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For the most part, he appears to make the most of the sources of evidence that are existent and available to scholars today to reach his findings regarding aspects of Egyptian communal life. Still, the most convincing aspects of that identity are the external ones that exist in relation to tangible markers of culture. The many illustrations, hieroglyphic text, and analyses of Egyptian architecture allows for some relatively simple conclusions to be drawn regarding concepts of Egyptian religion such as themes of rebirth, death, and the individual roles that gods and goddesses play in such a cycle.
The author appears to be on less stable ground when analyzing ancient Egyptian architecture. For the most part, he makes far too many assumptions and presumptions that are not supported by substantial, factual evidence. This is through no fault of the author himself, as there is a definite lack of such factual evidence for these buildings that were erected so many years ago. However, while facets of the cosmology of ancient Egyptians seems to have a degree of validity that is directly traced to the logic of the sources used to identify aspects of Egyptian rule and its intertwining with religion, some of the inferences related to the architecture itself is outright suspect. For instance, there are three different representations of the "mortuary temple of King Nebhepetra Menthuhetep at Deir el-Bahari, Thebes, 11th dynasty. Each is 'true' to the spirit of Egyptian religion and can be supported by scholarly argument…Whether any of them...
157).
Despite the significant amount of ambiguity presented in the preceding quotation, the author's general premise regarding the importance of such architecture as providing a nexus between religious and governmental quarters for kings for their journey to the afterlife seems fairly plausible. Such royal mortuary architecture represented "a new level of royal control for the state" (Bard, 2007, p. 128). Some of the details regarding the construction, the builder, and other facets of the architecture appear dubitable, but the author's contention for the overriding purpose of such structures and its relation to Egyptian religion and the central role that pharaohs played in it is well grounded. Although Kemp's methodology could use some refinement, the overarching conclusion of the relationship between architecture, religion, and government appears correct.
References
Bard, K. (2007). An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell.
Brewer, D.J. (2005). Ancient Egypt: Foundations of a Civilization. New York: Longman Pearson.
Brewer. D.J. "The Predynastic Period: Egypt in its Infancy."
Grimal, N. (1994). A History of Ancient Egypt. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell.
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