Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham (Brigham Young University - Studies in the Book of Abraham) [Hardcover]

John A. Tvedtnes (Editor), Brian M. Hauglid (Editor), John Gee (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0934893594 | ISBN-13: 978-0934893596 | Publication Date: August 1, 2001 | Edition: First Edition

Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham represents the first in a series of books in the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) collection at Brigham Young University. Here the authors have assembled and translated more than 100 ancient and medieval stories from their original Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Persian, Coptic, and Egyptian sources, all in an effort to piece together the early life of Abraham. This unprecedented compilation sheds new light on the Book of Abraham as an authentic ancient text and will be a welcome resource for biblical and religious studies scholars.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John A. Tvedtnes is a senior resident scholar with the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts at Brigham Young University. Brian M. Hauglid is assistant professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. John Gee is the William "Bill" Gay Assistant Research Professor of Egyptology at the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 565 pages
• Publisher: Brigham Young University; First Edition edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934893594
• ISBN-13: 978-0934893596
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Aid to Religious Scholars, June 25, 2005

By 

Joseph Gabriel - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham (Brigham Young University - Studies in the Book of Abraham) (Hardcover)

Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham is a great collection of texts, documents, and translations pertaining to the life of Abraham. These things are presented in an unbiased way, though are obviously intended for an LDS audience, though the book should be interesting to any Christian, Jew, or Muslim, or a member of any Abrahamic faith or anyone who is interested in the life of the Prophet and Patriarch Abraham.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, January 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham (Brigham Young University - Studies in the Book of Abraham) (Hardcover)

This collection of primary texts from pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic sources -- several translated for the very first time -- is absolutely wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and recommend it to anybody at all interested in Abraham, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, folklore, the ancient Near East, Jewish midrashic materials, Mormonism, etc., etc.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you wanted to know about the early life of Abraham, July 27, 2009

By 

Jeffrey Van Wagoner (Gilbert, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham (Brigham Young University - Studies in the Book of Abraham) (Hardcover)

This book was written with the purpose of showing that many of the stories about Abraham's early life from the Book of Abraham from the Pearl of Great Price are in fact in alignment with non-biblical traditions. Many of the early criticisms of the Book of Abraham were that the stories contained therein were the product of Joseph Smith's imagination. This book shows that the Book of Abraham was remarkably close to many traditions that Joseph Smith did not have access to.

The above purpose was secondary for my purchase of this book. I hardly ever see criticism of the Book of Abraham for it's historical content any more; most of it is related to how it came about. My main purpose was that I have always had a fascination about the life of Abraham. Three of the world's great religions are considered Abrahamic and I knew that there was a wealth of additional stories about his life. This book has given me full access to everything that the compilers could find about his early life. Many of the traditions appear for the first time in English in this book.

I learned a lot about his life that I didn't know. The stories were entertaining and taught several great principles. After going through this book, I almost feel like an expert on Abraham. You must be warned that there is a lot of repetition in this book, since many of the stories come from common sources. I found the variations between traditions to be fascinating.

The book is broken into 5 major sections. The first is the earliest traditions about the early life of Abraham. This includes excerpts from the Apocrypha and other early writings. The second focuses on Jewish traditions including Philo, Josephus, and the Talmud. The third focuses on Christian traditions including the Clementine Recognitions, Jerome, and Augustine. The forth section focuses on Muslim traditions, which includes the Quran. The final section covers other traditions. There is also a significant set of appendices and several indices by theme, citation, and subject.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the early life of Abraham. I do not know of any other source for so many stories about Abraham. This has compressed several lifetimes of study into a single volume.