The Pearl of Great Price is part of the scriptural canon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and some other Latter Day Saint denominations. These denominations consider the Pearl of Great Price to be scripture comparable to the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
The Pearl of Great Price contains selections from the revelations, translations, and narrations of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. The Pearl of Great Price contains the Book of Moses, the Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith–Matthew, Joseph Smith–History, and the Articles of Faith.
The Book of Moses contains a revision of the early chapters of Genesis by Smith, which provides more details about the events of Moses’ life. The Book of Abraham is an 1835 work produced by Smith that he said was based on Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the book was “a translation of some ancient records … purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus.” Smith’s translation of the papyri describes a story of Abraham’s early life, including a vision of the cosmos. The Book of Joseph Smith–Matthew is an excerpt from Joseph Smith’s “retranslation” of portions of the Gospel of Matthew.
Joseph Smith–History is an excerpt from the early and highly detailed history of Joseph Smith. The Articles of Faith are concise statements of thirteen of Smith’s religious beliefs.
The Pearl of Great Price was canonized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1880 as one of its four books of scripture alongside the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants. Other Latter Day Saint denominations have varying acceptance of the Pearl of Great Price. The Community of Christ includes portions of the Pearl of Great Price in its canon while the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) rejects it entirely.
Origin
In 1851, Franklin D. Richards and his nephew Samuel W. Richards were called to missions in England. On their way to Liverpool, they passed through New York City and visited the Joseph Smith family. While at Joseph Smith’s store, Franklin D. Richards discovered a number of early revelations written upon loose sheets of paper, which had been preserved by the Smith family. Richards convinced Joseph Smith’s widow Emma Smith to allow him to take the revelations to England, where he could publish them for the church members there.
Upon returning from his mission in 1852, Richards sortied the various revelations he had acquired and published them in England as a compilation entitled The Pearl of Great Price. Richards presented this book for acceptance as scripture at a general conference of the church in Salt Lake City on August 17, 1852. The Pearl of Great Price was unanimously accepted as scripture by the church membership on September 13, 1880.
Contents
The Pearl of Great Price contains five sections:
Selections from the Book of Moses
The Book of Moses begins with an excerpt of the early work of Genesis from the creation of the world to the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It goes on to provide more details about Adam and Eve’s lives after being expelled from the garden, including an account of their children. The book also provides a detailed elaboration of events from Enoch’s life, including Enoch’s preaching against the wickedness of men and his establishment of Zion. The book ends with details of events in Moses’ own life, including his call as a prophet, his confrontation with Pharaoh, and the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.
The Book of Abraham
The Book of Abraham is an 1835 work produced by Joseph Smith that he claimed was based on Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. The book begins with an account of the prophet Abraham’s early life, his apostasy from his fathers’ false gods, his confounding of the Egyptian priests, and his salvation through his membership in the covenant of the Son of God. It goes on to provide an account of the Creation, including details on the ordering of the heavens and the earth. It also includes a rare account of the Grand Council in Heaven, in which God the Father presented his plan for the salvation and exaltation of mankind.
Joseph Smith–Matthew
Joseph Smith–Matthew is an excerpt from Joseph Smith’s “inspired version” of the gospel of Matthew in the Bible, produced in 1831–1832, focusing mainly on Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and His Second Coming.
Joseph Smith–History
Joseph Smith–History is an excerpt from the early and highly detailed history of Joseph Smith. It contains accounts of his early life and the events leading up to and just after the establishment of the Church of Christ, including the First Vision and the visits of the angel Moroni.
The Articles of Faith
The Articles of Faith are a statement of 13 concise theological items Joseph Smith wrote in a letter to John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, in response to Wentworth’s request that Smith provide some information about the early Latter Day Saint movement for publication. The letter became canonized scripture in 1880. The 13 statements summarize many of the fundamental doctrines and teachings of Mormonism.
Origins of the Pearl of Great Price Contents
Selections from the Book of Moses
In June 1830, Joseph Smith began a new Bible translation that included writings that had been lost from the Torah. Between June 1830 and July 1831, he dictated a biblical text that was eventually published as the Book of Moses. This text contains Smith’s translation of Genesis 1:1–6:13, extracts from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23, and extracts from Genesis 6:14–8:1. The Book of Moses was not published during Smith’s lifetime.
