Historical Predynastic Egypt vs. Book of Abraham False Narrative

[Moksha]

That said, the historian John L. Brooke notes that there are several other contemporary sources besides Dick that could have been the source of inspiration for the Book of Abraham. LDS historian Benjamin Park similarly notes that the direct link to Dick is tenuous and the ideas could have come from the cultural milieu.

What other wild ideas about Egypt and speculative theology were in the public milieu at that time?

[Shulem]

What other wild ideas about Egypt and speculative theology were in the public milieu at that time?

Joseph Smith relied on information derived from secular learning in his day as did everyone. But secular learning in those times was of a different standard and very much based on biblical learning and beliefs of the bible. The ridiculous long lives of the Patriarchs both before and after the mythical flood are excellent examples to show that the bible was produced for religious purposes in creating myth. Kishkumen can explain those things better than I.

The chronology and timeline of the bible is based on religious myth. Adam, Noah, Abraham and other characters of the bible are mythical persons that serve a basic purpose which is to produce religion. Joseph Smith was a believer in all things biblical and wholly adopted literal things into his own brand of Christian religion. Philo Sofee can attest to Smith’s literalism. Interestingly enough, exceptional long lives are included in the Book of Mormon, hidden in the written script, wherein certain Nephite characters are chronicled to have lived ridiculous long lives during both BC and AD eras.

So, with that said, we really only need look no further than Joseph Smith’s own backyard which consists of the Holy Bible and all the ridiculous things written therein. The second coming of Christ was believed to have been imminent during the days of Saint Paul and the apostles of Christianity. The day was at hand, even at the very door. Christ was soon to return in glory. But that prophecy failed and the centuries passed while the Christian religion survived and became myth in and of itself. Joseph Smith revived the prophecy and the Mormons believed the second coming was imminent yet again. Christ was coming. Joseph Smith was ushing in the last dispensation and preparing the world for Christ’s personal reign of a thousand years. But that prophecy failed too. The centuries will pass, and Christ will still not have returned. Thousands of years from now Mormonism will be nothing but myth and evolve into God only knows what.

[bbbbbbb]

Mr. Smith was hardly the first, nor the last, individual in the early nineteenth century to focus on the imminent return of Jesus Christ. With the Napoleonic Wars there was an intense focus on the Second Coming and the AntiChrist (widely believed to be Napoleon Bonaparte). Other contemporaneous groups included the following:

1. The Shakers (The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers
2. Amana Gesellschaft (Amana Colonies) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amana_Colonies
3. Irvingians (Catholic Apostolic Church) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Apostolic_Church
4. Plymouth Brethren (many divisions) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Brethren
5. Millerites (Seventh-Day Adventists with Jehovah's Witnesses as a primary split-off) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism