2025 Abraham and His Family — Program & Abstracts

Saturday May 3, 2025: Saturday Session 1

Morning Session Chair: David Seely (BYU, Ancient Scripture)

8:30

Welcome and Opening Prayer

8:45

Gary A. Rendsburg (Rutgers University, Jewish Studies)
A Northern Mesopotamian Origin for Abraham? (remote presentation)

9:30

Break

9:45

John W. Welch (Scripture Central and BYU, retired) and Michael D. Rhodes (BYU, retired)
Approaching Eternal Life: Temple Elements by the Numbers in Facsimile 2

10:20

Stephen O. Smoot (BYU, Religious Education and B. H. Roberts Foundation)
Abraham the Astronomer

10:55

Allen Hansen (Independent Scholar) and Spencer Kraus(Scripture Central)
“My Name Is the Sun”: Patriarchs, Planets, and the Book of Abraham

3:30

David Calabro (BYU, Ancient Scripture, Visiting)
“I Abraham”: The Father of the Faithful in Light of the Book of Abraham

12:15

Lunch

Afternoon Session Chair: John S. Thompson (Scripture Central, Research)

1:30

Avram R. Shannon (BYU, Ancient Scripture)
“That Lineage”: Rival Priesthood Claims in the Book of Abraham

2:05

John S. Thompson (Scripture Central, Research)
Sons and Fathers: Abraham’s Family and the Two Altars of the Temple

2:40

Stephen Ricks (BYU, Humanities)
Proper Names and Foreign Words in the Book of Abraham

3:15

Break

3:30

David Seely (BYU, Ancient Scripture) and Jo Ann Seely (BYU, Ancient Scripture)
The Ten Tests of Abraham and Sarah: A Jewish Tradition

4:05

Panel Discussion and Audience Questions (David Calabro, Michael D. Rhodes, Stephen O. Smoot, and John S. Thompson)
Perspectives on the Book of Abraham

Saturday May 10, 2025: Saturday Session 2

Keynote Session Chair: John W. Welch (Scripture Central and BYU, retired)

8:30

Welcome and Opening Prayer

8:45

Gary A. Rendsburg (Rutgers University, Jewish Studies)
Echoes of the Temple and Jerusalem in the Abraham Story

9:45

Break

Morning Session Chair: Jeffrey M. Bradshaw (Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Senior Research Scientist)

10:00

John Gee (BYU, Humanities)
The Redeemer and the Redeemed (remote presentation)

10:35

Jennifer C. Lane (BYU–Hawaii professor emerita, Religious Education)
Ḥesed and the Redemption of Abraham

11:10

Matthew L. Bowen (BYU–Hawaii, Religious Education)
“I Will Bless Thee and Make Thy Name Great”: Sacralizing Names and Spaces as a Function of Etiology in the Abrahamic Narrative

11:45

Lunch

Afternoon Session Chair: Matthew L. Bowen (BYU–Hawaii, Religious Education)

1:00

Noel B. Reynolds (BYU, retired)
“And They Shall Write It”: The Literacy and Scribalism of Abraham’s Josephite Descendants (remote presentation)

1:35

Daniel C. Peterson (Interpreter Foundation, President and BYU, retired)
The Qur’anic view of Abraham

Samuel Zinner (discussant) (Independent Scholar)
Esoteric Traditions on Abraham: Rabbinic and Kabbalistic Sources, the New Testament, and the Qurʾān

2:30

Spencer Kraus (Scripture Central) and Allen Hansen (Independent Scholar)
Abraham: Man of Perfect Faith

3:05

Break

3:20

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw (Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Senior Research Scientist)
Abram Meets Melchizedek, with Joseph Smith at the Reader’s Side

3:55

Panel Discussion and Audience Questions (Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Daniel C. Peterson, Jennifer C. Lane, Gary A. Rendsburg, and John W. Welch)
Perspectives on the Book of Abraham

Proceedings Only

RoseAnn Benson (Independent Scholar)
Lot: Likened unto Noah

Dan Ellsworth (Independent Scholar)
Exploring the Akedah

Abstracts

Lot: Likened unto Noah

RoseAnn Benson

Among the many narratives of Genesis, one of the more difficult ones to read and understand is that of Lot. Although not many details are given about his early life, his relationship and journeys with Abraham suggest there is much more to this individual than is often realized. Of course, there is a narrative specific to Lot, but it is filled with a number of scenes that are difficult to comprehend. How we are to understand or interpret the character of Lot is not provided by the authors and/or redactors of the narrative. Yet in the New Testament, a tradition exists in which Lot is understood as an example of a righteous man. This paper explores how this tradition may in fact be found in the Old Testament itself, and how the Joseph Smith Translation provides insight into the troubling aspects of the narrative of Lot.

