The Book of Abraham is a text originally published by Joseph Smith, Jr. and
thought by many within Mormonism to be the translated writings of the patriarch
Abraham. Some Latter Day Saint denominations, including The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, accept the book as part of their canon. Other
denominations, such as the Community of Christ, and many Mormon scholars and
individuals, consider it to be a work of inspired (or even non-inspired) fiction.
Origin:
The work is based on a set of Egyptian papyri that Joseph Smith obtained in
July of 1835, which he describes as "a translation of some ancient Records,
that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt. The writings of
Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own
hand, upon papyrus [the original text published in the Times and Seasons used
the word "purported" in reference to Abraham being the author] ."
(See History of the Church, vol. 2, pp. 235, 236, 348-351). An Irishman
named Michael Chandler had brought a travelling exhibition of four Egyptian
mummies and papyri to Kirtland, Ohio, then home of the Mormons. The papyri
contained Egyptian hieroglyphics. As Prophet and Seer of the incipient Church
of Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith was given permission to look at the scrolls
in the exhibit and revealed that "one of the rolls contained the writings of
Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt"
(History of the Church, Vol. 2, Ch. 17, p. 236. July 1835).
During the remainder of July, Smith reportedly "was continually engaged in
translating an alphabet to the Book of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of
the Egyptian language as practiced by the ancients." History of the Church,
Vol. 2, Ch. 17, p. 238. He then proceeded to dictate a translation. The text
gives an account of Abraham's life and is strikingly similar to the account
given in the Book of Jasher (not to be confused with (Book of Jasher
(Pseudo-Jasher)) as it relates to Abraham's relationship with his father.
The text provided justification for important Mormon doctrines, including
the exaltation of man, plurality of gods (which some compare to polytheism),
priesthood, the "curse of Cain" upon blacks, and pre-mortal existence.
Smith originally published the facsimiles and the Book of Abraham as a serial
in the Mormon newspaper Times and Seasons of Nauvoo, Illinois. Three etched
facsimiles of hieroglyphics found with the mummy were also published in
conjunction with the Book of Abraham, and often receive more attention than
the book itself. For each of these facsimiles, Smith offered a detailed
explaination or interpretation of various elements on the papyrus and fragments,
and many believe that under his direction missing or destroyed portions of
the fragments were restored by Smith or in order to make the image complete
and aesthetically pleasing. Of the four carvings of the Book of Abraham
facsimiles that were printed, most Mormon scholars believe the earliest is
the most correct (the one used between 1928 and 1978 being the most incorrect
and likely based on fragments that were damaged after the church purchased
the documents).
The book along with the facsimiles was published by the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints as part of its Pearl of Great Price in Liverpool, England,
in 1852; the denomination eventually canonized that book.
The papyrus scrolls:
The papyri are thought to have been destroyed in a fire in Chicago in 1871.
However, eleven papyrus fragments of the scroll Smith was handling were
rediscovered in 1967 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
(The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, November 27, 1967). Dr. Aziz S. Atiya,
a professor of Arabic Studies from the University of Utah, made the
identification, which was quite secure, since the back of the papyri
were pasted down to paper with "drawings of a temple and maps of the
Kirtland, Ohio area." There was an affidavit from one of Joseph Smith's
wives, Emma Smith, that these papyri had been in the possession of Joseph
Smith. With the rediscovery of the papyri, not only were fragments of the
original Egyptian text recovered, from which Joseph Smith was translating
to create the Book of Abraham, but the original illustrations from which
he reproduced his three "facsimiles" with his interpretations were now
available to professional Egyptologists.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art de-accessioned the papyri, which were
fragmentary, late (Ptolemaic period) and of very familiar Egyptian texts,
thus of little value to a museum, and presented them to The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Joseph Smith Papyri Project at Brigham Young University is currently
producing an authoritative three-volume edition based on the Smith papyri,
recognized as a copy of the Egyptian Book of Breathings, an incantation to
speed the journey of the deceased, and dated to the second or third century
BC, which occupies volume 1. A second volume will set in context the contents
from the Book of the Dead, also represented among the Smith papyri fragments.
A third volume, written with Mormon Egyptologist John Gee, will look at
the Smith papyri from an LDS perspective.
Analysis and criticism:
Academic Egyptologists have generally concluded that the remaining papyrus
fragments comprise portions of a 1st Century A.D. Book of Breathings (or a
manual for handling the "Book of Breathings" on a mummy) prepared for a
deceased priest of the Egyptian god Amon, and accompanied by a portion of
the Book of the Dead, which provides instructions on how the deceased
should behave towards various gods to progress through the afterlife.
One section of the papyrus deals with farm life near the Nile. Though not
all of the papyrus Smith possessed was recovered, the Book of Breathings
itself exists in many more complete papyri.
Several Mormon apologists have suggested a number of theories explaining how
the remaining fragments do not preclude Smith's translation from being the
writings of Abraham, and how it is that Abraham is mentioned twice in two
nearly-identical recovered texts (of which the corresponding section in the
Joseph Smith Papyri has been destroyed). The most popular theories include
the following:
The remaining papyrus fragments are not the ones Smith translated the
Book of Abraham from The missing sections of the papyri are large and could
have contained the text Joseph Smith based the Book of Abraham on
Abraham's writings are esoterically encoded within the Egyptian funery scrolls
The scrolls were merely a starting point for Smith's reconstruction of Abraham's
original writings, which Smith did not have access to or had been destroyed
Smith received the account by revelation, rather than a standard "translation"
of text from one language to another, in a process similar to his translation
of the Bible. There is some dispute about the claim that Abraham lived in the
land of the Chaldeans - many feel this is an error, although it appears in
both the Book of Genesis, the Book of Jasher (not to be confused with Book of
Jasher (Pseudo-Jasher)), and other traditions and manuscripts.
The account in Genesis mentions his home city as "Ur of the Chaldees," however
some historians do not believe Abraham himself would have written the phrase
"of the Chaldees" because they do not think the Chaldeans lived in Ur until
many years after Abraham's time. Thus the phrase is often thought to be an
anachronism, or an interpolation made to clarify the text once the Chaldeans
did live in Ur.
Interpretations and contributions to Mormonism:
The Book of Abraham contains information not found in other texts published by
Joseph Smith, Jr. concerning the pre-existence of spirits and the nature of deity.
Africans and the Priesthood:
Main article: Blacks and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Abraham 1:21-27 speaks of the denial of the priesthood to Canaanites and
Egyptians. While the passage does not speak of Sub-Saharan Africans, it
has been widely interpreted as justification for the LDS Church's practice
of denying the priesthood to those of African descent from 1849 to 1978.
As time passes, the former interpretation is being more widely seen as
Mormon "folk doctrine" rather than a legitimate reading, even though the LDS
church denied priesthood to Africans based on the documentation in the Book of
Abraham. This belief was taught as full divine truth by LDS church leaders and
apologists until the termination in 1978 of the practice of denying priesthood
status to Blacks. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints continues the priesthood denial practice.
Hypocephalus:
Both Mormons and non-Mormons have expressed a large amount of interest in the
large circular facsimile often printed with the Book of Abraham in the Pearl
of Great Price. This figure is known as the Hypocephalus, and is believed by
Egyptologists to have been placed under the head of the deceased in case he
forgot some of the personalized detail needed to know what to say and how to
behave in relation to 'gods' and trials after death (a sort of cheat sheet).
These personalized instructions often accompany the Book of the Dead, but
are either over-generalized in its text or passed over completely in highly
individualized Books of the Dead.
