Hebrew Bible

John S. Thompson is an Egyptologist and scholar of the Hebrew Bible whose research focuses on ancient scripture, the Book of Abraham, Egyptian religion and culture, and the ancient Near Eastern world. He currently researches and writes for Scripture Central.

Thompson earned a BA in ancient Near Eastern studies from Brigham Young University and an MA in ancient Near Eastern studies, with an emphasis in the Hebrew Bible, from the University of California, Berkeley. He later earned a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania.

For more than twenty-five years, Thompson worked with Seminaries and Institutes of Religion. His assignments included serving as coordinator and institute director in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his work brought together academic study of the ancient world with the teaching of Latter-day Saint scripture and doctrine.

Thompson has written extensively on the Book of Abraham, its Egyptian context, the Joseph Smith Papyri, the Book of Abraham facsimiles, and concepts of translation. His broader scholarship includes the Hebrew Bible, ancient Near Eastern religion and culture, the Abrahamic covenant, creation, and ancient understandings of scripture.

His work contributes to ongoing Latter-day Saint scholarship examining the Book of Abraham in its historical, textual, and ancient contexts and exploring how Egyptology and ancient Near Eastern studies can inform the study of Restoration scripture.