“I Will Bless Thee and Make Thy Name Great”: Sacralizing Names and Spaces as a Function of Etiology in the Abrahamic Narratives

Matthew L. Bowen

The book of Genesis is largely etiological in character. While etiology abounds in the Pentateuch as a whole and occurs throughout the narrative portions of the Hebrew Bible, Genesis is particularly etiological. In using and applying the terms etiological and etiology, I follow Michael H. Floyd who states that etiology “refers to stories that tell how something came to be or came to have its definitive characteristics. In Scripture such stories are typically told about names of persons and places, rites and customs, ethnic identities and other natural phenomena.” The onomastic dimension of etiology constitutes a key element, not only in the Creation and Primeval History accounts (Genesis 1–11), but also in the Abrahamic narratives that are firmly built upon those accounts (Genesis 12–50).In the study that follows I will endeavor to show how the patriarchal narratives of the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob cycles (Genesis 12–35) largely revolve around onomastic etiologies that explain names in terms of sacred events. These sacred events include, theophanies, the making and fulfillment of divine covenants and promises, and (relatedly) divine acts and human choices that ensure the preservation and growth of the family of Abraham as a covenant lineage.

Abram Meets Melchizedek, with Joseph Smith at the Reader’s Side

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Though the title of this presentation is simple enough, the Genesis chapters that relate this story are full of enigmas. It has been claimed that “no chapter in the Bible has been more widely studied than Genesis 14”—and, going further, that the episode where Melchizedek and Abram meet is “the most complex within this chapter.” “This is a chapter rife with unique literary devices, including explanatory glosses, plays on words, etymological significance of names, and even a possible use of gematria.” My purpose is to provide a Latter-day Saint perspective on this episode in the life of Abraham, in particular showing how Joseph Smith’s teachings, translations, and revelations bear on some of the most head-scratching puzzles of this pericope. While one skeptic has characterized Joseph Smith’s revelatory teachings about the Melchizedek priesthood with a sort of condescending charity, calling them simply a “misguided” case of “zeal without knowledge”—I will attempt to demonstrate that there is a plausible basis for many of these teachings in scripture and elsewhere in ancient Jewish and Christian tradition.

“I Abraham”: The Father of the Faithful in Light of the Book of Abraham

David Calabro

This paper addresses what I have long felt to be a gap in studies on the Book of Abraham. Scholarship on the book has tended to focus on the issue of its historicity—or, more precisely, whether it is best understood in an ancient context as an example of Joseph Smith’s divine gift of translating ancient records, as many scholars within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintain, or in a modern context as an example of a bungled attempt at translating ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, as the critics maintain. To be sure, this issue is of great importance, both for those attempting to historically contextualize the book’s message and for Latter-day Saints who struggle with the question of historicity as a test of Joseph Smith’s seership. However, in the widespread scholarly preoccupation with this issue, there has not emerged, to my knowledge, a focused treatment of what I see as an equally important issue, namely the book’s narrative art: how the narrative itself is crafted in a way designed to powerfully inspire readers. In this study, I examine how the Book of Abraham’s narrative interacts with the biblical account of Abraham (Genesis 12-22).

Exploring the Akedah

Dan Ellsworth

For millennia, the Aqedah (the binding of Isaac) has been a source of theological discussion and debate among numerous faith communities. Latter-day Saints are recent entrants into a long history of conversation over this biblical passage, which challenges readers in unique and sometimes difficult ways. This paper presents a survey of elements of the Aqedah story, then compares different points of commentary offered by theologians throughout history. Finally, we survey uniquely Latter-day Saint perspectives on the Aqedah and conclude with an assessment of its place in our present experience of faith.

The Redeemer and the Redeemed

John Gee

Looking at the accounts of Abraham in the context of his historical milieu is a useful, but little used approach to his life. The account of Abraham’s rescue of Lot is an account that fits well into the milieu the texts claims for it. Abraham’s actions are not unusual in context, but they illustrate how redemption was understood in Abraham’s day. This presentation will examine that historical background and the military culture underpinning the account of Lot’s redemption.

