On the Book of Abraham as Pseudepigrapha I

The notion of the Book of Abraham as pseudepigrapha fits into a continuum of theories about (or ways of looking at) the authenticity of the Book of Abraham.

There are four basic positions on the authenticity of the Book of Abraham:

1. The Book of Abraham as Abrahamic: Under this way of looking at things, the Book of Abraham is a work written by Abraham. It was translated by Joseph Smith under the inspiration of God.


2. The Book of Abraham as pseudepigrapha:  In this view, the Book of Abraham is ancient but not actually written by Abraham. It was written by someone else centuries or millennia later. It was translated by Joseph Smith under the inspiration of God.


3. The Book of Abraham as inspired fiction: In this view, the Book of Abraham was not ancient at all but God inspired Joseph Smith to produce a story about Abraham that is not true but teaches some edifying or inspiring concepts.


4. The Book of Abraham as a fraud: In this view, Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Abraham in the nineteenth century and God had nothing to do with it.

There are theoretically some other possibilities but they are either logically incoherent or historically impossible.

So taking the Book of Abraham as pseudepigrapha is to claim that it is ancient and Joseph Smith was inspired to translate it, but it is an ancient fraud. That is what is claimed by those who claim that the Book of Abraham is pseudepigrapha.

There are those who have claimed that I promote the idea that the Book of Abraham is pseudepigrapha. For the record, I reject the idea that the Book of Abraham is pseudepigrapha.