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Thank you Dr. Ritner.
Watched the entire video last night, RFM. Fascinating. If you haven’t read it already, Dan Vogel left some comments over at Mormon Stories. They were short, succinct and absolutely knocked me out of the water!
RFM this was an amazing episode.
Highlights included learning that 1) prior to Egyption translations being widely available, it was commonly believed that written Egyptian had an amazing shorthand quality whereby a few characters could express paragraphs of concepts in other languages (providing a potential rationale for Joseph Smith’s choice of “reformed” Egyptian as the purported original written language of the Book of Mormon; and 2) (slightly off topic) the significant connections between Egyptian religion and Christianity and Judaism.
Like you and John, the Egyptian prayer/spell at 2:54:08 (from Book of the Dead 151) felt very familiar to me. My personal (uninformed) take on that is based on the (per Dr. Ritner) Egyptian influences on the Hebrew religion. So to me, the protections and blessings mentioned in the spell–relating to health, posterity and destruction of enemies, etc.–correspond to themes and passages in the Old Testament which were picked up by Joseph Smith when he created the washing and anointing and endowment ceremonies. (“I’m going with that”)
Finally, the other thing that struck me was how the prevailing apologist arguments about the Book of Abraham are so blatently and shockingly dishonest. And to think there was a time when I considered Hugh Nibley a scholar?
Thanks again.
ANXIOUSLY awaiting part 2.
The idea that a spell or prayer written down and buried with the deceased, reminds me of the magic parchments owned by the Smith family. Like talismans, possession of these written magical documents was believed to empower the owner. Crazy how nothing is ever new in the world of myth, spirituality, and story.