John Gee Explained

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John Laurence Gee (born 1964) is an American Latter-day Saint scholar, apologist and an Egyptologist. He currently teaches at Brigham Young University (BYU) and serves in the Department of Near Eastern Languages. He is known for his writings in support of the Book of Abraham.[1] [2]

Life

Education

Gee graduated from BYU in 1988.[3] Later, he became a graduate student in Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley[4] and received his M.A.[5] in Near Eastern Studies[6] in 1991.[7] He earned his Ph.D. in Egyptology at Yale University[5] in 1998, completing his dissertation on ancient Egyptian ritual purity, entitled: The requirements of ritual purity in ancient Egypt.[8]

Teaching

Gee was the William "Bill" Gay Research Professor of Egyptology at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU.

Editorial work

In this role, he is an editor for the Studies in the Book of Abraham series and a member of the editorial board of the Eastern Christian Texts series.

Gee has been involved with various professional societies. He is editor of the Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, and has served on the Society's committees and board of trustees.[9] He was also on the board of directors for the Aziz S. Atiya Fund for Coptic Studies at the University of Utah.[10] He has participated in the International Association for Coptic Studies,[11] [12] the Society of Biblical Literature,[13] [14] [15] the American Research Center in Egypt,[16] and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.[17]

Gee has written an overview of Coptic literature.[18] In May 2008 Gee gave a presentation on the early conversion to Christianity in Egypt at the Coptic Church Centre in London.[19]

Mormon studies

Gee is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which believes Joseph Smith divinely translated the Book of Abraham from Egyptian papyrus in the 19th century. Because of his expertise in Near Eastern studies and Egyptology, Gee is highly visible in the debate over the authenticity of the Book of Abraham. His interest in these issues led to his involvement with the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) at BYU since the late 1980s.[20] He has also presented on the Joseph Smith Papyri to the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR).[21]

In 2010 Gee made a presentation with Louis C. Midgley at the BYU Mormon Media Studies Symposium reporting on their study into the effect of the tendency of Evangelical Christians to attack the right of other groups to call themselves Christians and how this affected Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.[22]

Criticism of scholarship

One of Gee's former Yale professors, Robert K. Ritner, later publicly criticized some of Gee's interpretations of the Joseph Smith Papyri as well as his failure to share drafts of his work with Ritner, as his other students have.[23]

One of Gee's former co-authors, fellow professors at BYU, and editor of the Joseph Smith Papers project, Brian Hauglid, is also critical of Gee's interpretations of the Joseph Smith Papyri. In 2018, Hauglid wrote, "I no longer agree with Gee or Mulhestein. I find their apologetic "scholarship" on the BoA abhorrent."[24] [25]

Saving Faith controversy

Gee's 2020 book Saving Faith: How Families Protect, Sustain, and Encourage Faith caused immediate controversy with its suggestion that sexual abuse might be a possible factor in homosexual attraction. Multiple reviewers noted that this and other claims were outside Gee's realm of expertise and asserted that he misinterpreted data to arrive at his conclusions.[26] [27] [28] The book was pulled by its publisher.

Works

Theses
Papers
Articles
Books

. Nibley, Hugh. Hugh Nibley. Gee, John. 2. Rhodes, Michael D.. The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment. 2nd. 2005. FARMS. Provo, Utah. 1-59038-539-X.