“My Name Is the Sun”: Patriarchs, Planets, and the Book of Abraham

Allen Hansen and Spencer Kraus

Abraham 3 discusses the stars and planets — including the enigmatic Kolob — before revealing that Abraham was part of the divine council. Some have read Abraham 3 Christologically, arguing that Kolob is identified with Jesus. We hold that this identification is sound and bridges the two halves of the chapter. The other celestial bodies should also be identified with the “noble and great ones.” There are numerous Jewish traditions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as cosmic rulers identified with or divinely appointed over physical stars/planets. The continuity and prominence of these traditions from the 2nd Temple Era to the Middle Ages is striking. We will show how these traditions should inform our reading of the Book of Abraham, shedding light on the divine council, the Abrahamic covenant, and the use of astronomy to teach divine truths.

Abraham: Man of Perfect Faith

Spencer Kraus and Allen Hansen

As Hugh Nibley briefly discussed the Book of Jasher in 1967, he stated, “The time is ripe … for a fresh investigation of such genuine sources of Scripture.” Despite this high appraisal, relatively little has been done to better examine the Book of Jasher as a “genuine source” of ancient traditions and Scripture. The most extensive review of the Book of Jasher from a Latter-day Saint perspective appeared in 1976, and less than two dozen other works have appeared regarding this apocryphal book in following years. We believe that the time is still ripe for a fresh investigation of the Book of Jasher. The value of Jasher is not in its supposed antiquity but in its author’s perceptive sensitivity as an artist and reworker of traditional material. Jasher is a wonderful legacy of the late medieval mind with deep roots in the past. In the case of Abraham, it is especially a poignant case of how Jews in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries viewed Abraham in their own times of crisis: he was a hero and champion of faith. When confronted with trials of faith from the earliest days of his life, Abraham consistently sought the blessings of his fathers and communion with God. This is a timeless message that all members of the Abrahamic faiths can recognize and unite behind as they likewise strive to emulate that faith and approach God.

Ḥesed and the Redemption of Abraham

Jennifer C. Lane

In this paper I will review those connections and articulate the additional depth provided by including an understanding of the Lord’s ḥesed, or covenant love. We’re all heard of the covenant of Abraham and the blessings of Abraham, but just what is the redemption of Abraham and why does it matter? How does it connect with covenant and the Lord’s ḥesed, or covenant love? The connection of Abraham and redemption is made by Isaiah when he refers to the God of Israel as “the Lord who redeemed Abraham” (Isaiah 29:22). This oblique reference to the redemption of Abraham has generated little notice among the scholarly world that begins its recognition of biblical redemption with Moses and the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. I believe the redemption of Abraham is one of the many “plain and precious truths” not fleshed out in the Bible. Understanding the redemption of Abraham gives us a new appreciation for the covenant and blessings of Abraham. We will see that redemption has both physical and spiritual dimensions. To clarify the redemption of Abraham I will examine both a cultural context for redemption in the ancient near East and also spiritual insights into redemption from the bondage of sin. The connection between covenant and redemption is made even richer and deeper by including the covenant love of ḥesed that leads to the act of redemption.

The Qur’anic View of Abraham

Daniel C. Peterson

The figure of Ibrahim—Abraham, “the friend of God”—looms large in Islam and in its holy book, the Qurʾān. When assembled from the references to him that are scattered throughout the pages of the Qurʾān, much of the biblical narrative about him can be seen to be present. However, the emphases of the two scriptural texts are occasionally different, and the Qurʾān includes some story elements that are absent from the Bible. This paper will identify the parallels and comment upon some of the areas where the Qurʾān diverges from Abraham’s treatment in Genesis.

A Northern Mesopotamian Origin for Abraham?

Gary Rendsburg

Ur of the Chaldees (Ur Kasdim in Hebrew) is generally identified with the great Sumerian city of Ur in southern Iraq. And yet there is not a shred of evidence which suggests this, not in the biblical text and not in the archaeological record. By contrast, the confluence of the biblical text, Jewish tradition, and collateral evidence demonstrates that Abraham’s birthplace is to be identified with Urfa in southern Turkey.

