NOTE: When you see “BOA” listed on this webpage it is referring to content from this website Best Of Apologetics, not the Book of Abraham.
3 video review of the Book or Abraham from (Talking to Mormons):
The LDS churches own site admits that the Papyrus fragments do not directly relate to the Book of Abraham, starting at 3:00:
The LDS Church “Gospel Topics Essays” article on the Book of Abraham:
Some quotes from this document:
Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embraces the book of Abraham as scripture.
Many people saw the papyri, but no eyewitness account of the translation survives, making it impossible to reconstruct the process. Only small fragments of the long papyrus scrolls once in Joseph Smith’s possession exist today. The relationship between those fragments and the text we have today is largely a matter of conjecture.
The book of Abraham’s status as scripture ultimately rests on faith in the saving truths found within the book itself as witnessed by the Holy Ghost.
A video review of the “Gospel Topics Essays” article on the Book of Abraham:
What is the impact of the translations on LDS membership, from MRM (Mormon Research Ministry)?
Leaders are not telling the truth: From 2013-15, the LDS Church published thirteen essays on controversial topics such as Joseph Smith’s polygamous/polyandrous ways, the Book of Abraham as a spiritual (not literal) translation, and the method used by Smith to translate the Book of Mormon (with a magical seer stone). For many, these Gospel Topics Essays included information they did not previously know, even though the facts had been readily available from sources such as mrm.org. Some felt betrayed because they were not taught the truth in their local congregations before 2013. This has certainly led to further distrust in church leaders. (For more on the Gospel Topics essays, see mrm.org/gospel-topics-essay-intro.)
“Problems with the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham: This is the top historical issue for why people leave Mormonism.“
BOA Note: The source of the above quote is from Mormon blogger Jana Reiss.
According to the following source and survey, what are the top two historical reasons that people leave the LDS church?
https://www.ldsdiscussions.com/blog-faith-crisis-report
The above listed blog is commenting on:
“Looking at the 2013 Report: “LDS Personal Faith Crisis” (Oct 30, 2018)
In 2013, a team of scholars and experts within the church (we do not know exactly who was in the group) conducted a survey for the church of over 3,000 members to understand what caused their faith crisis, where they are today, and what they felt about the church upon learning the facts that were not taught to them as members. The report was then presented to Dieter F. Uchtdorf and given to the Q15.”
“the top reasons people leave are the Book of Abraham and Polygamy/Polyandry. Close behind are blacks and the priesthood, DNA and the Book of Mormon, Masonic ties to the temple ceremony, and the multiple First Vision Accounts.
BOA Note: “The principal author of LDS Discussions is a writer who publicly goes by the name “Mike” (often simply “Mike from LDS Discussions”). He has generally chosen not to publish his full legal name, and that anonymity has been respected in interviews and podcasts.”
Further references:
The Book of Abraham itself from the LDS website:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/abr?lang=eng
Facsimile 1 of the Book of Abraham from the LDS website:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-1?lang=eng
Facsimile 2 of the Book of Abraham from the LDS website:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-2?lang=eng
Facsimile 3 of the Book of Abraham from the LDS website:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-3?lang=eng
The CES Letters section on the Book of Abraham:
https://read.cesletter.org/boa/#papyrus-found
CES Letters view of the facsimile edits of the Book of Abraham:
https://read.cesletter.org/boa/#common-pagan-funerary-text
Original Facsimile 1 papyri, including backing paper, and hand drawn edits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Book_of_Abraham#/media/File:Joseph_Smith_Papyrus_I.jpg
BOA Note: Compare this original to Facsimile 1 as included in the Book of Abraham, note that the original contains hierogylphics, and the version in the Book of Abraham does not.
Joseph Smith translated papyri and claimed they were the writings of Abraham:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/book-of-abraham-translation?lang=eng#note1
After Joseph Smith examined the papyri and commenced “the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics,” his history recounts, “much to our joy [we] found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham.”
Joseph Smith claims a “correct translation” of the Book of Abraham: History of the Church
https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-chapters/volume-2-chapter-25/
Thus I have given a brief history of the manner in which the writings of the fathers, Abraham and Joseph, have been preserved, and how I came in possession of the same—a correct translation of which I shall give in its proper place. [Page 351]
Changes to the Introduction in the Perl of Great Price, concerning the Book of Abraham ‘An Inspired Translation’:
Detailed Summary of Approved Adjustments for the 2013 Edition of the Scriptures:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/scriptures/detailed-summary-of-approved-adjustments.pdf
from page 33:
PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
Introduction, paragraph 1, last sentence—Changed “These items were produced by the Prophet Joseph Smith and were published in . . .” to “These items were translated and produced by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and most were published in . . .”
