When the Evidence Is Still on the Table
Among all LDS scriptures, Pearl of Great Price occupies a unique place. Unlike the Book of Mormon, whose source text is said to have been taken away, parts of the Pearl of Great Price—specifically the Book of Abraham—are tied to physical artifacts that still exist today.
That makes this not a matter of belief versus disbelief, but of translation accuracy.
1. What the Church Claimed
According to LDS teaching:
- Joseph Smith purchased Egyptian papyri and mummies in 1835
- These papyri were said to contain:
- The writings of Abraham
- Written by Abraham’s own hand
- Preserved on papyrus
- Joseph Smith claimed to translate these texts by divine means
- The result was published as Book of Abraham, later canonized in the Pearl of Great Price
The claim is clear, specific, and testable.
2. The Egyptian Scrolls We Still Have
Some of the original papyri were thought lost in the Chicago Fire (1871). However, in 1967, fragments resurfaced in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and were returned to the LDS Church.
These fragments include:
- The papyrus from which Facsimile 1 was taken
- Text directly adjacent to the facsimiles Joseph Smith published
This discovery changed everything—because now Egyptologists could read the same text Joseph Smith claimed to translate.
3. What the Scrolls Actually Say
Professional Egyptologists—LDS and non-LDS alike—agree on the identification of the recovered papyri:
They are standard Egyptian Book of the Dead texts.
Specifically:
- They date to c. 300–100 BC
- They are funerary documents
- They invoke Egyptian deities such as Osiris, Anubis, Isis, and Horus
- They contain prayers for the dead—not narratives about Abraham
📌 This places them more than a thousand years after Abraham’s lifetime, even under the most generous biblical dating.
4. Facsimiles: A Direct Comparison
This is where the issue becomes unavoidable.
Facsimile 1
Joseph Smith’s explanation:
- A scene showing Abraham on an altar
- A priest attempting to sacrifice him
- Idolatrous gods present
Egyptological reading:
- A standard embalming scene
- The figure on the lion couch is Osiris
- The standing figure is Anubis
- No human sacrifice
- No Abraham
- No Chaldeans
The head of Anubis was originally a jackal—later damaged and restored incorrectly in LDS publications.
Facsimile 2
Joseph Smith’s explanation:
- A cosmological map revealed to Abraham
- Kolob and governing stars
- Divine hierarchies
Egyptological reading:
- A hypocephalus (a funerary amulet)
- Placed under the head of a mummy
- Designed to provide warmth and resurrection in the afterlife
- Common in late Egyptian burial practices
Nothing in the text references Abraham, creation, or Hebrew theology.
Facsimile 3
Joseph Smith’s explanation:
- Abraham teaching astronomy in Pharaoh’s court
- Pharaoh, prince, and priest identified
Egyptological reading:
- Osiris seated on a throne
- Isis standing behind
- Maat present
- A deceased man being introduced to the gods
- The hieroglyphic captions identify Egyptian deities by name
Joseph Smith’s identifications contradict the hieroglyphs themselves.
5. The Rosetta Stone Problem
By the time the papyri were recovered and translated, Egyptian was no longer a mystery language.
Since the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799 and the work of Jean-François Champollion, Egyptian hieroglyphs had been successfully deciphered.
By the late 1800s:
- Egyptian grammar was well understood
- Vocabulary was cataloged
- Funerary texts were easily recognizable
Joseph Smith’s interpretations do not align with any known Egyptian grammar, syntax, or vocabulary.
6. The “Catalyst Theory” and Its Problems
In response, modern LDS apologetics often propose the catalyst theory:
The papyri did not contain Abraham’s words, but inspired revelation.
However:
- Joseph Smith explicitly claimed he was translating
- The published text says it was written by Abraham’s own hand
- The facsimiles are presented as evidence supporting the text
- The Egyptian characters were copied into early manuscripts with English meanings assigned
The catalyst theory arises only after the translation failed under examination.
7. Why This Is Different from the Book of Mormon
With the Book of Mormon:
- The source plates are unavailable
- Claims cannot be directly tested
With the Book of Abraham:
- The source material exists
- The language is known
- The translation is demonstrably incorrect
This moves the discussion from faith to verifiable fact.
8. Visual Context: What We’re Talking About
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9. Bringing It All Together
Side by side, the evidence shows:
- The papyri are late Egyptian funerary texts
- They do not mention Abraham
- They postdate Abraham by centuries
- Joseph Smith’s explanations contradict the hieroglyphs
- Modern reinterpretations shift the claim rather than resolve it
This is not a matter of missing context or lost records.
It is a case where the original documents survived—and the translation did not hold.
Final Thought
If the Book of Abraham cannot be what it claims to be when the source text is still available, it raises a larger, unavoidable question:
If Joseph Smith could not correctly translate a known language with the source text in hand, what confidence should be placed in translations where the source text is gone?
That question stands quietly—but firmly—on the evidence itself.
