL author (perhaps Joseph Smith), correctly identified the Egyptological elements he was working with, treating them as pictographic, running "stories,"

Take into consideration the Egyptological elements of Facsimile No. 3, those were not correctly identified but are within the realms of fantasy and imagination. One might say they were borrowed or used to create another story that is unrelated to the text and picture -- but, we know through explanations given by eyewitnesses that Smith identified the text and pictures in literal terms, hence today -- Houston, we have a problem! You know what Smith said concerning the text and pictures of Facsimile No. 3, and there is not a single Egyptologist alive that will vouch for any of that nonsense which has been proven to be Smith's fantasy derived out of his imagination.

. . . . but at the same time, engaging in a form of divination known as "Grammatomancy" by the Holy Ghost, to give prophetic context to the elements in the Hor Breathing Permit

That is a mighty big word and I had to look it up. Did Smith have a bag of magical letters? Pick a letter, any letter? Anything goes!




Behold, Joseph, the Spirit sayeth there is a King's name in the writing up in the left corner of Facsimile No. 3, just above the head of that lovely lady who is the king of Egypt -- but thus sayeth the Lord, ye must not touch her breasts, lest ye perish. Ye cannot write the name of the king for it it is not given unto thee at this time. But look, see the black slave at the end of the line. His name is Olimlah. He is cursed from the priesthood and is a descendant of the seed of Cain. The king of Egypt is also cursed having come from the loins of Ham.

[IHAQ]

Ed, is this board your peer review? Or will you (have you) sent it out into the wider (non lds) realms of egyptology for feedback?

It would be helpful if you were to a degree, yes. What do you suggest I do to do that kind of thing for the wider realms of Egyptology? In times past I have threw things out on reddit and such, for example on the Mormon Scholar section. Is that your recommendation this time around too? But also subjected myself to a lot of verbal abuse above and beyond what I get here when I did that. I have found your feedback in the past on certain points especially useful.

I think you will get good feedback from Shulem.
I think you'd get feedback from a different perspective from the likes of Gee, Muhlestein etc which you may find useful if they'd be as generous with their time as Shulem is being.

But I guess I'm not sure where you are going with this. Will you try and get it published? Will you self publish? Is this just for your own personal interest?

[Ed1]

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[IHAQ]

Apologies, I had no intention of triggering those bad memories.

I think it will be great to read you and Shulem going back and forth on this thread.

[Ed1]

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[Shulem]

By this process, a strange hybrid between Egyptological Scholarship and Divination, the GAEL Author created the text of the Book of Abraham.

A strange hybrid? That sounds like a personal problem -- Houston, we have a mongrel!

So, Smith crossbred Egyptology with Mormonology?

Smith didn't claim to mix two different unrelated components in order to come up with the original. That's just modern apologetic nonsense (crazy talk) in a vain attempt to justify his voodoo like Egyptian translations.

When Smith publicly in front of witnesses, pointed at specific characters on the papyrus and identified them as the autograph of one of the patriarchs, he said what he meant and meant what he said. Later, President John Taylor (an eyewitness) said that Smith's ability to translate was to "translate it literally". That means to translate Egyptian into English or English into Egyptian! Take your pick! Either way, it's the same.