Book of Abraham Polemics: Dan Vogel’s Broad Critique of the Defense of the Book of Abraham

Review of Dan Vogel, Book of Abraham Apologetics: A Review and Critique (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2021). 250 pp. $18.95 (softback).

Abstract: Dan Vogel’s latest book claims to offer clear-cut evidence showing what, when, and how Joseph fraudulently translated the Book of Abraham. Claiming to use an objective approach, he instead weaves a polemical agenda that ignores some of the most important scholarship in favor of the Book of Abraham and relies on assumptions and hypotheses as if they are established facts. The arguments of apologists, which he claims to be reviewing, are often overlooked or attacked without letting readers know the substance of the apologetic argument. He neglects key arguments, vital scholarship, and important documents that don’t fit his theory. The work is a valuable tool to explore Book of Abraham polemics, but it does not overturn the evidence against his paradigm nor overthrow the growing body of insights into the antiquity of the Book of Abraham.