John Gee

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][3][4][5]

For the British Olympic bobsledder, see John Gee (bobsleigh). For the Church of England cleric, see John Gee (priest). For the South Australian politician, see Jon Gee.
John Gee
Born1964 Edit this on Wikidata
EducationDoctor of Philosophy Edit this on Wikidata
Alma mater
OccupationEgyptologist, university teacher, apologist Edit this on Wikidata
Employer

Life

Education

Gee graduated from BYU in 1988.[6] Later, he became a graduate student in Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley[7] and received his M.A.[8] in Near Eastern Studies[9] in 1991.[10] He earned his Ph.D. in Egyptology at Yale University[8] in 1998, completing his dissertation on ancient Egyptian ritual purity, entitled: The requirements of ritual purity in ancient Egypt.[11]

Teaching

Gee is 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.[12]

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.[13] He was also on the board of directors for the Aziz S. Atiya Fund for Coptic Studies at the University of Utah.[14] He has participated in the International Association for Coptic Studies,[15][16] the Society of Biblical Literature,[17][18][19] the American Research Center in Egypt,[20] and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.[21]

Gee has written an overview of Coptic literature.[22] In May 2008 Gee gave a presentation on the early conversion to Christianity in Egypt at the Coptic Church Centre in London.[23]

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.[24] He has also presented on the Joseph Smith Papyri to the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR).[25]

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.[26]

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.[27][28]

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."[29][30]

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.[31][32][33] The book was pulled by its publisher.[31][33]

Works
Papers
  • Gee, John (1987). "Creation: The Book of Abraham, Science, and the Ancient Near East". [University scholar project]. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • —— (1991). "Notes on the Sons of Horus". [masters thesis]. Provo, UT: FARMS. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • —— (1998). "The Requirements of Ritual Purity in Ancient Egypt". [doctoral dissertation]. New Haven, CT: Yale University. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • —— (1999). "A History of the Joseph Smith Papyri and Book of Abraham". Provo, UT: FARMS. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • —— (1999). "The Ancient Owners of the Joseph Smith Papyri". Provo, UT: FARMS. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • —— (2004). "'There Needs No Ghost, My Lord, Come from the Grave to Tell Us This': Dreams and Angels in Ancient Egypt" (PDF). Society of Biblical Literature. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Articles
Books
  • Gee, John (2000). A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri. Provo, Utah: FARMS. ISBN 0-934893-54-3.
  • ——; John A. Tvedtnes; Brian M. Hauglid (2001). Traditions About the Early Life of Abraham. Studies in the Book of Abraham; No. 1. Provo, Utah: FARMS. ISBN 0-934893-59-4.
  • ——; Hauglid, Brian M. (2005). Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant. Studies in the Book of Abraham; No. 3. Provo, Utah: FARMS. ISBN 0-934893-76-4.
  • Nibley, Hugh (2005). ——; Rhodes, Michael D. (eds.). The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment (2nd ed.). Provo, Utah: FARMS. ISBN 1-59038-539-X.
  • Gee, John (2017). An Introduction to the Book of Abraham. BYU Religious Studies Center.
  • Gee, John (2020). Saving Faith: How Families Protect, Sustain, and Encourage Faith. BYU Religious Studies Center.

See also

Notes
  1. Tvedtnes, John A.; Hauglid, Brian M.; Gee, John Laurence (2001). Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham. ISBN 9780934893596. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  2. "Gee, John (John Laurence), 1964-". Library of Congress Online Catalog. Library of Congress (&SA=Gee%2C%20John%20Laurence&PID=pr_PFyyNdv5l_9caZFCj–oyiUFak&SID=2). Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  3. Keller (June 19, 2008). "John Gee at Olivewood". FAIR Blog. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  4. Hardy, Roger L. (June 20, 2008). "BYU scholar researching Book of Abraham origins". MormonTimes. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  5. "Book of Abraham - Section 2". The Mormon Curtain. Archived from the original on 2013-05-16. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  6. "FARMS Report". BYU Magazine. Brigham Young University. Winter 2002. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  7. Gee, John (1994). "La Trahison des Clercs: On the Language and Translation of the Book of Mormon". FARMS Review. 6 (1): 51–120. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  8. "About the Reviewers". Review of Books on the Book of Mormon. Provo, UT: FARMS. 4 (1): 273. 1992. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  9. Gee, John (July 1992). "Abraham in Ancient Egyptian Texts". Ensign: 60. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  10. Gee's 1991 "Notes on the Sons of Horus" was his master's thesis.See Shirts, Kerry A. (2001). "With His Own Thoughts, Upon the Sources of Anti-Mormonism, Muddying Up the Issues on the Papyrus". Kerry A. Shirts's Mormonism Researched. Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2009-04-09.; Gee, John (1991). "Notes on the Sons of Horus". Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. Gee, John Laurence (1998). "The Requirements of Ritual Purity in Ancient Egypt". Yale University. Retrieved 2009-04-06. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. "Gee, John". Authors. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Archived from the original on 2008-04-20. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  13. "About the SSEA". The Society For The Study of Egyptian Antiquities. Archived from the original on 2009-03-22. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  14. Gee, John (2007). "New Light on the Joseph Smith Papyri". FARMS Review. 19 (2): 245–260. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  15. "Newsletter Bulletin D'Information" (PDF). No. 32. International Association for Coptic Studies. November 1993. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  16. "Newsletter Bulletin D'Information". No. 35. International Association for Coptic Studies. May 1995. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  17. "Annual Meeting Seminar Papers and Websites". Society of Biblical Literature. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  18. "2007 Annual Meeting". Society of Biblical Literature. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  19. "Annual Meeting Program Unit Chairs" (PDF). Society Report. Society of Biblical Literature. November 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  20. "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)
  21. See 2007 lectures at "Past Lectures". David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  22. link to article
  23. program for Coptic Symposium
  24. Gee, John (2007). "New Light on the Joseph Smith Papyri". FARMS Review. 19 (2): 245–260. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  25. "FAIR Conference Speakers". Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research. 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  26. Deseret News. Nov. 14, 2010
  27. 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. (Winter 2000). "The 'Breathing Permit of Hôr': Thirty-four Years Later". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 33 (4): 97–119. Retrieved 2009-04-06.Republished with revised introduction in Ritner, Robert K. (July 2003). "'The Breathing Permit of Hôr' Among The Joseph Smith Papyri". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 62 (3): 161–180. doi:10.1086/380315. S2CID 162323232.See also this BYU review of Ritner's critique in Morris, Larry E. (2004). "The Book of Abraham: Ask the Right Questions and Keep On Looking". FARMS Review. 16 (2): 355–80. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
  28. Ritner, Robert K., A Response to "Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham" (PDF), retrieved 2016-01-19
  29. "Book of Abraham Apologist: Brian Hauglid's "Transformative Journey"". 19 December 2018.
  30. "Dan Vogel on Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2022-04-27.
  31. "Gee, Saving Faith (Reviewed by Chad Curtis)" by Chad Curtis. Association for Mormon Letters. Accessed 3 September 2020.
  32. "Saving Faith and Expertise" by Kevin Shafer. 23 August 2020. Accessed 3 September 2020.
  33. "Controversial Mormon book pulled from publication" by Jana Riess. Religion News Service. September 8, 2020. Accessed September 9, 2020.
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