Controversy over the Book of Abraham
Is the Pearl of Great Price a Translation?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognizes four books as sacred scripture. The Bible is recognized by all Christian churches. The historicity of the Book of Mormon has been debated for decades, and the Doctrine and Covenants is simply a book of revelations. The Pearl of Great Price contains one book that causes the greatest amount of controversy between Mormons and Mormon critics.
Unlike the Book of Mormon, where the source material is not available to be examined, the Pearl of Great Price publishes facsimiles in the Book of Abraham that are now known to be common Egyptian funerary texts from the 100 C.E. The scrolls that were purchased by Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio, during the 1830s were thought to be lost to history, but the scrolls were discovered in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1960s and the papyri were presented to the Mormon church in 1967.
The Recovery of the Joseph Smith Papyri
Emma Bidamon, the widow of the Mormon founder, would retain the scrolls her former husband bought in Kirtland until she sold them to A. Combs in the 1860s. The scrolls were moved to Chicago and thought to be lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The church bought the papyri several years after their discovery.
The problems with the text are discussed in detail in the Charles M. Larson's book, By His Own Hand Upon Papryus. The author lost his job after publication, and the book itself suffers from additions added by his publisher, who insisted that the last chatper of a book be a call for conversion.
Controversy over the Book of Abraham
When Joseph Smith began work on the Book of Abraham, information about the Rosetta Stone, which had been discovered in the 1820s, had not yet reached the American West. Works such as "The Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar," show that Joseph Smith worked on an attempt at understanding the scrolls, but what he produced shows almost no relevance to the translation of Egyptologists.
Critics of the Church have used the Book of Abraham facsimiles in an attempt to debunk Mormonism. LDS Scholars, such as Hugh Nibley, have came up with new ideas for the translation, insisting that the parts of the Breathing Permit of Hor, which was part of the Joseph Smith papyri, only served as divine inspiration for the text.
The science of Egyptology can disprove that Joseph Smith intended a literal translation of the the text. Quotes from Joseph Smith, Jr., indicate that is what the prophet himself intended, but the problem only exists for the denominations of the Restorationist movement that accept the Pearl of Great Price as scripture. The Community of Christ, the second largest church that follows the teachings of Joseph Smith did not adopt the book as part of its canon, according to the Community of Christ web site.
Historical Value of the Scrolls
The papryi remain in the church archives, where the church preserves them. Scholars from the University of Chicago submitted a request to view the papyri in 2003, which was turned down by Steven R. Sorenson, director of the church's archives, according to the July 2003 issue of the University of Chicago's Journal of Near Eastern Studies.
The reason given that was existing photographs would be enough to verify if there were additional parts of the Breathing Permit of Hor in the possession of the Mormon church.
Sources:
By His Own Hand Upon Payrus. Charles M. Larson. Institute for Religious Research 2002.
The Pearl of Great Price -- Divinely Inspired Scripture
Latest Articles