Customer Reviews

An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We all know a lot of things that aren't so. This may because of the way we receive knowledge from others. An individual bit of knowledge might have been garbled in its path to us, it may have always been nonsense, it might have been state of the art understanding that has since been supplanted, or it might be a decent approximation of reality. This book is, I believe, quite important because it is part of a serious effort to let the Book of Mormon speak for itself rather than imposing on it a mix of interpretations that come from certain hopes and guesses about what the Book of Mormon was actually saying without studying it thoroughly.

Sorenson first builds a map based upon the information provided in the book. This does away with the notion of the so-called "continental" view of the range of the Book of Mormon. He then shows us the very complex cultures in Meso-America and how things seem to have been in the centuries the Book of Mormon took place. While I have my own views and interpretations, I admire Sorenson for sticking to what the Book actually says and what the archaeological and anthropological evidence actually shows us. He doesn't try to get to the point of fitting it together and claiming that this is actually that or anything of the sort. That is a trap too many have fallen into over the years and it actually blinds more than it enlightens.

He compares what the Book of Mormon people say about their lives, the culture and its wars with the way the people of that region lived, adapted, and fought. Sorenson shows us how the rising population and the expansion of the Mayan kingdoms put pressure on the large mix of smaller tribes that "filled in the gaps". The author also helps us see quite clearly what was happening at the time of the end of Nephite civilization. This is a very interesting set of insights.

I think this is a terrific book. Yes, Sorenson is a believer (so am I). Still, this book does a very fine job of stating things on the basis of evidence. No, it does not provide a photograph of Lehi and Nephi on the beach holding the Liahona with the boat in the background. However, even if it did, non-believers would find a way to explain it away, and believers would still believe (because the belief comes from something beyond photographs).

The book has many helpful maps, illustrations, and photographs. It also has a very useful index.

Highly recommended.

First of all, let me say that I am sorely disappointed that this volume has not been peer-reviewed. Potential readers would be much better off reading the assessment of Sorenson's peers rather than the musings of anonymous internet reviewers. Ah, but therein lies the rub. As much as Sorenson conveys an academic tone, this book is not a product of "mainstream" academia. Take that for what you will--some people will undoubtedly see that as a positive, while others will see it as a negative.

In order to give a fair review, I need to address three potential audiences. Decide which one you are a part of and skip to that paragraph: Mormon apologists, casual readers, and students/academics.

For the Mormon apologist, this book is absolutely indispensable. While Sorenson goes out of his way to assure the reader that he is not "proving" anything, he has compiled a great deal of supporting evidence and data for Mormons who wish to set the BoM in Ancient America. Here in this book is where you will find the most convincing and helpful theories about how to "fit" the narratives of the BoM to archaeological and historical reality. If you are a Mormon and are interested in apologetics, buy it and consider it a valuable amalgamation of ammunition.

For the casual reader, the book will still prove to be valuable. Sorenson tries to shift the burden of proof to those claiming that the BoM is not historically accurate, and any reasonable person who holds those views should accept the challenge. For those wishing to imagine how BoM events could have plausibly happened in an Ancient American context, this book will not disappoint. It is, to use a trite phrase, "a fun read".

For the scholar, however, Sorenson's book is of limited value. It is not peer-reviewed, and its method is suspect. Rather than start with the evidence and try to reach a conclusion, Sorenson starts with a conclusion and selects the evidence that supports it. Though this method may be acceptable for some people, academics will likely find it reprehensible.

Overall, I give it a 3. It is not Hugh Nibley and Jan Shipps material, but it is a great deal more carefully thought out and systematically approached than most books in this vein.

This book really prompted me to think about and reconceptualize many of the assumptions I held about Book of Mormon geography and study. It was inspiring to develop a deeper understanding of the people in the Book of Mormon, and answered many questions. It's well researched and doesn't pretend to be decisive in its conclusions. Definitely the most authoritive book on the subject of Book of Mormon geography and a must read for all interested in the subject.

