What an Egyptologist Sees in the Book of Abraham Facsimiles

Critics say the Book of Abraham facsimiles are just standard funerary papyri. But what if they were never meant to be read one at a time? Joseph Smith's sequence starts with an altar, ends with a throne, and puts a hypocephalus from a different mummy right in between. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye and Stephen Smoot sit down with Egyptologist John S. Thompson (Scripture Central) to read Facsimiles 1, 2 and 3 together as one progression. John builds on Hugh Nibley, Blake Ostler and Kevin Barney. He also draws on his Interpreter article "We May Not Understand Our Words" and on A Guide to the Book of Abraham (BYU Studies), which he co-wrote with Stephen Smoot, John Gee and Kerry Muhlestein. Chapters: 0:00 Intro - Guest John Thompson 3:00 How to understand the Facsimiles? 10:08 Synchronize meaning? 15:35 Joseph Smith makes connections 19:16 Why does Joseph synchronize Egyptian? 22:43 Facsimile Number 1 25:50 Facsimile Number 2 32:13 Egyptian Temple connections 43:30 Facsimile Number 3 48:30 Journey of the soul 52:44 Why does we have them? 56:30 The Plan of Salvation ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode:  • Why Facsimile 2, a hypocephalus, sits between two Book of Breathings scenes  • A grounded "syncretistic" path between pure Egyptology and ignoring Egypt  • John Gee on the Khoiak festival: lion couches, "chia pet" corn mummies, and Abraham in Osiris's place  • Facsimile 1, Figures 11–12: the pillars of heaven, Raukeeyang, and the waters above the firmament  • Syncretism in the Bible: Yahweh riding the clouds, Proverbs, the rich man and Lazarus  • D&C 1:24 and God speaking "according to their language"  • Facsimile 1 as both embalming scene and sacrifice  • Facsimile 2's day and night journey of the sun: Wepwawet, the akhet horizon, and Kolob beside Amun  • Facsimile 3: Ma'at, Anubis, Osiris-Hor "true of voice," Shulem, Isis as "throne," and "signifies"  • Why to go carefully with Facsimile 3 Sources mentioned:  • John S. Thompson, "We May Not Understand Our Words" (Interpreter): https://interpreterfoundation.org/jou... • A Guide to the Book of Abraham (BYU Studies Quarterly 61:4): https://byustudies.byu.edu/issue/61-4  • Blake Ostler, "Abraham: An Egyptian Connection": https://www.blakeostler.com/docs/Abra... • Kevin Barney, "The Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources": https://scripturecentral.org/archive/... • Kerry Muhlestein, "The Religious and Cultural Background of Joseph Smith Papyrus I": https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/v... • Mark Alan Wright, "According to Their Language, unto Their Understanding": https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/v... • John Taylor's 1843 Times and Seasons notice: https://bhroberts.org/records/s2dR6b-... • John Gee on the Khoiak festival: https://rsc.byu.edu/introduction-book... • Our episode with Quinton Barney:    • The Hidden Meaning in Facsimile 3 Most Egy...    • John's channel, Heaven's Code:    / @heavenscodechannel   Image credits: Luxor Temple photo by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Chia Pet photo by andydr / Flickr, CC BY 2.0. Subscribe to Informed Saints for more faithful scholarship on scripture and the ancient world. Study deeply, believe boldly. ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #BookOfAbraham #PearlOfGreatPrice #JosephSmith #Facsimiles #Egyptology #AncientEgypt #Hypocephalus #Kolob #Abraham #Osiris #BookOfTheDead #Syncretism #AncientTemples #HeavensCode #InformedSaints #LatterDaySaints #LDS #ChurchOfJesusChrist #ComeFollowMe