{"id":4419,"date":"2011-03-08T15:31:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T20:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faithpromotingrumor.com\/?p=4419"},"modified":"2011-03-08T15:31:18","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T20:31:18","slug":"4419","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/03\/4419\/","title":{"rendered":"Hauglid’s new critical text of the Book of Abraham manuscripts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"Brian M. Hauglid\u2019s\u00a0A Textual History of the Book of Abraham: Manuscripts and Editions <\/em> is the latest volume in the Studies in the Book of Abraham Series<\/a> from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. A full review is available here<\/a>, and my podcast interview with Hauglid is available here<\/a>. In this post I briefly compare Hauglid\u2019s project to Royal Skousen\u2019s project on the Book of Mormon\u00a0manuscripts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A few differences between his project and Hauglid\u2019s are immediately apparent.<\/p>\n

First, Skousen worked with a partially extant original manuscript and a nearly complete printer\u2019s manuscript, in addition to the subsequent English editions.\u00a0As with the Book of Mormon, a single hand-written manuscript of the entire Book of Abraham is not known. Manuscript evidence exists only for Abraham 1:1-2:18; Abraham 3:18b-26a; and explanations for Facsimiles 1 and 2 (21, this and\u00a0all page references below refer to Hauglid\u2019s\u00a0A Textual History<\/em>). Hauglid relies on the first published edition of the BoA in the 1842 Times and Seasons <\/em>to fill the gap. According to Hauglid, Joseph Smith oversaw the\u00a0T&S <\/em>publication but, as far as can be seen, Smith \u201chad no [direct] influence on the text after this publication and up until his death in June 1844\u201d (22). Overall, Skousen had much more to work with given the respective lengths of the texts. Thus, his multi-page books do not include scanned images of the manuscripts alongside the transcription as Hauglid\u2019s book does (in a similar fashion to the Joseph Smith Papers Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books<\/em> volume).<\/p>\n

Second, Skousen argues that the\u00a0original manuscript of the BoM shows definite signs of being a dictated text. Hauglid\u00a0argues that such signs are absent in the extant BoA manuscripts. Thus, he argues they are not the results of dictation because they bear the marks of being copies from a now-unknown \u201cearlier exemplar\u201d he calls \u201cAb0\u201d (7, 21). Through textual analysis, comparison of spelling, handwriting, punctuation, evolution of the text, etc., Hauglid lays out his evidence. The full transcriptions of each manuscript which appear in the book can be used to check out his theory, and the introduction describes the best specific evidence.<\/p>\n

As with Skousen\u2019s project,\u00a0folks will probably be interested in the textual variants in various editions, which Hauglid identifies. Given the length of the texts it isn\u2019t surprising that the BoA has far, far fewer substantive variations compared with the BoM. Some of the biggest changes were actually made by James E. Talmage, who used his 1888 edition of the BoA to update the text for the 1902 edition\u00a0of the Pearl of Great Price<\/em>. Hauglid\u2019s 5th Appendix consists of full color images of Talmage\u2019s 1888 edition, showing his annotations.\u00a0Talmage divided up the text into the now-familiar verse structure, inserted paragraphs, changed some spelling and grammar, and made other minor adjustments.<\/p>\n

Some of his contemplated changes were not used. For instance, Abraham 3:26 reads: \u201cand they who keep not their first estate, shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate\u2026.\u201d Talmage crossed out \u201ckeep\u201d and wrote \u201ckept\u201d in the margin in blue pencil. \u201cKept\u201d was subsequently crossed out of the margin with black pencil and today the text still reads \u201ckeep\u201d (299).<\/p>\n

A puzzling change was made to Abraham 1:19. In the current edition, based on Talmage\u2019s change, God tells Abraham:<\/p>\n

As it was with Noah so shall it be with thee; but <\/strong><\/em>through thy ministry my name shall be known in the earth forever, for I am thy God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As seen in the manuscript, this originally read:<\/p>\n

As it was with Noah, so shall it be with thee, that <\/strong><\/em>through thy ministry my name shall be known in the earth forever, for I am thy God (289).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Evidently, Talmage wanted to differentiate Abraham from Noah in that he felt God\u2019s name was not known in the earth forever through Noah, although I know of no specific explanation for the change.<\/p>\n

Hauglid hopes that his new \u201cvolume will increase appreciation for the rich textual history of the Book of Abraham\u201d (ix). I\u2019ve already had a bit of fun with it. It\u2019s\u00a0a meticulously compiled source book for future researchers, and an interesting volume which Latter-day Saints can use to read the Book of Abraham in a different light. It\u2019s pricey, but very well produced and highly recommended.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian M. Hauglid\u2019s\u00a0A Textual History of the Book of Abraham: Manuscripts and Editions is the latest volume in the Studies in the Book of Abraham Series from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. A full review is available here, and my podcast interview with Hauglid is available here. In this post I briefly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHauglid's new critical text of the Book of Abraham manuscripts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brian M. 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