Introduction, paragraph 4, item 2—Changed
“A translation from some Egyptian papyri that came into the hands of Joseph Smith in 1835, containing writings of the patriarch Abraham”
to “An inspired translation of the writings of Abraham. Joseph Smith began the translation in 1835 after obtaining some Egyptian papyri.”
—
What is the introduction to the Book of Abraham, and the assertion that Abraham wrote this?
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/abr/1?lang=eng copied August 2026
“The Book of Abraham
Translated from the Papyrus, by Joseph Smith
A Translation of some ancient Records that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt. The writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus.“
BOA Question: The assertion is that the Biblical Abraham wrote “by his own hand, upon papyrus”. Is there any evidence at all that Abraham actually wrote this?
ChatGPT:
From the standpoint of mainstream historical scholarship, there is no direct evidence that the biblical Abraham personally wrote any surviving document, whether on papyrus or any other medium.
https://apologist.ai/:
No. There is no direct historical, archaeological, or manuscript evidence that the biblical Abraham wrote a document “by his own hand, upon papyrus.”
Gemini:
There is no scientific, historical, or textual evidence that the biblical Abraham wrote or physically touched the document.
Both secular scholars (Egyptologists and historians) and Latter-day Saint (LDS) scholars agree that the papyri purchased by Joseph Smith in 1835 were created long after Abraham lived.
The primary physical, historical, and textual realities surrounding the phrase “written by his own hand, upon papyrus” include:
1. The Physical Age of the Papyri
– Timeline of Abraham: Biblical chronology places Abraham around 2000–1800 BC.
– Timeline of the Papyri: When the surviving Joseph Smith Papyri were rediscovered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1966 and examined by Egyptologists, radiocarbon testing and paleographic analysis confirmed they date to the Ptolemaic Period (c. 300 BC to 100 BC)—roughly 1,500 to 1,800 years after Abraham lived.
https://www.perplexity.ai/:
Short answer: There is no credible evidence that the Biblical Abraham personally wrote anything on papyrus. The phrase “written by his own hand, upon papyrus” appears in the Pearl of Great Price as part of a heading or attribution, but manuscript tradition and scholarly evidence do not support the claim that Abraham physically wrote the papyrus copies Joseph Smith possessed.
BOA Question:
How then do LDS apologists address the assertion that Abraham wrote the Book of Abraham, whether or not he was the actual scribe?
ChatGPT:
They argue that the text itself claims Abrahamic authorship
The first response is that the Book of Abraham presents itself as an autobiographical account:
Abraham speaks in the first person:|
“I, Abraham, having been chosen of the Lord…” (Abraham 3:1)
Gemini:
To defend the assertion that the ancient patriarch Abraham was the ultimate author of the Book of Abraham—regardless of who transcribed the papyri or when it was physically produced—LDS apologists (such as Hugh Nibley, John Gee, and Kerry Muhlestein) rely on a combination of textual parallel arguments, idiomatic interpretation, and competing translation models.
Their arguments generally cluster around four main defenses:
1. Textual Parallels to Extra-Biblical Traditions
The primary argument LDS apologists make for Abrahamic authorship is that the Book of Abraham contains specific cultural, historical, and narrative details that were unknown in 19th-century America but match ancient Near Eastern non-biblical traditions discovered later.
Apologists point to:
Human Sacrifice in Chaldea: The text describes Abraham nearly being sacrificed on an altar in Ur.
LDS scholars argue that while 19th-century critics dismissed this, ancient texts (such as the Apocalypse of Abraham and pseudo-epigraphical Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions) similarly depict Abraham escaping a executionary sacrifice.
Chaldean/Egyptian Geography: Apologists point to specific place names mentioned in the text (such as “Ololishem”) as matching authentic ancient Near Eastern sites discovered by modern archaeologists after Joseph Smith’s time.
