In 1912, a letter about the book of abraham was published by arthur cruttenden mace, assistant curator in the department of egyptian art in new yorks metropolitan museum of art. The papyri which joseph smith said he translated the book of abraham from have been exposed to be nothing more than funeral texts from ancient egypt at least eight egyptologists and semitists have studied the papyri and. The antiquity of the bible, unlike the book of mormon or the book of abraham, is beyond dispute. Book of moses vs book of abraham book of abraham mormon. Debunking fairmormon letter to a ces director book of abraham. Decrypting the mormon book of abraham skeptoid podcast. It is now included in the pearl of great price, one of the books that members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints consider scripture in addition to the bible, the book of mormon, and the doctrine and covenants. The book of abraham is a work produced between 1835 and 1842 by joseph smith based. The introduction to the book claims that it is a record that was originally written by abraham himself. On january 31, 2020, pearl of great price central published its fortieth insight related to the book of abraham. There are no gold plates to examine, no manuscripts to view, of the supposed ancient text joseph said he translated. Not only did lincoln check out a copy of the book of mormon from the library of congress during his presidency and during the bleakest part of the civil war, there is much evidence that is presented in this book that he actually read it or parts of it and believed its message. In this chapter we will examine another book of the mormon scriptures called the book of abraham. Or, why abraham lincoln might still be in hell by grego.
Mormon and non mormon egyptologists agree that the characters on the fragments do not match the translation. A different lds mormon critique of abraham lincoln. In 1835, joseph smith, founder of the original mormon church the church of christ purchased several egyptian papyrus scrolls and fragments from the owner of a traveling road show which exhibited egyptian mummies and documents. The book of abraham issues translation problems mormonthink. The problems encountered here are devastating to the credibility of mormonism. The book of abraham is a book of ancient scripture translated by the prophet joseph smith from ancient papyri. None of the characters on the papyrus fragments mentioned abraham s name or any of the events recorded in the book of abraham. Among the early book of abraham relatedmanuscripts that have survived from the days of joseph smith are a number of papers collectively referred to as the kirtland egyptian papers kep.
Abraham lincoln book of mormon notes how deep can you dig. Joseph smith described the book of abraham as being written in red ink using a beautiful script. A portion of the papyri used by joseph smith as the source of the book of abraham. A journal of mormon thought, spring, 1995 by his own hand upon papyrus. How a mormon lawyer transformed archaeology in mexicoand. In the abyss of infinity, perhaps the miserable parts of our present lives and the evils we encounter matter less than the good we do and the good done for us. This page deals primarily with the question of the source of the book of abraham now available online at. Part 2 deals with the content of the book and joseph smiths comments on three egyptian drawings that have been attached to the published book of abraham. He talks about the idolatry of the egyptianlike society he lived in, and about barely escaping sacrifice to the egyptian gods by a priest. The book of moses refers to god as a singular personage while the book of abraham refers to gods, plural. The book of abraham, it is hardly necessary to say, is a pure fabrication. Most famously, he previously had translated the book of mormon.
First, the association of facsimile 1 with the book of abraham cannot derive from abraham, since facsimile 1 dates to approximately 100 b. An essay on the churchs website, titled translation and historicity of the book of abraham, explains. In the twentieth century there were two events that put the authenticity of the book of abraham as an ancient text and not a modern pseudepigraphon in doubt. New video explores the historical believability of the book of. The book of abraham is a book of lds scripture that joseph smith translated from a collection of ancient egyptian papyri the church purchased. I return herewith, under separate cover, the pearl of great price. If the book of mormon and the book of abraham are not true. The book of mormon was born in the old testament world. For those who are not familiar with the book of abraham, it is a book of lds scripture that joseph smith claims to have translated from egyptian scrolls that he purchased from a traveling salesman.
The book of abraham is the possibly the best known of these books and certainly the most controversial. Today were going to point our skeptical eye at one of the supposedly ancient scriptures of the mormon church, the book of abraham. The book of abraham mormon truth videos gospel topics hub. A careful study of the book of abraham provides a better measure of the book s merits than any hypothesis that treats the text as a conventional translation. These pages were written while the saints lived in kirtland, ohio, and were recorded in the general time frame that joseph was translating the book of abraham. Nov 17, 2011 hence, a series of westward migrations, in a modern version of the book of exodus, that took them from upstate new york to ohio to missouri, and to nauvoo, ill. Includes color photos of the surviving joseph smith papyri, articles by mormon and non mormon egyptologists, and free download of a 240page book that surveys the history of the book of abraham controversy. Explores the joseph smith papyrus and demonstrates that joseph smiths claim that he had translated the book of abraham from it was a fabrication. Official response of the mormon church to the book of abraham. F or many mormons, an examination of the book of abraham and its true history becomes the most significant stumbling block to joseph smiths claim as a prophetic translator of ancient languages.
