George Miller wrote:Joseph your comment is interesting. Since this thread was started I reread Kevin Barney's paper and it got my gears turning. There are many problems with Barney's thesis, not the least of which is that there is profuse evidence that Joseph Smith himself thought that the papyri were from Abraham instead of from a ancient redactor.
I think Joseph Smith was wrong. I don't consider his opinion as proof against an ancient redactor.
Also problematic is why an ancient redactor would include the facsimile without making any obvious changes to make it represent the Abraham story.
I don't know, but I can see potential explanations.
Personally, I think an ancient redactor is unlikely while a modern redactor in the form of Joseph Smith is entirely likely. This of course begs the question, why would Joseph Smith expect Egyptian documents to contain biblical stories in the first place?
Likely the same reason he thought Jews c. 600 B.C. would have spoken and written in Egyptian.