by Charles M. Larson
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Product Description
A survey of the controversy surrounding Mormon founder Joseph Smith's claim that he translated the Book of Abraham from an ancient Egyptian papyrus.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 This book changed my life..., 2008-12-28
This book changed my life. I read the book during graduate school, and it single-handedly brought me out of the Mormon church. I always had some nagging doubts about J. Smith, but somehow I had always managed to give the church the benefit of the doubt. I was an RM, BYU-graduate, BIC, garment-wearing kind of Mormon. Well, after reading this book, I no longer had to worry about the veracity of the church's truth-claims. They were false. That's the powerful effect this book can have toward one's "testimony."
The book is promoted on an information site called www.bookofabraham.com. It's worth checking out. Do yourself a BIG favor and buy this book. Without being too dramatic, the book has the ability to set you free from your nagging doubts about the church.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Mormon Identity Crists, 2008-04-25
Larson, Charles M., By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus; A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri (Institute for Religious Research, Grand Rapids, MI, 1992, Second Printing.) This book contains factual information plus many insights all readers can benefit from.
In 1835 Joseph Smith obtained some ancient papyri with hieroglyphs found wrapped in Egyptian mummies. He claimed to have supernatural ability to "translate" these hieroglyphs that no one else could then read. He said these papyri contained "The Book of Abraham" which he began to "translate" into English.
Larson says, "If Joseph was correct, the Church now had before it the very work from which Genesis had been derived; nothing less than the original, first-hand journal that had been kept by Father Abraham himself. And this account... not only cast new light on the background and experiences of the great biblical patriarch, it also gave scriptural authority to a number of the new doctrines and teachings Joseph had recently introduced." (p. 18).
The "new doctrines" included plural marriage, the plurality of gods, the eternal priesthood, the pre-existence of spirits, eternal progression (we will become gods), etc. Larson says,"...the value of the Book of Abraham was incalculable. It could never be laid aside without forfeiting some of that Church's most sacred and distinctive doctrines. ...in October of 1880, it was officially canonized by unanimous vote at a session of the Church's semiannual General Conference in Salt Lake City." (p. 23).
After Joseph Smith's tragic and untimely death in 1844, his papyri collection passed into the hands of his widow, and it was later thought to have been destroyed in the Chicago Fire, so the papyri were no longer available for inspection during the later decades when controversies raged about the credibility of the Book of Abraham and Joseph Smith's ability to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. But in 1966 some of these original papyri were discovered in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the controversy over the Book of Abraham moved into a critical new phase. Mormonism potentially faced a real "identity crisis."
"The stage was finally set for resolving the long, puzzling story of the Book of Abraham papyri....All the requirements for validation which LDS Church apologists and the critics had insisted on for the last hundred years had been met. The question of whether or not Joseph Smith was telling the truth could at last be determined. But more was at stake than Joseph Smith's reputation; more even than the validity of the Book of Abraham. Hanging in the balance was the entire religious system established by Joseph Smith. Mormonism could at last be proven to be either true or false." (p. 53.)
When several leading experts in Egyptian hieroglyphics were allowed to read these papyri, they all said they were common Egyptian funeral texts. Joseph Smith's "translation" in his "Book of Abraham" has no literal relation to what these "funeral texts" really say! This was no longer simply the old question of whether Joseph Smith plagiarized the Book of Mormon from Solomon Spaulding or other authors, but now the question was whether Smith had perpetrated a deception in creating an extra-biblical "Book of Abraham" to support his "new doctrines"! The story of how Mormons reacted to this fundamental crisis in Mormonism is objectively reported by author Larson in considerable detail.
"All is well--Creating an Appearance. Just as the level of exposure to the subject of the Joseph Smith Papyri varies among Latter-day Saints, so also do their responses to the controversy. Most know little about it, some have come across a few conflicts, yet choose not to investigate them, and still others find themselves considering one or more of the various `intellectual' approaches discussed previously. It is interesting that it seems to matter little to Mormon belief which of these categories the individual member falls into.
"Lack of awareness of the whole papyri issue helps perpetuate the traditional understanding of the Book of Abraham' origins. Confusion, on the other hand, can be a highly effective means of preventing questions from becoming too critical when problems are encountered. A person who finds a topic very confusing will often suspend judgment and keep right on believing in whatever he hopes is true." (p. 141).
