Abraham in Egypt

It is facinating to compare The Book of Abraham (Joseph Smith) with similar books that have recently been unearthed. Harold Bloom, the Yale scholar of religion believed that Smith had it right because he had tapped into a universal flow of inspiration, but the names, myths and structure make the Book of Abraham the most accessible of the apocalpses of Abraham.Nibley does an incredible job of bringing together scores of documents into one volume for comparison purposes. He also has some fun with various critics of the book, almost all of whom lack any background in the literature that the book claims to be a part of.Reading the book, and checking the sources, one starts to wonder if a wandering Slavonic Jewish scholar of Abrahamic literature didn't spend a winter at the Smith homestead ...Well written and a great Christmas gift.

Nibley delves into critics of Joseph Smith's Facsimiles and their qualifications. The facsimilies are also compared with knowledge currently available in the field of Egyptology. Comparative analysis of ancient Abrahamic texts (i.e. The Apocalypse of, and Testament of Abraham) with Joseph Smith's Book of Abraham is done. A history of Abraham's time, sacrifices of him, Sarah and Isaac and early history of Egypt is given. Possible historical figures for Isis, Horus, and Seth are discussed, as well as Egypt's type of government. This is broad in scope, yet detailed, with numerous footnotes, and sketches. Nibley's humorous style, coupled with a depth that leaves no doubt as to his scholarship expands the horizons of amateur and professional alike.

This book is well worth buying, even if you own the first edition. This edition is expanded and includes illustrations by the same guy who did "Temple and Cosmos." One thing I really liked was that the text was cleaned up so that references were changed to endnotes, instead of parenthetical citations which is how they were in the first ed. This really increased readability. Nibley's research is for obvious reasons dated, but he himself says that research is a process, not an end to itself. This book still contributes greatly to the understanding of the Book of Abraham.

This book is well worth buying, even if you own the first edition. This edition has been enlarged by several hundred pages. One thing I really liked was that the text was cleaned up so that references were changed to endnotes, instead of parenthetical citations which is how they were in the first ed. This really increased readability. Nibley's research is for obvious reasons dated, but he himself says that research is a process, not an end to itself. This book still contributes greatly to the understanding of the Book of Abraham.