Presented at
2025 Abraham and His Family Conference
Saturday, May 3 and Saturday, May 10, 2025
Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation, Brigham Young University Religious Education,
Scripture Central, and FAIR Latter-day Saints
The tradition of Abraham as an astronomer stretches back to antiquity. A variety of Jewish sources dating back to at least the Second Temple period depict the patriarch as a pious sage contemplating the heavens. Latter-day Saints have long been interested in these sources because of the Book of Abraham’s account of the patriarch as possessing a Urim and Thummim with which he received revelation from God as he viewed the stars and other celestial bodies. This paper will review the sources from the Second Temple onward that depict Abraham as an astronomer. It will highlight parallels (and divergences) between these sources and the Book of Abraham’s account and also discuss what they might mean for the book’s historicity.
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Stephen O. Smoot
Stephen O. Smoot is a doctoral candidate in the department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literature at the Catholic University of America. He previously earned a master’s degree from the University of Toronto in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, with a concentration in Egyptology, and bachelor’s degrees from Brigham Young University in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, with a concentration in Hebrew Bible, and German Studies. He is currently an adjunct instructor of Religious Education at Brigham Young University and a research associate with the B. H. Roberts Foundation.