Astronomy and Cosmology: The astronomical concepts in Abraham chapter 3 (e.g., “Kolob” as a governing star) are argued to fit ancient Geocentric and Ptolemaic Egyptian worldviews regarding divine hierarchies of stars and times. …
BOA Question:What is the counter – counter argument to: “Human Sacrifice in Chaldea: The text describes Abraham nearly being sacrificed on an altar in Ur. LDS scholars argue that while 19th-century critics dismissed this”
Gemini:
“The counter-argument asserts that equating ancient Egyptian military executions or capital punishment for treason with the Book of Abraham’s depiction of religious, idol-worshipping human sacrifices in Mesopotamia is historically unsound. Critics view the narrative as a 19th-century invention that misinterprets a common Egyptian embalming scene.”
BOA Question:
How do LDS apologists explain the anachronistic issues with the Book of Abraham, such as:The Physical Age of the Papyri – Timeline of Abraham: Biblical chronology places Abraham around 2000–1800 BC. – Timeline of the Papyri: When the surviving Joseph Smith Papyri were rediscovered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1966 and examined by Egyptologists, radiocarbon testing and paleographic analysis confirmed they date to the Ptolemaic Period (c. 300 BC to 100 BC)—roughly 1,500 to 1,800 years after Abraham lived.
ChatGPT:
LDS apologists generally do not dispute the dating of the surviving fragments. Instead, they challenge the assumption that the surviving fragments are the actual source of the Book of Abraham or argue that ancient texts can have complicated transmission histories.
https://apologist.ai/:
LDS apologists typically do not deny that the surviving Joseph Smith Papyri are much later than Abraham. Rather, they argue that the age difference does not necessarily disprove the Book of Abraham. Their main responses are these:
1. A later copy of an earlier Abrahamic text
2. The missing-scroll theory
3. The catalyst theory
——-
For Further Study:
Title: The Book of Abraham is FAKE—Here’s the Undeniable Proof
from Capturing Christianity – video length 20:03
Includes LDS responses
and the Kirtland Egyptian Papers
What are the Kirtland Egyptian Papers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtland_Egyptian_papers
“The Kirtland Egyptian papers (KEP) are a collection of documents related to the Book of Abraham created in Kirtland between July and November 1835, and in Nauvoo between March through May 1842.[1] Because some documents were created in Nauvoo, the collection is sometimes referred to as the Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts[2] and Joseph Smith Egyptian Papers.[3]
The papers include an “Egyptian alphabet” written in the hand of Joseph Smith, other Egyptian language related materials and early manuscript versions of the Book of Abraham in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, Warren Parish, Willard Richards, and Frederick G. Williams.
The papers have been a source of controversy, because the translations and interpretations within are not considered accurate by Egyptologists, and have thus stoked questions of whether the Book of Abraham is a literal translation of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Some apologists of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) have postulated that many of the papers may have been produced by Smith’s scribes without his involvement, and that they may have been intended as a speculative or naturalistic effort rather than a product of revelation.”
Video Title: Why Mormonism Can’t Recover from “The Book of Abraham”
Another take on the topic from GLM (God Loves Mormons), Video Length 18:39
Describes the content of the book.
Includes how the manual facsimile edits were incorrect.
Opening line of the video: “Why have more people left Mormonism over this issue than almost any other?”
BOA, believes in responding to the best arguments from views we disagree with, so what follows are two videos from LDS apologists defending the Book of Abraham.
What do LDS apologists have to say about the Book of Abraham:
Video Title: Is the Book of Abraham authentic?? | with Stephen Smoot, video length 18:28
from: Saints Unscripted
Video Title:The truth about the Book of Abraham | with Kerry Muhlestein, video length 10:50
from Saints Unscripted:
Finally here is a critique of LDS Apologist defenses:
Video Title:Response to Recent Book of Abraham Apologetics – by Dan Vogel, video length 1:26:18
Premiered Sep 18, 2025
“In this video, I address recent apologetic arguments that defend the authenticity of the Book of Abraham presented by Hayden Carroll, William Schryver, Tim Barker, and Egyptologist Kerry Muhlestein.
My comments primarily respond to “The Book of Abraham: NEW Research That Proves Critics Wrong,” Thoughtful Faith, YouTube. With Hayden Carroll.”
BOA Question: LDS apologists argue that Joseph Smith included information in the book of Abraham that he couldn’t have known without divine revelation. What is the best critique of that argument?
ChatGPT answer:
The standard critique of the argument that Joseph Smith had access to supernatural knowledge when writing the Book of Abraham relies on three main lines of evidence:
1. mainstream Egyptology,
2. 19th-century source availability
3. textual anachronisms.