"Trust in a system will also help sustain a person through confusion until he reaches a point of no longer caring whether an answer is reasonable or not, or indeed, whether an answer even exists. It is not surprising, then, that the LDS Church heavily stresses the absolute necessity of trusting its system and leadership. Members are taught, for instance, that praying to know the truthfulness of a matter is a more sure way of determining its validity than thoughtful examination of the evidence. But in so doing, the very evidence God has provided to steer us to truth may be ignored
"Contributing to the confusion is the fact that there is no `official' answer from the LDS Church that addresses the issues raised by the discovery of the Joseph Smith Papyri. ... In the absence of official answers from LDS authorities, those with questions are left with only the efforts of the various apologists to provide solutions. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that occasional contradictions occur where a variety of approaches are used to give the impression that `all is well.' ... It appears that the primary reason most LDS articles of an apologetic nature are written is to paint, at all costs, a favorable picture of the Mormon faith--one that is `faith promoting.' Accuracy and credibility seem to be distinctly secondary matters. ...
"'Nothing has changed.' This is the approach the casual reader of Mormon apologetic literature on the Book of Abraham is most likely to encounter. It is calculated to create the impression that the traditional viewpoint remains intact, almost as though the Metropolitan papyri collection had never come to light, and no questions or problems have ever arisen as a result.
"This technique is especially common in the popular, non-academic books that are intended to present a favorable overview of Mormonism. These books generally contain a great deal of fluff, but little substance, and are often marked by serious inaccuracies and misrepresentations, as well as the omission of controversial details. Specific mention of newer material likely to challenge traditional perceptions is studiously avoided, and older works undergo only minor revisions, or none at all. (pp. 142-143).
"Not long ago certain General Authorities, in particular Apostle Boyd K. Packer, criticized a number of prominent Mormon writers and historians for what he termed an `exaggerated loyalty to the theory that everything must be told.' Packer felt that an objective approach to Church history `may unwittingly be giving `equal time' to the adversary' since it `may be read by those not mature enough for `advanced history,' and a testimony in seedling stage may be crushed.' Elder Packer went on to insist that the role of Mormon historians ought to be mainly to demonstrate and affirm that `the hand of the Lord [has been] in every hour and every moment of the Church from its beginning till now.' In effect, LDS writers were being told that they should produce only an accommodation history that would exclude anything not `faith promoting.' (p. 146).
"The Criteria for Rationalization. At this point one might wonder how Latter-day Saints can be aware of these things and still maintain belief and trust in the Book of Abraham, and through it, the entire Mormon belief system?
"The key word here, of course, is aware. As has been noted earlier, many Mormons are relatively uninformed of any controversy concerning the validity of the Book of Abraham; or if they become aware controversy exists, will tend to fall back on the trust they have in their system, and avoid further investigation.
"Of course, there are some LDS members who are more active, and there are various reasons why members become active. Commitment to any group or cause can be inspired by a number of personal factors which may have little or nothing to do with having a `testimony' that the cause is true. These factors usually come down to vested interests, such as cultural preference, a sense of appreciation for tradition, family relationships, economic advantage, a desire to exercise authority, or even a feeling of superiority brought on by being part of a select group (these are certainly significant values, but they should never cause us to compromise eternal truths). Given enough vested interests, we often simply do not care whether an objection is valid or not. They have what they want, are comfortable with it, and do not wish to be disturbed. This can hold true within any group; it is an altogether human condition. ...
"In the first case, confidence in the system leads to trust in God; in the second, trust in God causes faith in the system. Either will produce sincerity, but in both cases what makes this sincerity valid and vital is the person's trust in God. This trust in God needs to be recognized as a matter that is separate from the issue of whether or not the LDS Church is true. Until a Latter-day Saint grasps this distinction, he will usually be reluctant to question the validity of the Church as an organization, for fear of threatening his relationship with God.
"But to respond constructively to issues that challenge our existing views, we must meet three conditions:
1.We must be knowledgeable of the objective evidence in the controversy. ... But since we sometimes allow feelings and emotions to overrule incontestable facts, a further quality is necessary.
2.We must be reasonable enough to consider the implications involved. God has given us the faculty of reason as a means of discerning truth and error. An examination of the facts is not a threat to true faith. A person who closes his mind to issues he is uncomfortable with and refuses to allow for the existence of any possibility other than his own attitude of `I am right--what I want to be so is so,' is running roughshod over the God-given gift of human reason. Such a person cannot expect others to respect his position. More importantly, he runs the risk of being deceived by counterfeit spiritual claims. [See John 3:18-21; 2 Thess. 2:3-12, 15.] But there is also a final ingredient.
