Miller teamed up with book of mormon central research associate matt roper for an article on animals in the book of mormon published in interpreter in 2014. The book of mormon claims to be a history of ancient peoples inhabiting central america until 421 a. Group two is found on the western hemisphere, but they also claim to have originated from jerusalem. National geographic mormon in america polygamy documentary 2017 national geographic mormon in america polygamy documentary 2017 national geographic. Will antimormons now accept that the recent discovery by. In the book of mormon, aha was the name of another fighter, a nephite military officer, son of the chief captain over the nephite armies. Nbc news washington despite the walltowall coverage of the damage from hurricane katrina, nearly onethird of young americans recently polled couldnt locate louisiana on a map and nearly half were unable to identify mississippi. Lets see if the national geographic society issues a statement affirming the book of mormon to be a textbook of ancient american history and officially withdraws.
Includes every geographical place mentioned in the book of mormon. Young americans shaky on geographic smarts study finds that many fare poorly at finding louisiana and iraq on a map. Lds essay book of mormon geography life after ministry. July 26 1983 there is no evidence of any migration from israel to america and no evidence that precolumbian indians had any knowledge of christianity or the bible. Smithsonian archeologists see no direct connection between the archeology of the new world and the subject matter of the book. Critics trot out this letter as proof that the book of mormon has no. The book of mormon and the constitution true book of mormon.
Internal book of mormon geography focuses on the relationships between lands and other geographic features, independent of where they might be physically located on todays maps. Proposed book of mormon geographical setting wikipedia. Feb 10, 2018 miller teamed up with book of mormon central research associate matt roper for an article on animals in the book of mormon published in interpreter in 2014. The national geographic society has a similar letter. You cannot fit a continental geographical model to the text of the book of mormon. Respected archaeologists are now comparing the maya with the ancient chinese. This richly illustrated book from the travel experts at national geographic showcases the best travel experiences in every state, from the obvious to the unexpected. Sites include national parks, beaches, hotels, civil war battlefields, dude ranches, outoftheway museums, and more.
The book of mormon closed its national tour after over seven years and 2,828 performances on the road. If the maya lowlands were part of the book of mormon world, these grandiose descriptions may not be so farfetched after all. Spokane performances of the book of mormon canceled. Latterday saints love to share the national geographic article entitled, great surprise native americans have west eurasian origins. Jan 22, 2008 the staff archaeologist informs me that neither the society of any other institution has ever used the book of mormon in locating archaeological sites. On subsequent days, the story was picked up by other major media outlets such as bbc, washington post, npr, the new york times, and fox. The staff archaeologist informs me that neither the society of any other institution has ever used the book of mormon in locating archaeological sites. The smithsonian institution sends a form letter to those who inquire about their use of the book of mormon for archaeological purposes. Even lds scholars have tended to dismiss some book of mormon phrases such as the whole face of the land as hyperbole.
The smithsonian institution has never used the book of mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Washburn, an approach to the study of book of mormon geography american fork, ut, alpine publishing, 1939. Theyre chasing to become one of the top 15 earners for the season. This book is a large geographic setting like no other book available. After decades of combing through the forests, writes clynes in national geographic, no archaeologists had stumbled across these sites. These relate to artifacts, animal, plant, or technology that critics believe did not exist in the americas during the book of mormon time period before 2500 bc to about 400 ad. Back in the day there were a number of fairly standard mormon urban legends than went, breathlessly, something like omg did you know that that national geographic smithsonian actually use the book of mormon as a guide to plan and map out their archeological expeditions, its just that historically accurate.
May 06, 2005 in the book of mormon, aha was the name of another fighter, a nephite military officer, son of the chief captain over the nephite armies. How an incredible new archeological discovery corroborates. Thus americas ultimate godgiven destiny, planned by the creator and testified by ancient and modern prop. Will antimormons now accept that the recent discovery by national. The geographical setting of the book of mormon has been the subject of serious study and casual speculation since before the book was first published. The mysteries of god revealed by the power of the holy ghost. Over the past couple months, ive personally witnessed in myself what happens as a person neglects to study the book of mormon. A past reference in national geographic magazine reminds us the zion name was not an instant fixture. Critics of the book of mormon have argued that there are words and phrases in the book that are anachronistic with archaeological findings. The mormon church the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. We know of no archaeological evidence that corroborates the.
