Welcome to LDS Discussions Part 79, where we continue our deep dive into the Book of Abraham, examining one of the most popular apologetic arguments: the claim that Joseph Smith drew on ancient traditions about Abraham rather than translating the surviving papyri. We begin by exploring the history of the Joseph Smith Papyri and the various theroies proposed to explain the Book of Abraham, including why so many copeting models exist. From there, we focus on the “ancient traditions” theory, looking at stories about Abraham preserved in later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic writings and askign whether they actually support Joseph Smith’s text. Along the way, we compare the timelines of the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham translations, disucss the implications of the Church’s Gospel Topics Essay, and examine whether Joseph Smith had access to contemporary biblical commentaries such as Adam Clarke’s. We then compare the Book of Abraham’s narrative --including Abraham’s calls, the famine in Chaldea, Terah, Haran, Abraham’s age, the attempted sacrifice of Abraham, Egyptian idolatry, human sacrifice in ancient Egypt, and Abraham’s knowledge or astronomy --with the historical sources often cited by apologists. This episode evaluates whether these ancient parallels strengthen the Book of Abraham’s authenticity --or instead demonstrate that Joseph Smith was drawing from ideas available in his own time. As always, we examine the historical evidence, compare the primary sources, and let the documents speak for themselves. Show notes can be found on the Mormon Stories blog here: https://www.mormonstories.org/ancient-jewish-tradition-jasmin-the-book-of-abraham/ Timecodes: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:03:49 - History of the papyrus 00:06:37 - Why do we have different theories? 00:10:23 - (Clip) Jasmin in this fourth theory 00:15:17 - The Fourth theory 00:22:18 - Timeline of eleven sources 00:28:00 - Comparing translation timelines 00:34:33 - The Gospel Topics Essay 00:38:57 - Two calls - Ur and Haran 00:42:34 - Famine in Chaldea 00:44:52 - Haran’s death 00:47:05 - Terah turning from idols 00:52:11 - Converts in Haran 00:55:06 - Age of Abraham 00:57:08 - Sacrifice of Abraham 01:06:08 - Death of the Priest 01:08:02 - Egyptian Idols 01:10:56 - Human Sacrifice 01:11:54 - (Clip) Robert Ritner 01:14:26 - Terah behind the attempt to kill Abraham 01:15:38 - Terah worshipping idols 01:19:47 - Astronomy 01:30:07 - Conclusion 01:35:24 - Final remarks ___________________ At Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals. Our overall mission is to: 1. Facilitate informed consent amongst LDS Church members, investigators, and non-members regarding Mormon history, doctrine, and theology 2. Support Mormons (and members of other high-demand religions) who are experiencing a religious faith crisis 3. Promote healing, growth and community for those who choose to leave the LDS Church or other high demand religions 🤝Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today One-time or recurring donations: https://donorbox.org/mormon-stories?default_interval=m Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mormonstories Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/mormonstories Paypal: https://paypal.me/mormonstories Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx6OgmoqJbOVRq-Lv1P7SzA/join Our Platforms: 🌐Mormon Stories Blog: https://www.mormonstories.org/episodes 🎙️Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mormonstories ✳️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4sDzk7dRjODTSEqzZKZJzk?si=148b0efc1ccc4404&nd=1 🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-stories-lds/id312094772 🖼️Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mormstories 📱TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mormonstoriespodcast 🎮Discord: https://discord.com/invite/kuX5p6yyjF Contact us: 📧 MormonStories@gmail.com 📬PO Box 171085, Salt Lake City, UT 84117