Revision as of 21:45, 14 February 2010

Claims made in "Appendix A: Abraham's Book?"

449

Claim

•  Author's quote: Surely Smith would be able to translate the writings, thereby proving his God-given abilities.

• Author's opinion.

• Joseph was not translating the scrolls in order to provide some sort of proof of his "God-given abilities." This is simply a sarcastic statement on the part of the author.
• Sarcasm

449

Claim

• The information on the scrolls was "penned by none other than Abraham...and Joseph."

• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri

449

Claim

• According to the book, Joseph "was positive" that he could translate the Book of Abraham scrolls because "the inscriptions were so similar to those on the Book of Mormon golden plates..."

• No source provided.

• Joseph believed he could translate the Book of Abraham because he said he had translated the Book of Mormon "by the gift and power of God."
• If Joseph is perpetuating a fraud, as the author believes, why on earth would Joseph be positive that he could translate an ancient document when he knew he had made up the existence of the Book of Mormon plates? This theory is not even self-consistent.
• Book of Abraham information

450

Claim

• The book claims that "modern Mormons" believe that the Book of Abraham "proves" Joseph Smith's "powers of translation."

• No source provided.

• No, "modern Mormons" simply believe that Joseph translated the Book of Abraham from papyri by the gift and power of God.

450

Claim

•  Author's quote: [T]he ancient documents Smith acquired were only copies of common Egyptian funeral texts; namely, The Book of Breathings (which Smith turned into the Book of Abraham) and Book of the Dead (which Smith said had been written by the Bible's Joseph).

• No source provided.

• It is unclear how the author developed his association of the Book of Breathings with the Book of Abraham and the Book of the Dead with the writings of Joseph.

450-451

Claim

• Joseph's interpretations of the facsimilies has been rejected by Egyptologists.

• Statements are provided in the main text by Dr. A.H. Sayce (Oxford, England), Dr. W.M. Flinders Petrie (London University), James H. Breasted, Ph.D. (Haskell Oriental Museum, University of Chicago), Dr. Arthur C. Mace (Assistant Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Department of Egyptian Art), and Professor S.A.B. Mercer, Ph.D. (Western Theological Seminary, Custodian Hibbard Collection, Egyptian Reproductions).

• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Facsimiles

451

Claim

• The book reproduces a reconstruction of what Facsimile 1 is alleged to have looked like from Charles M. Larson's book By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus. The author assumes that Larson's reconstruction is valid, noting, among other things that Joseph Smith "missed drawing in the falcon altogether" and that he "incorrectly drew the hand positioning of the figure lying down."

• Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look At the Joseph Smith Papyri, 1985, 1992 edition.

• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Facsimiles/Facsimile 1

455

Claim

• The author completely omits the fact that the Church published an article in the Improvement Era soon after the discovery of the papyrus fragments that acknowledged that they were from the Book of Breathings.

• To have included this, of course, would fly in the face of the author's constant assertions throughout the book that the Church hides any information that might be potentially embarrassing.
• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Identity and nature
• Notable omissions

455

Claim

• The scrolls were written approximately 2000 years after Abraham's death, and were therefore could not have been written by his hand as Joseph claimed.

• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri

456-457

Claim

• The Book of Abraham was "translated" by expanding single Egyptian characters into entire paragraphs of text.

Further reading