The Book of Abraham

It was discussed in class last week that Joseph Smith had a sort of fascination with trinkets. There was a compass-like trinket discussed in the book of Mormon that lead Nephi's family in the right direction. And in the Book of Abraham, the trinkets (for lack of a better word) were known as Urim and Thummim. Abraham learned about the creation of the earth through Urim and Thummim. After doing a little research about Urim and Thummim, I found that Joseph Smith actually claimed that Urim and Thummim were two stones fastened to a breastplate and used like large pair of glasses. It is interesting that Joseph Smith consciously made that connection. He wanted to align himself with Abraham and show that he had too gained knowledge and understanding of God and the world through the same lens that Abraham gained knowledge. The idea of trinkets through which God is revealed to you is something that has not been present in any of the other texts we have read in this class. I was also doing a little research and the Industrial Revolution was taking place before and during Joseph Smith's life. He was living in a time where there was a greater emphasis on assembly lines and basically more and more "things" were being invented and mass produced for all to buy and use. So Joseph Smith talking about Urim and Thummim in that way is him drawing on the current state of America and the world and transforming it to fit into something different. He is taking something modern and of great importance in his society and changing it into something ancient and also putting much religious significance with it as well. It would be like someone today is saying that 4000 years ago, prophets had special stones that they could hold up to their ears and talk to God or talk to each other.

I think that the research and explanation given above for Urim and Thummim is an example of the historical critical method we have been using throughout this entire term. We look at something distinct and novel about a reading or belief, and we see how it functioned during the TIME it was written. We are not really concerned with finding fact or truth to the claims or beliefs, instead we are trying to find the motivations behind why the writer chose to put those belief in his or her writing. Joseph Smith, and most of the world, had been immersed in the Industrial Revolution for a while and it influenced his "translation" of the book of Abraham.