Category: Book of Abraham
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Papyri Undermines Negro Doctrine
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner The Mormon Prophet David O. McKay made this statement in a letter dated November 3, 1947: I know of no scriptural basis for denying the Priesthood to Negroes other than one verse in the Book of Abraham (1:26); however, I believe, as you suggest, that the real reason dates back…
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Nibley Endorses Nelson’s Work
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In the last Messenger we told that Dee Jay Nelson, a Mormon Egyptologist, was given photographs of the Mormon Papyri by special permission of N. Eldon Tanner (a member of the First Presidency) before they were published in the Improvement Era. Mr. Nelson translated the papyri, but he felt that…
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Papyri Prove Book of Abraham Untrue
The Metropolitan Museum gifted the Mormon Church Joseph Smith’s papyri, revealing the “Book of Abraham” as a fraudulent translation from an Egyptian “Book of Breathings.”
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More Harm Than Good?
Hugh Nibley’s initial attempt at translating the Joseph Smith papyri rendered a faulty result that may hurt his credibility on the subject.
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A Real Dialogue
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In the Spring of 1966 a group of Mormons published the first issue of a publication entitled, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. The editors of this journal claimed that they would present both sides of an issue, but we were rather skeptical and felt the they might eventually be…
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Papyri Not About Abraham
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In the year 1835 the Mormon people purchased some Egyptian mummies and rolls of papyrus. Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, translated a portion of the papyrus and published it under the title “The Book of Abraham.” This book is now found as part of the Pearl of Great Price—one of…
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Fall of the Book of Abraham
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner Dr. Hugh Nibley, who is supposed to be the Mormon Church’s top authority on the Egyptian language, made this statement: . . . a few faded and tattered little scraps of papyrus may serve to remind the Latter-day Saints of how sadly they have neglected serious education . . . Not only has our…
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The Mormon Papyri Question
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner Paul Hughes, publisher’s consultant of Reveille Magazine, wrote an article in which he stated: George Romney has precipitated a crisis in the Mormon Church that may well rank with the plague of the locusts, and this time there are no providential gulls in sight. . . . interior tensions, accelerating now for…
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Dr. Nibley Repudiates Joseph’s “Grammar”
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner Just as we were ready to print this paper, we received word that Dr. Hugh Nibley, who is supposed to be the Church’s top authority of the Egyptian language, had repudiated Joseph Smith’s Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. This rumor has now been confirmed. In 1966 we published Joseph Smith’s Egyptian…
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A Work of the Imagination
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In the April 1966 issue of the Salt Lake City Messenger we announced that we had printed a document entitled “Joseph Smith’s Egyptian Alphabet & Grammar.” This document was suppressed by the Mormon Church for 130 years because it proves that Joseph Smith did not understand ancient Egyptian and that…