Excerpt from the essay:

Alternatively, Joseph’s study of the papyri may have led to a revelation about key events and teachings in the life of Abraham, much as he had earlier received a revelation about the life of Moses while studying the Bible. This view assumes a broader definition of the words translator and translation.33 According to this view, Joseph’s translation was not a literal rendering of the papyri as a conventional translation would be. Rather, the physical artifacts provided an occasion for meditation, reflection, and revelation. They catalyzed a process whereby God gave to Joseph Smith a revelation about the life of Abraham, even if that revelation did not directly correlate to the characters on the papyri.34

https://www.lds.org/topics/translation-and-historicity-of-the-book-of-abraham


Lucy Mack Smith quote from the Joseph Smith papers project:

After JS’s death, JS’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith retained the mummies and papyri and showed them to visitors. According to the published 1846 account of a group of visiting Quakers, she described a process similar to that of Parrish, one that paralleled some accounts regarding how the Book of Mormon was dictated: “She said, that when Joseph was reading the papyrus, he closed his eyes, and held a hat over his face, and that the revelation came to him; and where the papyrus was torn, he could read the parts that were destroyed equally as well as those that were there; and that scribes sat by him writing, as he expounded. She showed us a large book where these things were printed, which of course sealed their truth to Mormon eyes and minds; but we had not time to read them.” (Friends’ Weekly Intelligencer, 3 October 1846, 211)

http://josephsmithpapers.org/intro/introduction-to-book-of-abraham-manuscripts

It would seem the catalyst theory blows up in smoke according to Lucy Mack Smith.

But then again, who am I to criticize the leaders even when they are wrong?

Looks like the "voracity and value" are not in the apologist court!

"It would seem the catalyst theory blows up in smoke according to Lucy Mack Smith."

What inspired Joe to incorrectly fill in the missing parts of the facsimiles and then proceed to "translate" them ALL incorrectly?

The inspiration was the papyri. When he wrote the BOM he had to have the witnesses see the plates only with their "spiritual eyes."

Now he had a hard tangible document that he could show everyone. He went about his usual "translation" of the papyri to bolster the validity of the BOM and his ability toward continual revaluation.

Perpetuate the scam as I see it.

- Frosty the Snowman

"A Translation of some ancient Records that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt. The writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus."

This is the heading to the BoA. 'Splain that, Lootsie!