The Book of Abraham

The Book of Abraham is striking to someone who has read the bible, first because it places a firsthand account of Abraham in the hands of readers. The books of the bible which many read today are a selected works of many writers divided by millenniums of history. I guess if you were to compare the two works, one might be under the impression that the bible is a text that faced more scrutiny, editing and discussion than much of Joseph Smith’s writing. However, this merely outlines the first hurdle Joseph Smith had to overcome through this text.

By translating a first hand, authorial script from Abraham, Smith is asserting a more direct link to this figure and this time period which so many religions harken back to for legitimization. The book begins with Abrahams near death at the hands of his people, whom wished to sacrifice him to their Egyptian idols. Again, we start to see a little bit of what I call “Smith syncretism”, which is an important tool he uses to make his work appeal despite lack of a higher standard of believability. Smith, who is no slouch of a writer, takes multiple stories of the Bible, in this case he combines the story of Abraham with that of his son Issac, and is able to turn them into one cohesive event with a lot of grandeur.

Despite this, however, Smiths work remains prey to so many arguments that make this story seem less and less believable, or just fantastic enough to be believable. The time in which Abraham was alive (2000BC), was a time of sustained peace known as “The Middle Kingdom”. Needless to say, the Gods he claims the people worshipped do not match up with the history. During this time the funerary cult of Osiris dominated Egyptian religion, which would not be focused on sacrificing live people, but performing rituals aimed at conferring and helping the already deceased.