Facsimile No. 3 of the Book of Abraham contains parallels to other Egyptian throne scenes found elsewhere, which fact has led many to pass Facsimile No. 3 off as commonplace. However, the lack of a broad comparative study examining these types of scenes in their varying contexts has rendered most conclusions regarding Facsimile No. 3 superficial at best. Hugh Nibley was perhaps the first to notice this problem, arguing that "The great abundance of pictures of the Facsimile No. 3 variety calls for the widest possible comparative study. In a case like this the student's first obligation is to compare, as widely and as carefully as possible." This thesis takes a critical step in solving this problem by looking at both the textual and iconographic elements found in Facsimile No.3 and comparing them with the larger corpus of Egyptian texts, temples, tombs, and stelae. Significantly, this study compares Facsimile No. 3 with the throne scenes from every other publicly known copy of the Book of Breathings, the ancient Egyptian document on which Facsimile No. 3 was found.In this thesis, I argue that Facsimile No. 3 is not as commonplace as some scholars have argued in the past. I begin this thesis with an introduction which presents some of the main issues surrounding Facsimile No. 3, including some of the likely reasons as to why it has remained the least studied of the three Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham. The first chapter contains a literature review of the published writings and theories that deal with Facsimile No. 3. Chapter Two gives a closer look at the hieroglyphs of Facsimile No. 3 and discusses some of the challenges relating to the translations that have been offered for them. The iconography of Facsimile No. 3 is discussed in the third chapter, where it is compared with the larger corpus of Book of Breathings vignettes. This discussion is especially important, as it is the first study to date which compares Facsimile No. 3 with the vignettes from all other extant copies of the Book of Breathings. In Chapter Four, this comparative study broadens, and parallels to Facsimile No. 3 are looked for in Ptolemaic copies of the Book of the Dead, Temples, Tombs, and funerary stelae.

<p> The book of Judges fairly bristles with 'heroes' of ambivalent moral character, and acts of dubious propriety, such as Gideon's use of signs to determine YHWH's will, Jael's murder of Sisera, and the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter. The terse narrative and the reticent narrator frequently leave the ethical character of these actions in doubt. My goal in this dissertation is to identify evidence available in the text, both literary and linguistic, in order to evaluate the characters and actions of various participants in the narratives of the "major" judges. On the basis of this evidence I will not only draw evaluative conclusions about the characters of the judges and the Israelite people themselves, but also about their varying perceptions of YHWH that these characters hold.</p> <p> In order to facilitate these goals, I will take an interdisciplinary approach. I will employ the concept of narrative perspective from literary criticism and consider the evaluative stance of the implied author, the narrator, and the various characters in the narrative. I will also draw heavily on the Appraisal Theory of J. R. Martin and P.R.R. White, which in turn derives from Systemic Functional Linguistics. By merging these two approaches I will develop a new model which I call Narrative Appraisal which will then be applied to the Hebrew text of Judges. The Narrative Appraisal Model can clarify individual evaluative instances as well as patterns of linguistic features at the level of discourse that elucidate the implied author's stance.</p> <p> The lexicogrammatical and ideational evidence produced by this methodology reveals contrasts and trajectories within and across the narratives which, when analyzed, give insight into the characters of the Israelites, the character of YHWH, and the relationship between the Israelite people and their God. It also helps to identify the unifying ideological stance of the book. In simplified terms, this ideology affirms the holiness, justice, mercy, and faithfulness of YHWH, the need for the Israelites to maintain absolute loyalty and obedience to him, the legitimacy of discipline, the engrained tendency of humanity to defy their God and follow their own ways, the ultimate failure of human leadership in the form of judges, and the essential need for YHWH to intervene with a new model of leadership.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Parent-child interactions during joint reading play an important role in young children's cognitive and language development. However, contemporary digital book formats---such as e-books or audiobooks---often overlook the role of the parent in reading the text, by either dubbing voice narration over it or reading it aloud automatically. With the advancement and prevalence of voice-based conversational artificial intelligence (AI) agents, AI reading an e-book emerges as a novel reading experience, yet reducing the role of parents in the reading process similarly. When the reading experience becomes less of a joint activity between children and parents, the potential benefits children can gain from reading may diminish. In this study involving 11 parent-child pairs, we aimed to explore how voice agents (VAs) could be used to create an interactive digital space to 1) promote parental engagement in joint e-book reading with children and 2) enhance parents' and children's joint reading experiences. We developed and evaluated TaleMate, an interactive joint reading app that allows parents and children ages 3-6 years to assign different AI voices to the characters from a book while enabling parents to embody one of the characters to read the book with the voice agents. We found that the system supported children's engagement and story comprehension. Parents reported that they found value in the interactivity of the system and enjoyed a participatory, joint reading experience, where both they and their children could choose which characters to embody. These findings offer insights into design considerations for researchers interested in developing applications that facilitate collaborative reading experiences involving parents, children, and voice agents. / Master of Science / In today's digital age, the traditional practice of joint reading between parents and children is evolving. E-books and voice agents (VAs) are becoming more prevalent, but often reduce parental involvement in the reading process, potentially diminishing the benefits for children's cognitive and language development. This study introduces "TaleMate," an innovative app designed to enhance the joint reading experience. TaleMate allows parents and their children (ages 3-6) to engage interactively by assigning roles and voice agents to different characters in a story. Our research involved 11 parent-child pairs, focusing on evaluating the app's ability to maintain parental engagement and improve the reading experience. The findings reveal that TaleMate effectively supports children's engagement and story comprehension while providing a more interactive and enjoyable reading experience for both parents and children. This exploratory study suggests that digital reading formats, when designed thoughtfully, can successfully incorporate voice agents to not only preserve but enhance the valuable interactions in joint reading sessions.