Approaching Anachronisms in the Book of Abraham

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Approaching Anachronisms in the Book of Abraham

Summary: Critics have argued that there is no way that Abraham actually wrote the Book of Abraham. To support their arguments, critics have pointed to many anachronisms in the Book of Abraham. An anachronism is something that is out of place for the time it is claimed to exist. Thus, the mention of a cellphone is an anachronism in the sentence "Abraham Lincoln called his wife, Mary-Todd, on his cellphone." This page gives some principles and procedures that interested Book of Abraham students can adopt to resolve the claimed anachronisms.

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There are several approaches that modern students of the Book of Abraham can employ to address alleged anachronisms in the text. Below we outline those approaches.

Deny that the anachronism exists and assert that, although it has not yet been attested in an extant source, the posited characteristic does indeed date back to the Middle Bronze Age.

One way is to deny that the anachronism exists and claim that, although it has not been found in an ancient source, it will be discovered and date back to the time of Abraham. There is a lot that we do not know about the ancient world, and further discovery and learning may indeed yield new findings that render the anachronism obsolete.

Acknowledge the anachronism, but assign it to Joseph Smith as a translator’s anachronism, which does not in and of itself compromise the Book of Abraham as a translation of an ancient source

We know that translators often use terms they are familiar with to render unfamiliar terms. Take, for example, the word "Pharaoh." The word "Pharaoh" in Egyptian does not date back to the time of Abraham. However, the functional equivalent of the office of Pharaoh does date back to the time of Abraham. God, speaking after the language of His children so that they can come to understanding (Doctrine & Covenants 1:24), will use Joseph Smith's vernacular to render unfamiliar terms if He wants His children to come to understanding. Thus, the word "Pharaoh" may be anachronistic, but that does not mean that the anachronism is threatening to the ancient authenticity of the text since the "anachronism" is attributable to Joseph Smith as a translator.

Acknowledge the anachronism but assign it to an ancient redactor or copyist

This approach will be newer to many students of the Book of Abraham.

The anachronism may be legitimate, and it may never date back to the time of Abraham. However, it may be that we can assign the anachronism to a later redactor or copyist of the Book of Abraham. (A redactor is a person who edits a text for publication.) It is possible that inspired editors of the Book of Abraham revised portions of the text and adapted the story to their own context. For example, hypocephali (like the one copied in Facsimile 2) do not date back to the time of Abraham. Their use dates to around the 7th century BCE. The papyri from which the Book of Abraham ostensibly came date to around 300 BC – 100 AD. This suggests that the Book of Abraham may have indeed originated with Abraham but then undergone numerous revisions over a period of hundreds of years. Those edits may be the cause of the text seeming anachronistic.

Acknowledge the anachronism and assign it to Joseph Smith as the modern author of the text

This is the approach that is taken by our critics. While it is not the one that believers in Joseph Smith will take, it is good to be aware of how various people may interact with and approach the Book of Abraham.

We believe that, with the first three approaches in their toolkit, faithful students of the Book of Abraham will be equipped to reconcile each seeming anachronism in the text.