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The Book of Abraham: Origins and Controversies
Title
The Book of Abraham: Origins and Controversies
Publication Type
Podcast
Publication Date
October 3, 2023
Authors
Griffiths, Casey Paul (Primary), and Woodward, Scott (Primary)
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Abstract
The Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith’s final translation project, is easily one of the most controversial books of scripture in the Latter-day Saint canon, and we want to talk about it. In today’s episode of Church History Matters, we dig into the fascinating story of how the exploits of a 19th-century grave robber in Egypt ended up expanding our scriptural canon. We look at where in Egypt the papyri from which the Book of Abraham was purportedly translated came from, and how Joseph Smith came to possess both this papyri and a couple pair of mummies. We look at the three theories of what source material Joseph Smith translated from and how he did it, and we trace what we know of what happened to the papyri after Joseph’s death, how many fragments have survived to this day, and what modern Egyptologists think about those surviving fragments, which is the source of the two biggest controversies about the Book of Abraham.Bibliographic Citation
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Items in the BMC Archive are made publicly available for non-commercial, private use. Inclusion within the BMC Archive does not imply endorsement. Items do not represent the official views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of Book of Mormon Central.