Echoes of the Temple and Jerusalem in the Abraham Story

Gary Rendsburg

A quick glance at the book of Genesis reveals virtually no connection between the founder of the biblical tradition, Abraham, and its holy city, Jerusalem. And yet upon closer inspection one finds occasional clues embedded in the text, all of which reverberate in the stories of David and Solomon regarding the selection of Jerusalem as the capital of the newly established kingdom and the construction of the Temple on Mt. Zion.

“And They Shall Write It”: The Literacy and Scribalism of Abraham’s Josephite Descendants

Noel B. Reynolds

This paper extends previous studies using Restoration scripture with what is now known about ancient scribalism in oral cultures to map out the transmission of advanced literacy and the prophetic record from Adam to Abraham. God’s blessing to Abraham features the maintenance and transmission of the Josephite version of this prophetic record down to the last days when it will become a primary instrument in bringing the gospel and salvation to all peoples. The first section of this paper will show how both Abrahamic and non- Abrahamic prophets were shown great visions and were commanded by the Lord to write what they had seen and heard. The second section contextualizes the tradition of prophetic writing with the history of writing itself with particular attention to the origins of Hebrew and Egyptian languages and script which are most relevant to the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The role of family-based scribal schools in maintaining these sacred records across the generations in oral cultures will also be explained. The third section will use this background to formulate and defend one hypothetical account that describes how the scriptures were initiated and maintained from Adam to Abraham, providing a possible back story for the Abrahamic scriptures in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The final section will apply all the previous findings to interpret the sense of mission exhibited by the Nephite prophets who saw themselves creating and perpetuating the record of God’s revelations to a remnant of Abraham’s posterity—a record that would play a key role in the last days in preparing all peoples for the Lord’s return and the final judgment. All together, these insights explain how Abraham’s seed would become a blessing to all the kindreds of the earth.

Proper Names and Foreign Words in the Book of Abraham

Stephen Ricks

The Book of Abraham contains a substantial number of proper names, including ) in alphabetical order) Abraham, Adam, Canaan, Canaanites, Chaldaea, Chaldaeans, Chaldees, Egypt, Egyptus, Elkenah, Ham, Haran, Jehovah, Jershon, Kolob, Korash, Libnah, Lot, Mahmackrah, Milcah, Moreh, Nehor, Olishem, Pharaoh, Potiphar, Rahleenos, Sarai, Shagreel, Terah, Ur, and Urim and Thummim. Along with a discussion of names, I will consider the historical and geographical setting of Abraham, including the language spoken by Abraham.

The Ten Tests of Abraham and Sarah: A Jewish Tradition Applied to Reading the Bible, Rabbinic Midrash and the Book of Abraham

David Seely and Jo Ann Seely

In part based on the passage in Genesis 22:1 “God did tempt [test] Abraham,” a Jewish tradition developed that read and interpreted the Abraham stories in Genesis 12-23 as the Ten Tests of Abraham. This approach gives a powerful way of seeing a coherence in the various stories of Abraham and Sarah. As the spiritual father and mother of the covenant people Abraham and Sarah pass the tests of mortality in these stories and thus establish the virtues of their descendants—the covenant children. The Lord, in Isaiah 51:1-2 exhorts Israel “look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you.”

This study proposes to:

1. explore the history of these traditions: there are various lists of the ten tests, and several extra-biblical stories;

2. identify the specific covenant virtues presented in the various stories;

3. point out in these stories the often neglected tests and sacrifices of Sarah;

4. examine how this approach may also be applied to the Abraham and Sarah stories told in Philo, the Genesis Apocryphon and Josephus;

5. demonstrate this approach as a way of reading the LDS Book of Abraham, seeing Abraham and Sarah as models of the doctrine taught in Abr. 3:25 ‘And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.”

“That Lineage”: Rival Priesthood Claims in the Book of Abraham

Avram Shannon

One of the distinctive features of the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price is how concerned it is with priesthood. In two short chapters, the word priesthood appears 8 times—more times than it appears in the Book of Mormon or the New Testament, and only one less time than it appears in the Old Testament. However, priesthood is a word that can have different valences in different contexts, and this study proposes to explore how priesthood is being deployed in the Book of Abraham. Specifically, there is not one, but two priesthood claims in the Book of Abraham. Abraham claims priesthood through his ancestors (“fathers” in the text) and Pharaoh claims priesthood through Ham. This paper suggests that the discussion of lineage and priesthood in the Book of Abraham has nothing to do with Nineteenth Century notions of race, but instead derives from ancient competing claims of priesthood, one claiming descent through Shem and the other descent through Ham. This notion of rivalry of descent fits well ancient notions of priesthood and lineage, and especially into ancient elements of maintaining hegemony.

