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]
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.[11]
Gee has written an overview of Coptic literature.[21][full citation needed] In May 2008 Gee gave a presentation on the early conversion to Christianity in Egypt at the Coptic Church Centre in London.[22][full citation needed]
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
Theses
Gee, John (1991). Notes on the Sons of Horus (Masters thesis). Provo, UT:
FARMS.
Gee, John (1987). "Creation: The Book of Abraham, Science, and the Ancient Near East". [University scholar project]. Provo, UT:
Brigham Young University. {{
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—— (1999). "A History of the Joseph Smith Papyri and Book of Abraham". Provo, UT:
FARMS. {{
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help)
—— (1999). "The Ancient Owners of the Joseph Smith Papyri". BYU Studies Quarterly. 61 (4). Provo, UT:
FARMS.
—— (1998). "'Choose the Things That Please Me': On the Selection of the Isaiah Sections in the Book of Mormon". In
Donald W. Parry;
John W. Welch (eds.). Isaiah in the Book of Mormon. Provo, Utah:
FARMS.
ISBN0-934893-29-2.
——; Bezalel Porten (2001). "Aramaic Funerary Practices in Egypt". In P.M. Michèle Daviau; John W. Wevers; Michael Weigl (eds.). The World of the Aramaeans. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press.
ISBN1-84127-179-9.
—— (2001). "Towards an Interpretation of Hypocephali". "Le lotus qui sort du terre": Mélanges offerts à Edith Varga. Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts Supplément-2001. Budapest: Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts. pp. 325–34.
——; Roper, Matthew (2003). "I Did Liken All Scriptures Unto Us: Early Nephite Understandings of Isaiah and Implications for 'Others' in the Land". The Fulness of the Gospel: Foundational Teachings from the Book of Mormon; The 32nd Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
—— (2003). "The Earliest Example of ph-ntr?". Göttinger Miszellen. 194: 25–27.
—— (2004). "Prophets, Initiation and the Egyptian Temple". Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. 31: 97–107.
—— (2004). "S3 mi nn: A Temporary Conclusion". Göttinger Miszellen. 202: 55–58.
—— (2004). "Trial Marriage in Ancient Egypt? P. Louvre E 7846 Reconsidered". In Friedrich Hoffmann; Günther Vittmann (eds.). Res severa verum gaudium. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Publishers. pp. 223–31.
—— (2008). "Love and Marriage in the Ancient World: An Historical Corrective". Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. 35.
—— (2008). "On the Practice of Sealing in the Book of the Dead and the Coffin Texts". Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. 35.
—— (2010). "James, First and Second Peter, and Jude: Epistles of Persecution". In
Richard Neitzel Holzapfel; Thomas A. Wayment (eds.). The Life and Teachings of the New Testament Apostles: From the Day of Pentecost to the Apocalypse. Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book.
ISBN978-1-60641-824-6.
Gee, John (2000). A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri. Provo, Utah:
FARMS.
ISBN0-934893-54-3.
——; 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.
ISBN0-934893-59-4.
^"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)
^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.
S2CID162323232.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.