Book of Abraham
In July 1835, Joseph Smith purchased some Egyptian papyri from a traveling exhibitor. Over the next two months, Smith purportedly translated the papyri and declared that it contained writings from the patriarchs Abraham and Joseph. The resulting work was published in serial form during 1842.
Joseph Smith–Matthew
As part of Smith’s translation of the Bible, the text of Matthew 24 from the King James Bible was edited and expanded with additional revelations and prophecies from Smith. This expanded version was excerpted and published as Joseph Smith–Matthew.
Joseph Smith–History
Joseph Smith–History is an excerpt from the manuscript history of the Church titled “History of the Church”. It covers the period from Smith’s early life in 1805 through the end of May 1831. The initial publication date of this excerpt is unknown, but it was incorporated into the Pearl of Great Price in 1851.
Articles of Faith
In 1842, John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, requested background information about the Latter Day Saint movement from Joseph Smith. In response, Smith composed a letter that contained thirteen statements outlining the theology and doctrine of the Church. This list was later canonized and known as the Articles of Faith.
Later History
After Richards published the Pearl of Great Price in England, Orson Pratt moved to England and in 1878 published a new edition containing additional material. This edition was widely circulated in England and Ireland.
On October 10, 1880, the Pearl of Great Price was canonized by the LDS Church as part of the scriptural canon. Selections had previously been published separately, but had never been united under a single title nor sustained as canonical.
Latter Day Saints believe that canonical books require ordination by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. The Articles of Faith is the only section of the Pearl of Great Price that was expressly written as a concise summary of belief and doctrine. For this reason, the Pearl of Great Price holds a distinction that it contains canonized scripture which does not require ordination.
In the editions of the Pearl of Great Price printed after 1902, the Records of the Revelations Collection were added as “Items of Personal History of the Prophet Joseph Smith”. In the church’s 2013 edition of the Pearl of Great Price, these items are considered church history rather than canonized revelations.
Translations
Selections from the Pearl of Great Price were first translated into languages other than English in the late 19th century. By 1979, editions of the book existed in 16 languages. In 1993, the book was translated into Navajo, the first complete LDS book of scripture in that language. Since then, the Pearl of Great Price has been fully translated into over 80 languages.
Usage among Other Latter Day Saint Denominations
In addition to the LDS Church, a number of other Latter Day Saint denominations accept the Pearl of Great Price as scripture. These include The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), and the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Community of Christ includes portions of the Pearl of Great Price in its canon with two amendments:
– A 1978 revelation from church leadership which affirms that several sections of the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price “are not useful” and are to be declared “not in effect”. The revelation identifies Joseph Smith–History and the Articles of Faith as having continued scriptural value.
– A 1990 acceptance of church leadership which acknowledges the Smith translations of the Bible to be “products of a prophetic insight and are not to be considered infallible translations of ancient documents.”
The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) rejects the Pearl of Great Price and does not consider it to be inspired scripture. They believe it contains biased and incorrect historical and doctrinal material.
Criticisms
Some non-LDS scholars consider the entire Pearl of Great Price to be a work of 19th century fiction created by Joseph Smith. They believe he fabricated the accounts in the Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham based on the King James Bible and common occult beliefs from his time period.
Specific criticisms of the Book of Abraham include:
– The source papyri do not match the translation. Only a few fragments of the original papyri that Smith used survived. Egyptologists note that the few fragments do not correlate with Smith’s explanations.
– The facsimiles contain incorrect interpretations and depictions. Smith provided three facsimiles from the papyri along with descriptions of what the images represented. According to Egyptologists, Smith’s interpretations do not match the intended meanings.
– The text contains anachronisms that indicate it is not truly an ancient writing by Abraham. Names, places, objects and other information mentioned in Abraham seem to reflect 19th century life and not 2nd millennium BCE.
– Evidence seems to show the papyri are standard Egyptian funerary documents with no connection to Abraham.
Defenders of the Book of Abraham respond by questioning whether the full collection of scrolls was actually translated, suggesting missing scrolls could change the context. They also argue that the process of receiving revelation is different than academic translation and cannot be analyzed the same way.