Benjamin McGuire wrote:I think that, despite our sometimes contrary observations, issues with the Book of Abraham papyri are simply uninteresting to most of the world (and even to most LDS for that matter). Why else would we see Ritner's article being published by Signature?
It's uninteresting to the scholarly community because the few who know about it can see clearly it has nothing to do with any Egyptian papyri.
In contrast, BYU's CPART team, and their use of multi-spectral imaging technology to read and transcribe previously unreadable papyri has generated far more interest in the non-LDS scholarly world than Book of Abraham issues have. And I assume (from reading the material about the institute program) that the group is planning on working with some of these unpublished papyri (from the Herculaneum scrolls) as part of their hands on experience.
It's interesting to see how apologia in various religions can result in some good scholarly programs, even though based on some clearly false beliefs. :)