See also

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Keller. John Gee at Olivewood. June 19, 2008. FAIR Blog. 2009-04-06.
  2. Web site: Book of Abraham - Section 2. The Mormon Curtain. 2009-04-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20130516040434/http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_bookofabraham_section2.html. 2013-05-16. dead.
  3. FARMS Report. BYU Magazine. Winter 2002. Brigham Young University. 2009-06-05.
  4. Gee, John. La Trahison des Clercs: On the Language and Translation of the Book of Mormon. FARMS Review. 51–120. 6. 1. 1994. 10.2307/44796954 . 44796954 . 2009-04-09.
  5. About the Reviewers. Review of Books on the Book of Mormon. 4. 1. 1992. 273. FARMS. Provo, UT. 2009-04-09.
  6. Gee, John. Abraham in Ancient Egyptian Texts. Ensign. July 1992. 60. 2009-04-09.
  7. Gee's 1991 "Notes on the Sons of Horus" was his master's thesis.See Web site: Shirts, Kerry A. . With His Own Thoughts, Upon the Sources of Anti-Mormonism, Muddying Up the Issues on the Papyrus . 2001 . Kerry A. Shirts's Mormonism Researched . 2009-04-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080619074333/http://www2.ida.net/graphics/shirtail/withhis.htm . 2008-06-19 . ; Gee, John. Notes on the Sons of Horus. 1991. Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. Provo, Utah.
  8. Gee, John Laurence. The Requirements of Ritual Purity in Ancient Egypt. 1998. Yale University. 2009-04-06.
  9. Web site: About the SSEA. The Society For The Study of Egyptian Antiquities. 2009-04-06. 2009-03-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20090322102407/http://www.thessea.org/about_ssea.php. dead.
  10. Gee, John. New Light on the Joseph Smith Papyri. FARMS Review. 19. 2. 2007. 245–260. 10.5406/farmsreview.19.2.0245 . 2009-04-06.
  11. News: Newsletter Bulletin D'Information. 32. November 1993. International Association for Coptic Studies. 2009-04-09.
  12. News: Newsletter Bulletin D'Information. 35. May 1995. International Association for Coptic Studies. 2009-04-09.
  13. Web site: Annual Meeting Seminar Papers and Websites. Society of Biblical Literature. 2009-04-09.
  14. Web site: 2007 Annual Meeting. Society of Biblical Literature. 2009-04-09.
  15. Annual Meeting Program Unit Chairs. Society Report. November 2008. Society of Biblical Literature. 2009-04-09.
  16. "Stylistic Dating of Greco-Roman Stele II: Heads and Hands" (paper presented at the American Research Center in Egypt Annual Meetings, Atlanta, Georgia, 25 April 2003)
  17. See 2007 lectures at Web site: Past Lectures. David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. 2009-04-09.
  18. https://web.archive.org/web/20091026084823/http://geocities.com/remenkimi/overview.pdf link to article
  19. http://www.smass.co.uk/symposium/programme.php program for Coptic Symposium
  20. Gee, John. New Light on the Joseph Smith Papyri. FARMS Review. 19. 2. 2007. 245–260. 10.5406/farmsreview.19.2.0245 . 2009-04-09.
  21. Web site: FAIR Conference Speakers. 2007. Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research. 2009-04-09.
  22. Deseret News. Nov. 14, 2010
  23. In an article highly critical of Joseph Smith's interpretation of Egyptian writing, Ritner wrote, "With regard to the articles by my former student John Gee, I am constrained to note that unlike the… practice of all my other Egyptology students, Gee never chose to share drafts of his publications with me to elicit scholarly criticism, so that I have encountered these only recently. It must be understood that in these apologetic writings, Gee’s opinions do not necessarily reflect my own, nor the standards of Egyptological proof that I required at Yale or Chicago."Ritner, Robert K.. The 'Breathing Permit of Hôr': Thirty-four Years Later. . Winter 2000. 33. 4. 97–119. 10.2307/45226742 . 45226742 . 2009-04-06. Republished with revised introduction in Ritner, Robert K.. 'The Breathing Permit of Hôr' Among The Joseph Smith Papyri. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. July 2003. 62. 3. 161–180. 10.1086/380315. 162323232. See also this BYU review of Ritner's critique in Morris, Larry E.. The Book of Abraham: Ask the Right Questions and Keep On Looking. FARMS Review. 16. 2. 355–80. 2004. 10.5406/farmsreview.16.2.0355 . 2009-04-08.
  24. Web site: Book of Abraham Apologist: Brian Hauglid's "Transformative Journey". 19 December 2018.
  25. Web site: limited . https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/100003678489040/1398006876998582 . 2022-04-27. Dan Vogel on Facebook . Facebook.
  26. "Gee, Saving Faith (Reviewed by Chad Curtis)" by Chad Curtis. Association for Mormon Letters. Accessed 3 September 2020.
  27. "Saving Faith and Expertise" by Kevin Shafer. 23 August 2020. Accessed 3 September 2020.
  28. "Controversial Mormon book pulled from publication" by Jana Riess. Religion News Service. September 8, 2020. Accessed September 9, 2020.

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