Hammond drives that point home by the use of maps, travel distances, and relationships to other areas. Additional convergences are found in the book of mormon account, including the destruction in 3 nephi 810, which is consistent with volcanic events accompanied by earthquakes. Mormons by neal lineback and mandy lineback gritzner, geography in the newstm the geography of mormonism the mormon faith is in the news, as a new atlas, mapping mormonism. Hemispheric geography theory lds have traditionally interpreted the text hemispherically and assumed a blank continent. National geographic discovery of mayan ruins not proof, but very. Mormon archaeological argument that proves the historical accuracy of b of m. Sites include national parks, beaches, hotels, civil war battlefields, dude ranches, out of theway museums, and more. This influence increased in geographic spread and physical presence from about this time until the time of mormon, and continued after the close of the book of mormon.
Critics trot out this letter as proof that the book of mormon has no archaeological support and is therefore false. This site can be used as a study guide to help understand the book of mormon. The national geographic society has not examined the historical claims of the book of mormon. Book of ether in the book of mormon tells how the jaridites sailed the pacific ocean to reach the new world. The decision was predicated by a series of canceled dates due to health and safety concerns. What did the national geographic and the smithsonian inst. A complete description of the book of mormon geography bomgeography, including an internal map model, external map model i. Perhaps even more significant, the ancient jaredite people had a king named ahah, mentioned in ether 1. Feb 08, 2018 after decades of combing through the forests, writes clynes in national geographic, no archaeologists had stumbled across these sites. The first group that a reader encounters is the family of lehi, which begins their journey from jerusalem. The book of mormon geography book, a promised land, the land of promise, is one of our books at alpha publishing available for purchase at virginia elieson was inspired with this geography, while with her patriarch husband and mission president in.
The society has never used the book of mormon to locate archaeological sites, and we do not believe that any of the places named in the book of mormon can be placed geographically by the evidence of archaeology. Book of mormonarchaeologysmithsonian statement fairmormon. Your recent inquiry concerning the smithsonian institutions alleged use of the book of mormon as a scientific guide has been received in the smithsonians department of anthropology. Practically everyone refused and was cast out of the lds. The church emphasizes the doctrinal and historical value of the book of mormon, not its geography. This story appears in the february 2010 issue of national geographic magazine. The church has been neutral when it comes to issues relating to book of mormon geography, as is fairmormon. On february 1, 2018, national geographic broke a story about some. That article was updated and expanded into an even better piece entitled animals in the book of mormon. National geographic responded that it does not know of anything found so far that has substantiated the book of mormon. View the original article at the book of mormon resources blog. Thank you for writing to the national geographic society. The funny thing about the book of mormon is that it doesnt necessarily make all the claims people often suggest it does. Generations of mormons grew up with the notion that american indians are descended from a lost tribe from the house of israel, offspring of a book of mormon figure named lehi, who left jerusalem and sailed to the americas around 600 b.
General conference, book of mormon geography, april 1929, pp. I challenge any one of you to find some real mainstream critics and critical organizations who are willing to put their neck on the line and identify themselves as completely. Kent brown, editors, etal was recently heralded by the mormon history association. The smithsonian institute issued a formal statement in may 1980 detailing their complete disavowal of the work as anything but fiction. The book of mormon describes three migrations of people from the middle east to america. They see the headline and say and im quoting a friend verbatim here exciting to see the scientific community catch up to what the book of mormon has taught for hundreds of years. Archaeology and the book of mormonarchive 5 wikipedia. The book of mormon is a religious document and not a scientific guide. Explore the mormon pioneer national historic trail across five states to see the 1,300mile route traveled by mormons who fled nauvoo, illinois, to the great salt lake valley in 18461847. These finds confirm scriptures found in the book of mormon describing. National geographic does not exist solely as a organization of critics representing the majority against book of mormon historicity. Challenges and perspectives published in byu studies quarterly vol. We know of no archaeological evidence that corroborates the ancient history of the western hemisphere as presented in the book of mormon, nor are we aware of empirical verification of the places named in the book of mormon. Mormon names dominate zion national park the mystery of.
