I want to say to you, read the book, the Pearl of Great Price, and read the Book of Abraham. The Pearl of Great Price I hold to be one of the most intelligent, one of the most religious books that the world has ever had; but more than that, to me the Pearl of Great Price is true in its name. It contains an ideal of life that is higher and grander and more glorious than I think is found in the pages of any other book unless it be the Holy Bible. It behooves us to read these things, understand them: and I thank God when they are attacked, because it brings to me, after a study and thought, back to the fact that what God has given He has given, and He has nothing to retract." - Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report (April 1913), 74

"...it must be evident to all who seriously consider the matter, that if the Book of Abraham as given to us by Joseph Smith be true, it must have been translated by a greater than human power." - George Reynolds, The Book of Abraham: Its Authenticity Established as a Divine and Ancient Record (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1879), 4

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Mormonism and The Mormons - Daniel Kidder

The first published criticism against the Book of Abraham was printed in 1842, the same year as the Book of Abraham was initially published in the Times and Seasons, and subsequently in the Millennial Star. Kidder' book offers no insightful contributions regarding the Book of Abraham, rather, it is purely satirical. Kidder was educated at Wesleyan University, which he completed in 1836, before entering into the ministry. He published several books during his life, including his anti-Mormon publication entitled Mormonism and The Mormons: A Historical View of the Rise and Progress of the Sect Self- Styled Latter-Day Saints.1  His comments are the sort of standard ad hominem attacks characteristic of the time and culture in which his publication took place. He simply dismisses the subject without any serious consideration, using satire as his tool to achieve his purpose. 

A response to the book came in a subsequent publication of the Times and Seasons. The respondent did not deem Kidder's satire of the Book of Abraham important enough for specific comment; rather, the response addresses the book as a whole.

Excerpts from Daniel Kidder's book, relating to the Book of Abraham, is included below: