Scholarship
In contrast to numerous scholarly analyses of Joseph Smith's translations of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham that began to appear in the 19th century, explorations of the textual foundations of the JST began in earnest only in the 1960s, with the pioneering work of the RLDS scholar Richard P. Howard and the LDS scholar Robert J. Matthews. A facsimile transcription of all the original manuscripts of the JST was at last published in 2004. Among other studies of the Joseph Smith Translation, Brigham Young University Professor Kent P. Jackson, a longtime student of these topics, prepared a detailed study of the text of the portions of the JST relating to the book of Moses in 2005.
Although several brief studies of the teachings of the book of Moses had previously appeared as part of apologetic and doctrinally-focused LDS commentaries on the Pearl of Great Price, the first detailed verse-by-verse commentary—and the first to incorporate significant amounts of modern non-LDS Bible scholarship—was published by Richard D. Draper, S. Kent Brown, and Michael D. Rhodes in 2005.
In 2009, a 1100-page volume by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw was published, entitled In God's Image and Likeness, which contains a comprehensive commentary on Moses 1-6:12, and incorporates a wide range of scholarly perspectives and citations from ancient texts. The book features an extensive annotated bibliography on ancient sources and over a hundred relevant illustrations with detailed captions.
Some non-Mormon scholars have also signaled their appreciation of the significance of the Joseph Smith's translation efforts in light of ancient documents. For example, Margaret Barker has cited relevant passages from the Book of Mormon and the Joseph Smith Translation in her discussions of Jewish and early Christian perspectives on Melchizedek. Noted Yale critic of secular and sacred literature Harold Bloom, who classes these the book of Moses and the Book of Abraham among the “more surprising” and “neglected” works of LDS scripture, is intrigued by the fact that many of their themes are “strikingly akin to ancient suggestions” that essentially restate “the archaic or original Jewish religion, a Judaism that preceded even the Yahwist.” While expressing “no judgment, one way or the other, upon the authenticity” of LDS scripture, he finds “enormous validity” in the way these writings “recapture… crucial elements in the archaic Jewish religion.… that had ceased to be available either to normative Judaism or to Christianity, and that survived only in esoteric traditions unlikely to have touched Smith directly."
Read more about this topic: Book Of Moses
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