1. The Direct Disconnect in the Papyri
The primary physical evidence against the divine revelation model came with the rediscovery of the Joseph Smith Papyri fragments in 1967.
- Standard Funerary Texts: Non-LDS Egyptologists—as well as LDS scholars—have translated the surviving papyri fragments (including the original source for Facsimile 1) as standard Egyptian funerary texts (The Book of Breathings and The Book of the Dead), dating from roughly 300 BCE to 100 BCE—long after Abraham’s era (c. 2000 BCE).
- Misinterpretation of the Facsimiles: Egyptologists note that Joseph Smith’s explanations of the figures in Facsimiles 1, 2, and 3 misidentify standard Egyptian deities and figures:
- Facsimile 1: Identifies the jackal-headed Egyptian god Anubis as an “idolatrous priest of Elkenah.”
- Facsimile 2: Identifies a hypocephalus (a funerary amulet placed under a mummy’s head) containing traditional Egyptian cosmology as divine revelations about God’s throne and astronomy.
- Facsimile 3: Identifies Egyptian deities such as Osiris and Isis as “Abraham” and “King Pharaoh.”
2. Availability of 19th-Century Sources
Critics demonstrate that the concepts, names, and astronomical ideas present in the Book of Abraham were accessible to Joseph Smith through contemporary books, lectures, and Bible commentaries available in the 1830s.
- Flavius Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews): Josephus’s works were widely available in 19th-century America. Josephus claimed that Abraham taught astronomy to the Egyptians, a key narrative motif in the Book of Abraham that apologists sometimes claim was an obscure ancient tradition.
- Thomas Dick’s Philosophy of a Future State (1828): Extracts of this book were published in the LDS newspaper Times and Seasons in 1842. Dick argued that stars and planets were hierarchically arranged around a central governing star—a model closely mirroring the astronomical hierarchy in Abraham 3 (including Kolob).
- Hebrew Study with Joshua Seixas (1836): Joseph Smith studied Hebrew in Kirtland under Joshua Seixas. Several non-standard transliterations and interpretations in the Book of Abraham (such as Kokaubeam for stars and Raukeeyang for expanse/firmament) directly mirror Seixas’s specific Hebrew textbook rules and transliteration style.
3. Historical and Anachronistic Errors
Critics point to historical and geographical details in the text that reflect 19th-century understandings of the ancient world rather than 2nd-millennium BCE reality:
- Pharaoh as a Proper Name/Title: The text treats “Pharaoh” as a proper name meaning “king by royal blood.”
In ancient Egypt, pharaoh (meaning “great house”) was not used as a title or address for the king until the New Kingdom (c. 1400 BCE), centuries after Abraham.
- Ur of the Chaldees: The text places “Ur of the Chaldees” in northern Mesopotamia/Canaan. However, the Chaldeans did not exist as a distinct group until the 1st millennium BCE, making “Chaldees” an anachronism for Abraham’s era—one inherited directly from the King James Bible text.
Summary of the Counter-Argument
Rather than requiring divine revelation, critics argue that the Book of Abraham is best explained as a product of its time: a synthesis of 19th-century biblical commentary, popular astronomy, basic Hebrew study, and creative interpretation of ancient Egyptian artifacts that were misunderstood prior to the widespread translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
DEE JAY NELSON’S LETTER OF RESIGNATION
TMP p. 105
PROF. DEE JAY NELSON
Lecturer
Egyptologist
Highland Park Drive
Billings, Montana 59102
Field Address:
Nile Hilton
Cairo, Egypt U.A.R.
Attention: First Presidency
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Church Office Building
Salt Lake City, Utah
This letter is to inform you that it is our considered desire that my own name and those of my wife and daughter be removed from the membership rolls of the Latter Day Saint Church.
We:
Dee Jay Nelson
Katherine G. Nelson (Mrs. Dee Jay Nelson)
Kim Cherie Nelson
do freely, and with full understanding of the implications of the step, require that our names be removed from all member records of the L.D.S. Church.
Dee Jay Nelson, do hereby renounce and relinquish the priesthood which I now hold.
Following my translation (the first to be published) of the bulk of the hieratic and hieroglyphic Egyptian texts upon the Metropolitan-Joseph Smith Papyri Fragments three of the most eminent Egyptologists now living published corroborating translations. These amply prove the fraudulent nature of the Book of Abraham, in which lies the unjust assertion that negroes are unworthy of participation in the highest privileges of the L.D.S. Church.