Abraham the Astronomer

Stephen O. Smoot

The tradition of Abraham as an astronomer stretches back to antiquity. A variety of Jewish sources dating back to at least the Second Temple period depict the patriarch as a pious sage contemplating the heavens. Latter-day Saints have long been interested in these sources because of the Book of Abraham’s account of the patriarch as possessing a Urim and Thummim with which he received revelation from God as he viewed the stars and other celestial bodies. This paper will review the sources from the Second Temple onward that depict Abraham as an astronomer. It will highlight parallels (and divergences) between these sources and the Book of Abraham’s account and also discuss what they might mean for the book’s historicity.

Sons and Fathers: Abraham’s Family and the Two Altars of the Temple

John S. Thompson

This presentation seeks to compare the collective narrative of the patriarch Abraham to the sequential framework of the Israelite temple, providing additional glimpses into the Israelite worldview informing them both. I say “collective narrative” because the commonalities with the temple are not readily apparent in the Bible alone but become more apparent when one considers the extra-biblical sources that include the early life of Abraham. There is no shortage of scholarly endeavors to structurally dissect the narratives of Abraham and the other patriarchs as found in the Bible and to propose ideas concerning the meaning their respective configurations might convey. This study seeks to do the same, but includes the material on Abraham’s early life as part of the analysis. While including extra material goes beyond the typical controls of analyzing the purpose of any single text like Genesis, including the material from Abraham’s early life causes the story of Abraham to fit better into a narrative pattern (or “type-scene” as Robert Alter called them) that can also be seen in the narratives of Isaac and Jacob which follow. It is in their commonalities that the Israelite worldview is more likely reflected.

Approaching Eternal Life:
Temple Elements by the Numbers in Facsimile 2

John W. Welch and Michael D. Rhodes

In this presentation, we propose to add new insights into Joseph Smith’s inspired understanding of the sequence and of several of the details in the temple ordinance that Latter-day Saints refer to as the “endowment.” We propose to demonstrate that Joseph drew insights in structuring the performance of the endowment from several identifiable sources, mainly:

1. from the sequence of numbers 1 to 23, along with his accompanying Explanations that he added to the stages he identified in the line-drawing known as Facsimile 2, of an ancient Egyptian hypocephalus that had come into his hands in 1835, which he first published in the Times & Seasons, in Nauvoo, Illinois, on March 15, 1842; and

2. from details in the pictograms found in that ancient artifact that he examined carefully and could well have interpreted, especially knowing that such round disks were commonly placed under the heads of mummies to help their spirits find their way into the presence of God in the afterlife; and

3. from doctrines and teachings relevant to the afterlife and temple practices that he had encountered or brought forth, from 1830 to 1842, in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Moses, the Doctrine and Covenants, and also in his work on the Book of Abraham which was soon included in the Pearl of Great Price.

In May, 1842, Joseph revealed the endowment to certain leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This temple ordinance was performed precisely in Nauvoo before it was carried west by the leaders of the Church to the Salt Lake Valley. Joseph apparently gave the words and instructions for these temple ordinances with a strict requirement that they be taken seriously, kept sacred, and followed exactly, as he had similarly required in connection with other revelations.

Finding several connections between the hypocephalus and the temple endowment recently took the two of us quite by surprise, even though we have spent substantial amounts of time over the years reading the Book of Abraham in the light of ancient texts, while at the same time also studying the commencement of the temple endowment by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo. As we hope to show, a main key here that connects this sacred Egyptian artifact to the temple endowment ceremony is to be found in Joseph’s deliberate placement of numbers 1-7 and 22-23 into the printing plate for that Facsimile 2. As far as we know, no one has ever put these pieces together in this way, showing that the sequence established by those numbers corresponds closely with the main stages in the performance of the endowment ceremony still today.

Surveying Esoteric Traditions on Abraham: Rabbinic and Kabbalistic Sources, the New Testament, and the Qurʾān

Samuel Zinner

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