Joseph's Hypocephalus


Book Description

A unique nugget of Latter-day Saint scripture is Facsimile 2 in the Book of Abraham. It is a picture-scripture called a hypocephalus and it is overflowing with symbolic meaning. Joseph Smith gave partial explanations of the figures and their meaning and then wrote: "The above translation is given as far as we have any right to give at the present time." Joseph knew there was more to discover! He left it for later generations to uncover. The original owners knew the original meaning and could easily describe each scenes. These owners, Abrahamic-believers from Ptolemaic-era, Thebes, Egypt, intentionally obscured the meaning of the symbols to protect their pristine mysteries. The message, obscure to some, was clear to the initiated. This book, Joseph's Hypocephalus, allows the student to read the original message of Facsimile 2. The message of Facsimile 2 is the message of the Path of Souls. It describes the path a dead man takes on his journey to Heaven. Egyptologists have equated this path with the path of the sun. This is incorrect! Original sources are consistent on this point. The path of the sun god, Re and the path of the dead man, Osiris, are two distinct and different paths. Facsimile 2 depicts Osiris' path, the path of the dead man. The same message painted on the hypocephalus is also enshrined in rituals and etched in the night's sky. Hugh Nibley said the hypocephalus was only one volume in an ancient sacred library of sacred devices that all had the same purpose. This book, Joseph's Hypocephalus, points out a handful of additional volumes. Early Orphics, Hermetic groups, and an early Christian Gnostic group all had remarkable volumes in this library. One volume added to Nibley's library is from pre-Columbus American Indians. Their volume comes in the form of shell gorgets. A gorget-hypocephalus connection is out-of-place because no historical tie between the ancient Near East and Native Americans from a later time is known. Yet, the traditions behind the shell gorgets outline the Path of Souls in remarkable detail and those details align so intricately with the Path of Souls illustrated on the facsimile that the two must be considered the same type of document. What is wonderful about Native American traditions is the relatively recent nature of their records. This means one is able to glean a more intimate understanding of their traditions. For instance, a few first-hand records of beautiful secret initiation rites into holy orders of Indian priesthoods are extant. The most poignant example is the Osage Songs of the Wa-xo'-be, recorded a hundred years ago with the full blessing of the Osage priesthood. What is uncovered is breathtaking. Rituals and myths of the Native peoples find significant parallels with Egyptian myth and rituals. These both compare snuggly with Joseph Smith's modern rituals. The same Path of Souls found on Facsimile 2 and on Mississippian gorgets is also found in the Hebrew Scriptures. Utilizing Margaret Barker's Temple Theology, Joseph's Hypocephalus points out the Path of Souls as a fundamental part of the ancient Hebrew religion. The Path was attacked by King Josiah. Adherents to pathway beliefs scattered to different areas of the world. Some of these people ended up in the Jordanian wilderness, only to reappear centuries later as the Christians. Others ended up in America and others in Egypt. All tell the story of the Path of Souls. The Path of Souls which Facsimile 2 describes is the esoteric essence of revealed religion. It is the secret of the magi, the shaman, and the prophet. Holding up the Path of Souls as a lantern to the words of the ancient scripture produces new images and gives an augmented sense of what the scriptures are really all about. Reading the scriptures in the light of this prism is delightfully insightful.




The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri


Book Description

This book marks the publication of the first, full translation of the so-called Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri translated into English. These papyri comprise “The Breathing Permit of Hor,” “The Book of the Dead of Ta-Sherit-Min,” “The Book of the Dead Chapter 125 of Nefer-ir-nebu,” “The Book of the Dead of Amenhotep,” and “The Hypocephalus of Sheshonq,” as well as some loose fragments and patches. The papyri were acquired by members of the LDS Church in the 1830s in Kirtland, Ohio, and rediscovered in the mid-1960s in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. They served as the basis for Joseph Smith’s “Book of Abraham,” published in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1842 and later canonized. As Robert K. Ritner, Professor of Egyptology at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, explains: “The translation and publication of the Smith papyri must be accessible not merely to Egyptologists but to non-specialists within and outside of the LDS religious community for whom the Book of Abraham was produced.” Dr. Ritner provides not only his own original translations but gives variant translations by other researchers to demonstrate better the “evolving process” of decipherment. He also includes specialized transliterations and his own informed commentary on the accuracy of past readings. “These assessments,” he notes, “are neither equivocal nor muted.” At the same time, they do not have a “partisan basis originating in any religious camp.” The present volume includes insightful introductory essays by noted scholars Christopher Woods, Associate Professor of Sumerology, University of Chicago (“The Practice of Egyptian Religion at ‘Ur of the Chaldees’”), Marc Coenen, Egyptian Studies Ph. D., University of Leuven, Belgium (“The Ownership and Dating of Certain Joseph Smith Papyri”), and H. Michael Marquardt, author of The Revelations of Joseph Smith: Text and Commentary (“Joseph Smith’s Egyptian Papers: A History”). It contains twenty-eight photographic plates, including color images of the primary papyri (with corrected alignment for Papyrus Joseph Smith 2) and other relevant items.




Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible


Book Description

This volume--the work of a lifetime--brings together all the Joseph Smith Translation manuscript in a remarkable and useful way. Now, for the first time, readers can take a careful look at the complete text, along with photos of several actual manuscript pages. The book contains a typographic transcription of all the original manuscripts, unedited and preserved exactly as dictated by the Prophet Joseph and recorded by his scribes. In addition, this volume features essays on the background, doctrinal contributions, and editorial procedures involved in the Joseph Smith Translation, as well as the history of the manuscripts since Joseph Smith's day.




A Study Guide to the Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham


Book Description

Many readers of the Pearl of Great Price give the facsimiles in the book of Abraham only a cursory glance before turning to something more familiar and understandable. That's because the facsimiles are Egyptian in nature and do not seem relevant in our modern world of gospel enlightenment. So what is their worth? It is self-evident that we have received no useless and unneeded revelations, said Elder Bruce R. McConkie. All that the Lord does has a purpose and serves a need. A Study Guide to the Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham shows the meaning of every character in the facsimiles and helps readers comprehend their great value. As translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith, they bear witness of the gospel as had by Adam, Noah, and other ancient patriarchs. Appealing to translation, inspiration, and likening, author Allen J. Fletcher brings to light the more mysterious components of the facsimiles, helping us make sense of them in our day and apply their timeless teachings in our lives.




The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri


Book Description

Translation and discussion of Egyptian religion as it relates to the Book of Abraham, and papyri (from the Book of breathings) held to be the source of that book.




The Chronicle of Prince Osorkon


Book Description

The hieroglyphic texts with which this volume is concerned record the deeds of the eldest son of King Takelothis II of the Twenty-second Dynasty, Prince Osorkon, who was the holder of religious, political, and military posts of great consequence during the troubled reigns of his father and of King Shoshenk III, towards the end of the ninth and at the beginning of the eighth centuries B.C.




The Pearl of Great Price


Book Description




A History of World Egyptology


Book Description

A History of World Egyptology is a ground-breaking reference work that traces the study of ancient Egypt over the past 150 years. Global in purview, it enlarges our understanding of how and why people have looked, and continue to look, into humankind's distant past through the lens of the enduring allure of ancient Egypt. Written by an international team of scholars, the volume investigates how territories around the world have engaged with, and have been inspired by, ancient Egypt and its study, and how that engagement has evolved over time. Chapters present a specific territory from different perspectives, including institutional and national, while examining a range of transnational links as well. The volume thus touches on multiple strands of scholarship, embracing not only Egyptology, but also social history, the history of science and reception studies. It will appeal to amateurs and professionals with an interest in the histories of Egypt, archaeology and science.




Cold-Case Christianity


Book Description

Written by an L. A. County homicide detective and former atheist, Cold-Case Christianity examines the claims of the New Testament using the skills and strategies of a hard-to-convince criminal investigator. Christianity could be defined as a “cold case”: it makes a claim about an event from the distant past for which there is little forensic evidence. In Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace uses his nationally recognized skills as a homicide detective to look at the evidence and eyewitnesses behind Christian beliefs. Including gripping stories from his career and the visual techniques he developed in the courtroom, Wallace uses illustration to examine the powerful evidence that validates the claims of Christianity. A unique apologetic that speaks to readers’ intense interest in detective stories, Cold-Case Christianity inspires readers to have confidence in Christ as it prepares them to articulate the case for Christianity.




Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language


Book Description

Provides never before known corrections to translating Egyptian hieroglyphs.




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