We do not wish to be associated with a religious organization which teaches lies and adheres to policies so blatantly opposed to the civil and religious rights of some citizens of the United States.
By affixing our signatures to this document we exercise our constitutional rights of religious freedom and separate ourselves from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Dee Jay Nelson
Katherine G. Nelson
Kim Cherie Nelson
Date: Dec. 8. 1975
Further BOA Questions:
BOA Question: What in your opinion is the strongest argument that the Book of Abraham, is not what the LDS church claims it to be?
BOA Question: If you are a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, what counter-argument from LDS apologists do you find to be most compelling, and why?
BOA Question: Does the Book of Abraham confirm Joseph Smith as a translator and prophet?
If not, is it right to follow him as one?
BOA equation: Incorrect translation = Not a Translator = Not a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator.
BOA Summary: Joseph Smith claimed to have translated the papyri, it doesn’t matter that some of the papyri is missing, the papyri that isn’t missing was translated incorrectly and the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints admits it. Therefore Joseph Smith fails as a translator and a prophet.
Deuteronomy 18:21-22
English Standard Version
21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him
BOA Summary 2: How much of this second summary rings true?
The facts are clear:
1. Egyptologists do not agree that the papyri is what the LDS Church claims it to be. It is in fact something else entirely.
2. The church only changed to the “inspiration” theory after the papyri were rediscovered 1966-67 and accurately translated.
3. Abraham lived long before the papyri was dated to have been written.
4. Joseph Smith himself claims to have “correctly translated” the papyri.
5. Many (almost all) of the claims about the drawings on the papyri are demonstrably wrong. Like the Coptic jars being Gods, the identification of the characters, etc.
6. The drawn in portions of the missing sections of the papyri, do not match, the well known matching examples of the same scenes and depictions.
7. The LDS church admits many of the problems.
8. The LDS apologist counter-arguments such as:
a. A later copy of an earlier Abrahamic text
b. The missing-scroll theory
c. The catalyst theory
Have plausible counter-arguments, and frankly just seem to ignore the glaring issues.
BOA Question: The problems with the Book of Abraham are stated by numerous sources as being one of the most common reasons that members leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, what is the most common specific reason for this action?
https://apologist.ai/:
The most common specific reason is that many members conclude Joseph Smith’s claimed translation of the Book of Abraham is not supported by the surviving Egyptian papyri. The papyri rediscovered in 1967 have generally been identified by Egyptologists as ordinary Egyptian funerary texts—especially portions of the Book of Breathings and the Book of the Dead—rather than writings by Abraham. They also find that Joseph Smith’s explanations of the accompanying facsimiles do not match standard Egyptological readings.
For many, the difficulty is not merely that an old document is disputed. It is that the Book of Abraham was presented as a translation of Abraham’s own writings, and Joseph Smith’s prophetic credibility is tied to that claim. Thus, when a person becomes persuaded that the translation claim is false, they may reevaluate other foundational claims of Latter-day Saint authority and revelation.
The Latter-day Saint Church has offered responses, including the “missing scroll” theory (that the actual source text was destroyed) and a “catalyst” theory (that the papyri prompted revelation rather than being translated directly). But former members frequently regard those explanations as inconsistent with Joseph Smith’s own descriptions of translating the papyri and with the close association he made between the text and the facsimiles.
… Paul warned against accepting a message that departs from the apostolic gospel: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!” (Galatians 1:8, BSB). Christians are also commanded to test teaching rather than receive every spiritual claim uncritically: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1, BSB). And the faith to be defended is the apostolic faith already delivered, not a later gospel founded on a competing authority: “Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.” (Jude 1:3, BSB).
So, in brief: the most common specific Book of Abraham-related catalyst for leaving is the conviction that the extant papyri and facsimiles disprove, or at least seriously undermine, Joseph Smith’s claim to have translated an ancient text written by Abraham.
BOA Plea: My “Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints” friends say that they have prayed and have received a revelation that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that the LDS scriptures are true. What if this information, about the falsehood of the Book of Abraham, is a revelation from God to you that the LDS scriptures are false? Shouldn’t this information qualify as a answer to prayer as well? If so, please consider following the True Jesus Christ of the Bible.