I have received and read the book Blaine has on the Joseph Smith Papyri, by John Gee, A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri, published by FARMS.
I don't mean any offense to Blaine, but I am very disappointed. First off, the book is more like a pamphlet than a book. The whole book is only 70 pages, and if you take away the glossaries and extraneous stuff in the back of the book, it is only 44 pages long, much of that being charts and maps. To top that off, it is one of the most unscholarly works that I have ever read. Almost no references are provided. He apologizes in the Introduction by saying, "Due to the general nature of this work, references have been kept to an absolute minimum. I am currently preparing a larger study that will provide a fuller discussion with references." With all the time that has expired since Larson's first edition of "...by his own hand upon papyrus" which was in 1985, this sounds more like stall tactics. It's been 17 years, and this little pamphlet is the best response that the Mormons can do??? The booklet says it is geared for those with no knowledge of ancient Egypt and perhaps little of the Latter-day Saints. In other words, it is not a book for Mormons, but for non-Mormons. At the end of this book, Gee says, "The issues discussed in this guide have little if any relevance to most Latter-day Saints in their acceptance or use of the Book of Abraham." He got that right. The book outright ignores many important points made in Larson's book concerning the debate. The book acknowledges that there are discussions and debates out there, but it simply does not address any of the important ones. It only addresses certain specific concerns in a very superficial manner. How can we possibly use this book to discuss the Book of Abraham when the author himself says it has little relevance for doing so? I'm not sure how to discuss this book. It blunders in one important way that the Mormon church has always blundered, and that is in not showing the proper relationship of the fragments to each other, or to the facsimiles that Joseph Smith made from them. I'll give it some more thought in the future, how I might use the book to aid discussion, but the paucity of information it presents and the lack of references is such that the reader cannot form his own conclusions by reading this book. We are basically spoon fed whatever ideas Gee wants us to have with very few facts and reference to the papyri themselves. Peace be with you. David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida USA ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