Does the smithsonian institution send out a letter. This history contains information about the places they lived, including descriptions of landforms, natural features, and the distances and cardinal directions between important points. The book of mormon includes a history of an ancient people who migrated from the near east to the americas. National geographic society statement on the book of mormon national geographic society statement on the book of mormon language. Lund in what must surely rank as one of the great visionary experiences in all of scriptural literature, the young prophet nephi, very possibly still in his teenage years, had unfolded for him the grand vistas of the future see 1 nephi 2. National geographic was given access to the community only on the approval of the church leadership, in consultation with the imprisoned warren jeffs. Young americans shaky on geographic smarts book of mormon.
Map of mesoamerica the epigraphic record of tikal records the installation of a new ruler, siyaj kak, who founds a new dynasty in 378 ad. Plainly, a great deal remains to be learned about precolumbian america, and several new findings here seem relevant to the book of mormon. A map supplement in the october 1992 issue mentions that brigham young, the mormon churchs second president, emphasized to early settlers in the springdale area that the canyon was not zion, despite their heavenly descriptions. Explore the mormon pioneer national historic trail across five states to see the 1,300mile route traveled by mormons who fled nauvoo. Even though the mormon church formally denies endorsing any geographical theory regarding the location of book of mormon events, its many book of mormon editions, film strips, pamphlets and professors using images and references exclusively of the mesoamerican area speaks otherwise. The book of mormon itself is the best source for understanding the geographical locations contained therein. This weeks come follow me lesson focuses on 1 nephi 17 in the book of mormon, which tells the story of lehis call as a prophet in jerusalem, the peoples rejection of his message, his flight with his family into the wilderness, establishing camp in a rivervalley along the coast of the red sea, and his sons two return trips back to jerusalemfirst to get the plates of brass from. The mysteries of god revealed by the power of the holy ghost gerald n. Johnson meeting house in colorado city, arizona, at about 6 p. The book of mormon contains three groups of people that are found or end up in the western hemisphere. Hammond, geography of the book of mormon salt lake city. National geographic discovery of mayan ruins not proof, but. While some latterday saints have looked for possible locations and explanations for book of mormon geography because the new york hill cumorah does not readily fit the book of mormon description of cumorah, there are no conclusive connections between the book of mormon text and any specific site.
Mormon challenges are precolumbian horses in book of. Ive taken a brief hiatus from a deep study of the book of mormon because ive been writing a lot and had a big stack of books i needed to get through. Stop sharing the national geographic article about native dna. Hamblin, basic methodological problems with the antimormon approach to the geography and archaeology of the book of mormon, journal of book of mormon studies 1993 2. On february 1, 2018, national geographic broke a story about some incredible new discoveries in mesoamerican archaeology using new technology.
How do these new discoveries relate to the book of mormon. National geographic society statement on the book of mormon. Home book of mormon science, ancient history, and the book of mormon national geographic society statement on the book of mormon national geographic society statement on the book of mormon language. Letter national geographic society, washington, dc 20036. Second, the only geographic model that fits the text of the book of mormon is a limited geographical model. The following address by president j reuben clark, jr. Mar 22, 2017 national geographic mormon in america polygamy documentary 2017 national geographic mormon in america polygamy documentary 2017 national geographic. The articles linked below will describe the various theories and examine the strengths and weaknesses of each. May 23, 2014 this influence increased in geographic spread and physical presence from about this time until the time of mormon, and continued after the close of the book of mormon.