3.We must be honest enough with ourselves to care about what the truth really is, even if it goes against what we want. The desire to accept and act upon the truth must outweigh any vested interests.
"Those who do not apply these standards to investigating controversy must resort to rationalizing, rather than facing reality." (pp. 161-163)
"Sometime during the mid-1850s ...an LDS Apostle named Orson Pratt confidently laid a dramatic challenge before the world:
`...convince us of our errors of doctrine , if we have any, by reason, by logical arguments, or by the Word of God, and we will be ever grateful for the information, and you will have the pleasing reflection that you have been instruments in the hands of God of redeeming your fellow beings from the darkness which may see enveloping their minds.'
"Orson Pratt was no doubt confident that a successful case against the claims of Mormonism would never be presented because one simply did not exist. Over a century-and-a-half of close scrutiny, though, has proven the opposite to be the case. It is this fact which probably best explains why the contemporary LDS Church has shifted from the bold, confrontational stance of Pratt's day, to one of cautioning members to `rely on faith and not historical fact' (see article on p. 170). The message coming from LDS spokesmen today appears to be more and more of accommodation: If facts fail to justify faith (what one wishes to believe), then faith should overrule facts. This sort of thinking is evasive, and must be set aside if any real reckoning with the facts is to take place.
"But going back to Pratt, the challenge he made is a valid one, and the tendency of contemporary LDS figures to rationalize away problems instead of confronting them only underlines the fact that serious problems do exist. If error or falsehood within a religious system exists, it should be exposed, and using reason and the Word of God to do so makes a great deal of sense. Exposing error is the right thing to do, as only good can be the ultimate result of people learning the truth.
"We are not only justified, then, in examining the evidences challenging the truth of the Book of Abraham which God has graciously allowed to come forth, we are firmly obligated to do so. And it is quite possible that the case against the Book of Abraham is the strongest evidence ever provided to test the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's claims."(p. 170-171)
"'To a professional historian, for example, the recent translation of the Joseph Smith papyri may well represent the potentially most damaging case against Mormonism since its foundation. Yet the `Powers That Be' at the Church Historian's Office should take comfort in the fact that the almost total lack of response to this translation is uncanny proof of Frank Kermode's observation that even the most devastating acts of disconfirmation will have no effect whatever upon true believers. Perhaps an even more telling response is that of the `liberals,' or cultural Mormons. After the Joseph Smith papyri affair, one might well have expected a mass exodus of these people from the Church. Yet none has occurred. Why? Because cultural Mormons, of course, do not believe in the historical authenticity of the Mormon scriptures in the first place. So there is nothing to disconfirm.'" (p. 236, quoting a Mormon writer named Klaus Hansen.)
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent introduction to the "book of abraham", 2008-04-19
This is an excellent, eye-opening book on the history of the Mormon Church's "pearl of great price." It provides beautiful, high resolution photographs along with meticulous documentation. And, despite the complexity of the issue, the book is easy to follow. Don't be fooled by Mormon apologists. The issue is not as complicated as they would have you believe.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Sorry Joe, it ain't about Abraham!, 2007-12-21
This is a very good, precise and exhaustive work of proof not only against Mormonism, but against the man that Mormons revere as a holy prophet. This book proves beyond a doubt that the Book Of Abraham is a complete and utter fallacy, and that Joseph Smith either lied to his congregation, or was led by some sort of mental or spiritual misunderstanding to write the book of Abraham. The papyrus from which the Book Of Abraham is supposedly "translated" has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the patriarch Abraham, and everything to do with ancient Egyptian mythology and religious ceremonies. If Mormonism is to survive this huge blow, it will have to do so without the Book Of Abraham, and indeed without the "prophet" Joseph Smith.
15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
Apologist Mormons are on the run!, 2007-03-14
As an ex Mormon, I know the real story about how the "Book of Abraham" was "translated". The current crop of "Mormon intellectuals and apologists" are running for the border to escape the reality of Joe Smith's ongoing fraud. They cannot dodge the vast amount of evidence that clearly states that Joe Smith "TRANSLATED by revelation" the scrolls that make up his "Book of Abraham". Problem is that many of the nasty doctrines of Mormonism come from the "Book of Abraham". Negros and the priesthood, nature of God, multiple gods, ETC. Egyptologists have confirmed this fraud of Joe Smith as a hoax. Joe Smith could hardly read english let alone "translate" any ancient language. Read this book to learn the absolute truth of just how Joe Smith pulled another fast one in his quest to set himself up as God on Earth.
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