Hugh Nibley once quipped that the controversy surrounding the Book of Abraham was “a great fuss . . . being made about a scrap of papyrus.” Were it not for the fact that it is tied up in religious polemics involving Joseph Smith, founder and first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day … Read more
Figure 7 of Facsimile 2 of the Book of Abraham. The Prophet Joseph Smith interpreted Figure 7 in Facsimile 2 as follows: “Represents God sitting upon his throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-words of the Priesthood; as, also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a dove.” The … Read more
‘Abraham and the Stars’ by Waylon Smith. The Book of Abraham contains a number of hidden gems that you might miss if you read the text too quickly. Take Abraham’s vision of the cosmos and the divine council in Abraham 3. Most people remember this chapter for its vivid depiction of Kolob, a star “set … Read more
When I was in junior high school I attended a performance of Annie Get Your Gun that was put on by a nearby high school. I vividly remember the number “Anything You Can Do” because the actress playing Annie Oakley broke or sprained her ankle in the middle of the performance (she badly misstepped during … Read more
“Printing Plates of Facsimiles of Papyrus Drawings, Nauvoo, IL, early 1842” (http://josephsmithpapers.org) In his March 2015 letter to the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appealing his excommunication, John Dehlin claims there has been a “recent admission” on the part of the Church “that the Book of Abraham is not … Read more
Last month I presented at the 2014 Temple on Mount Zion symposium on the Book of the Dead as a temple text. The video of my presentation is now online. My understanding is that the proceedings of the conference (including my paper) will be published sometime next year. As I re-watch my presentation, I realize … Read more
This is a follow-up to my last post. In reading the Introduction to the Loeb edition of Manetho, I encountered this: Of the two chronographers, the founder of Christian chronography, Sextus Julius Africanus, whose Chronicle came down to A.D. 217 or A.D. 221, transmits the Epitome in a more accurate form; while Eusebius, whose work … Read more
Anyone familiar with Ptolemaic Egypt, or indeed the study of Egyptian history at all, knows the name Manetho. Something really interesting that I stumbled upon in Manetho’s Aegyptiaca this morning is the following. Now, if you care to compare these figures with Hebrew chronology, you will find that they are in perfect harmony. Egypt is … Read more
Jeremy Runnells has a bad habit of misquoting people. As I showed on my blog a little while ago, he misquoted the printed endorsements of Brian Hales’ three-volume Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, for example. Most recently, he has misquoted both a dead and a living Latter-day Saint apologist, namely, B. H. Roberts and Daniel C. Peterson. … Read more
Professor Alexander L. Baugh is a professor of Church History at Brigham Young University. He is the author of numerous articles on early Church history and wrote the magnificent dissertation A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, one of the definitive works on the 1838 Mormon War. You can read the … Read more
One aspect of the new Gospel Topics essay on the Book of Abraham that has made many excited is this. Joseph’s study of the papyri may have led to a revelation about key events and teachings in the life of Abraham, much as he had earlier received a revelation about the life of Moses while … Read more
The first five verses of Genesis 1 in Hebrew. David Carr has some interesting things to say about the account of the creation in Genesis 1. His comments have significant overlap with Mormon cosmology, especially as it is found in the Book of Abraham. The first verse of Gen 1 is usually translated “in the … Read more
Abraham’s Departure (1849) by József Molnár. James L. Kugel has some interesting comments on the account of Abraham’s call and journey as recorded in the Book of Genesis. In his volume How to Read the Bible, Kugel explores how ancient and modern interpreters of the Abraham narrative(s) in Genesis portray the patriarch’s relationship with God. … Read more