The fourth and final category im going to mention is the english text of the book of abraham and this tends to get short shrift in the discussion. According to church history, the angel moroni had already permanently taken back the urim and thummin years earlier. The statistics given in this presentation became outdated as more ancient texts supporting the book of abraham came to our attention. There is, however, a key difference between the inspired book of moses creation account and the book of abraham creation account. The book of abraham is part of the pearl of great price, which mormons consider scripture. The book of abraham is not central to the restored gospel of christ. A translation of some ancient records that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of egypt. Mormon, who edited the book of mormon, assumed his reader had an understanding of the old testament. Maintaining the divine authority of the book of abraham is every bit as vital to the doctrines and theology of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints today as it was in the days of joseph smith, brigham young and their successors. The book of abraham, mormons believe, is abrahams own account of part of his life. From abraham to the beginning of the book of mormon and epilogue bruce satterfield professor in the department of religious education, ricks college.
Lds church publishes new web essay on book of abraham. The mormon church hoped the book of abraham would vindicate joseph smith as a true prophet of god. Ok, thats kind of a nobrainer for a mormon why lincoln might still be in hell, even though he might have been an awesome, godfearing man. The lost book of abraham full video institute for religious reseach. The book of abraham translated from the papyrus, by joseph smith a translation of some ancient records, that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of egypt. The book of mormon makes its appearance in world history in 18291830, when joseph smith dictated its contents and published it. The writings of abraham while he was in egypt, called the book of abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus. Presented as part of the farms book of abraham lecture series, 1999. Polemicists dont want to talk about the actual book of abraham they want to talk about all the egyptian stuff. How the book of abraham exposes the false nature of.
Oct 06, 2009 the recovered parts of the papyrus and the the matching parts in the book of abraham are complete false. A range of articles and resources to assist the investigation of joseph smiths controversial claim that he discovered and translated a lost record of the biblical patriarch abraham. There are passages in the text of the book of abraham which are attributed to abraham and which refer to facsimile 1 abr. Smith who had claimed to have translated the book of mormon from golden plates that had been inscribed with reformed egyptian text took an. These challenges are presented succinctly and responded to succinctly by scholars alert to underlying questionable assumptions often held by nonmormons and mormons alike.
Joseph smith began the translation in 1835 after obtaining some egyptian papyri. The book of abraham imparts profound truths about the nature of god, his relationship to us as his children, and the purpose of this mortal life. Abraham refers to a picture in the text of the book of abraham abr. Abrahamic lore in support of the book of abraham, farms videotape and audiotape with transcript paper tve99a.
The book of abraham by common consent, a mormon blog. Book of abraham mormonism, the mormon church, beliefs. The false translation of the book of abraham, therefore, casts serious doubt on the book of mormon as well, forever debilitating josephs claim he was a true, inspired prophet of god. Cuts 1 and 3 are inaccurate copies of well known scenes on funeral papyri, and cut 2 is a copy of one of the magical discs. I could only do that if we had 100% of the papyrus. The experts of the day all said that the book of abraham was a fraud without lowering themselves to actually reading the text. The book of commandments, smiths journal and william claytons journal all say smith used his brown peep stone for the book of abraham translation.
Jan 04, 2005 as luck would have it, the book of abraham also contained a version of the genesis creation account. Joseph smiths interpretation of these cuts is a farrago of nonsense from beginning to end. In the book, jehovah reveals to abraham the nature of the universe and the order of all things, in a personal conversation, including knowledge of the planet kolob, which is close to where god. Oct 24, 2017 the book of abraham was translated by joseph smith from some ancient egyptian papyri and is part of the cannon of lds scripture.
Easy to criticize book of abraham in a video based on false assumptions. In the last chapter, we saw some of the problems mormonism faces with the book of mormon and archaeology. How the book of abraham exposes the false nature of mormonism. Smith reported that the papyri were the writings of abraham while he was in egypt, called the book of abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus.
While the joseph smith scrolls were written in blackwriting and were certainly not beautifull. So ill agree with you that the recovered papyrus doesnt prove that the book of abraham was 100% fraud. But i can say that it proves the book of abraham is % fraud. The truth of the book of abraham is ultimately found through careful study of its teachings, sincere prayer, and the confirmation of the spirit. The book of mormon if the book of abraham was a fraud, is. Mormon handbook the book of abraham since abraham lived before moses, who authored the torah the first five books of the old testament, it would make the papyrus older than the book of genesis. This site identifies the major challenges raised about mormon views. Disproves lds claims that joseph smith received the book of abraham through revelation and proves that joseph smiths source for his translation was a pagan egyptian text, the book of breathings.
Jun 27, 20 the book of abraham comprises five chapters of text and three facsimiles of vignettes from the papyri collection, together with josephs proffered explanations. As with the book of mormon and other translation projects that joseph smith worked on, the book of abraham cannot be defended in any way as the result of. Facsimile 1 published in the book of abraham is a common egyptian funerary scene. The book of abraham narrative clearly demonstrates the manner in which the lds church has worked diligently to massage the facts to continue to defend its truth claims. According to the book of mormon, bountiful was one of the first areas settled by the nephites, ancient people who supposedly sailed from israel. Thousands of mormons left the church as the result of this discovery, while thousands more are completely unaware of this important piece of evidence. Thousands of years ago, the prophet nephi learned that one purpose of the book of mormon was to establish the truth of the.
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