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The Book of Abraham is an 1835 work produced by Joseph Smith that he said was based on Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the book was "a translation of some ancient records ... purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus". Smith's translation of the papyri describes a story of Abraham's early life, including a vision of the cosmos. The work was canonized in 1880 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) as part of its Pearl of Great Price.〔 Thus, it forms a doctrinal foundation for the LDS Church and Mormon fundamentalist denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is not considered a religious text by the Community of Christ. Other groups in the Latter Day Saint movement have various opinions regarding the Book of Abraham, with some rejecting and some accepting the text as inspired scripture. The book contains several doctrines that are unique to Mormonism, such as the concept of God organizing eternal, pre-existing elements to create the universe instead of creating it ''ex nihilo''. The Book of Abraham papyri were thought lost in the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. However, in 1966 several fragments of the papyri were found in the archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and in the LDS Church archives. They are now referred to as the Joseph Smith Papyri. Upon examination by professional Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists, these fragments were found to bear no resemblance to Smith's interpretation, and were identified as common Egyptian funerary texts, dating to about the first century BC. As a result, the Book of Abraham has been the source of significant controversy, with Mormon apologists having presented a number of theories in defense of the authenticity of the Book of Abraham. ==Origin== Several papyri and eleven mummies were discovered near the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes by Antonio Lebolo between 1818 and 1822. Sometime between 1822 and his death on February 19, 1830, Lebolo arranged to have them sold. In 1833, the mummies were shipped to New York and collected by Michael Chandler, who made the unsubstantiated claim of being Lebolo's nephew. Over the next two years Chandler toured the eastern United States, displaying and selling some of the mummies. In July 1835, Chandler brought the remaining four mummies and associated papyri to Kirtland, Ohio, then home of the Latter Day Saints. Although the Rosetta Stone had been discovered in 1799, the ability to read Egyptian was not well developed until the 1850s. Chandler asked Joseph Smith to look at the scrolls and give some insight into what was written on them, due to Smith's notoriety and claim to have translated the golden plates of the Book of Mormon. After examining the scrolls, Smith, Joseph Coe, and Simeon Andrews purchased the four mummies and at least five papyrus documents for $2,400. Smith stated: ()ith W.W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc. — a more full account of which will appear in its place, as I proceed to examine or unfold them.〔 Smith ostensibly translated the majority of the Book of Abraham text in July and a few days in November 1835 and did some minor revisions in March 1842. By October, he had also begun "translating an alphabet to the Book of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of the Egyptian language as practiced by the ancients."Smith's journal entry for October 1, 1835, reads: "This afternoon labored on the Egyptan alphabet, in company with brsr. O. Cowdery, and W.W.Phelps..."〔Dean C. Jessee, ''Personal Writings of Joseph Smith'' (Deseret Book, 2002) p. 86.〕The documents associated with this effort are referred to as the Kirtland Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar (EAG) or the Kirtland Egyptian Papers (KEP). The complete work was first published serially in the Latter Day Saint movement newspaper ''Times and Seasons'' in 1842.〔 - Facsimile No. 1 and Chapter 1 through chapter 2 verse 18 in Volume III, No. 9, dated March 1, 1842; Facsimile No. 2 and chapter 2 verses 19 through chapter 5 in Volume III, No. 10, dated March 15, 1842; Facsimile No. 3 in Vol. III, No. 14, dated May 16, 1842.〕 and later canonized in 1880 by the LDS Church as part of its Pearl of Great Price.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Book of Abraham」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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