John Ransom Phillips: A Contemporary Book of the Dead

by John Ransom Phillips, Wendy Doniger

The ancient Egyptians were the first to examine the afterlife in a book composed between 1567 and 1085 BC. This collection of funerary texts has historically been referred to as the Book of the Dead or Book of Going Forth by Day. For the Egyptians, the Book of the Dead was a vital part of the quest for immortality. Millennia later, the second Book of the Dead, written in Tibet dating from the eighth century CE, tells a similar tale, but this journey has an entirely different end rebirth here on earth, instead of in another world. Using watercolors on papyrus an echo of the Book of the Dead incantations written on papyrus scrolls buried with mummies in ancient Egypt this collection creates a contemporary interpretation of how human beings contemplate their earthly and spiritual existence. Phillips's work is a vivid visual study into universal and timeless themes of life, love, fear, hope, and sublime happiness that combine into the human experience.

328 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[University of Chicago Magazine]

John Ransom Phillips, AB’60, PhD’66
Author

From our pages (Jan–Feb/10): "This coffee-table book featuring Phillips’s paintings on papyrus echoes the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, a collection of spells and incantations with instructions on how to navigate the afterlife. With essays by Egypt’s Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass and Divinity School professor Wendy Doniger, Phillips’s book reflects on current views of death and what comes afterward."