Section 40: The Book of Abraham Question

The LDS Statement

The Book of Abraham is scripture revealed to Joseph Smith. It contains important doctrine about the pre-mortal existence and the nature of God. The fact that Egyptologists don't agree with it doesn't mean Smith was wrong — he was translating by divine power, not by human linguistic ability.

The Response Range

The church's own Gospel Topics Essay is the LDS interlocutor's most sophisticated resource here. They may say Smith was "inspired by" the papyri rather than translating them. They may say the original text was on missing portions of the scroll. They may say God can reveal something through a medium without the medium containing the revelation.

How to Address

Ask: "Did you know the papyri were found? In 1966, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Egyptologists examined them — professional scholars who can actually read Egyptian. Their conclusion was that the papyri are standard funerary documents with no connection to Abraham. The characters Smith identified as 'God sitting upon his throne' are the god Osiris. Do you know about this?"

Then ask: "If Smith described himself as translating the papyri, and the papyri say something entirely different from what he claimed they say, what does that tell us about his claimed gift of translation? And if his gift of translation is in doubt, what does that mean for the Book of Mormon, which he also claimed to translate by the same power?"

The church's own alternative explanations — "inspired by," "missing scroll sections" — are worth engaging: "That explanation wasn't Smith's. He said he translated the documents. If what he actually meant was that he was 'inspired by' them rather than translating them, the word 'translation' is being used to cover something very different from translation. Does that concern you?"

★ Disciple Tip: Many LDS members have not read the Gospel Topics Essay on the Book of Abraham. You have. Ask: "Have you read the church's own essay on the Book of Abraham? What did you make of it?" A member who has read it and is struggling is at a very different point in the conversation than a member who hasn't encountered it. The essay represents the church's own acknowledgment of a problem it can no longer suppress. Meeting a member where they are on this question is more important than presenting the evidence.