I feel that Sorenson opened the door to a lot of the great BoM scholarship we have today with this book. His work is a lasting testimony to actually paying attention to what the text says and not following false traditions that have cropped up in Mormon culture over the years (the Nephite/Jaredite battles in upstate New York, anyone?).

The book is a little long in the tooth now since there been so many good books and articles published since the 1980s (hence the 4 stars), including Brant Gardner's "Second Witness" commentaries (which refers often to this book and it's hypothetical geography) and Joseph Allen's "Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon". I actually feel that Allen's map from the book "Sacred Sites" is a little better than Sorenson's, but this book really got the ball rolling and it still has value if only to show the way to methodically and carefully analyze the BoM text itself.

I have read it twice now and gotten may insights on both occasions. Highly recommended if you are new to serious BoM research.

John L. Sorenson (born 1924) is emeritus professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University, and has written books such as "Mormon's Map," "Images of Ancient America: Visualizing Book of Mormon Life," and "Pre-Columbian Contact With the Americas Across the Oceans: An Annotated Bibliography."

He wrote in the Preface to this 1985 book, "By 1974 I had worked on the relation of the Book of Mormon to Mesoamerican geography and cultural data for twenty-five years but had been reluctant to impose my views on the public or my colleagues... (the) managing editor of the Ensign... invited me to prepare a series of articles for the Church magazine... It seemed clear that publication as a book would meet a widespread need..."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Until recently... we had neglected to pin down the location of a single city (of the Book of Mormon), to identify confidently even one route ... or to sketch a believable picture of any segment of the life they lived in their American promised land." (Pg. xvii)
"...ultimate objectivity is all but impossible... My subjective views about the Book of Mormon and the culture area with which I shall compare it of course influenced what I have written here." (Pg. xix)
"After so many years of studying this topic am I satisfied with the results? No. Many questions remain..." (Pg. xx)
"...it certainly wouldn't be surprising if the Prophet had once held this view (that Lehi landed in Chile), since other early Church members seem to have believed it." (Pg. 2)
"What are we told about the narrow neck of land itself? First, it had to be wide enough that Limhi's explorers could pass through it without even realizing that it was an isthmus... On the other hand, it was narrow enough that 'it was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite... (Alma 22:32) ... If some mode of travel other than on foot were used, the 144 (miles) figure might be increased. Or the distance might be as little as, say, 50 miles... A plausible compromise range seems to me to be 75 to 125 miles." (Pg. 16-17)
"The oldest view supposed Panama to be the narrow neck ... with South America, or some portion of it, the land southward. The dimensions of the Book of Mormon lands alone rule out the whole continent, while any attempt to consider just a part of South America as the land southward runs afoul of a number of points in the text (for example, Alma 22;32, 'nearly surrounded by water')." (Pg. 29)
"...Mesoamerica was the ONLY place in the entire New World where we know that genuine writing systems were long and regularly employed before the coming of the Europeans." (Pg. 30)
"A few statements in the Book of Mormon cannot yet be squared with what we know today about the Mesoamerican area." (Pg. 31)
"Then how did the (golden) plates get from the battleground to New York? We have no definitive answer, but we can construct a plausible picture... So Moroni's getting the plates to New York even under his own power seems feasible." (Pg, 44-45)
"I have said often enough that there results are not conclusive." (Pg. 47)
"The Book of Mormon tells us nothing---literally nothing---about the biological characteristics of its peoples when they left Asia." (Pg. 81)
"So much remains to be done on the Book of Mormon in its setting that 'a flavor of plausibility' concerning the setting of the early Nephites is as far as we dare go at this time..." (Pg. 189)
"In any case, it is possible that the mammoth or mastodon hung on in Mexico at least as late as 2500 B.C." (Pg. 298)
"The consistency of the fit between the Book of Mormon picture of Nephite life and the external sources confirms that we have found for the book a plausible ancient American setting." (Pg. 316)

The book is in like new condition an much cheaper than new - an excellent value. Very good service from the seller. I plan to vacation in the western Caribbean and vist some of the Book of Mormon era ruins.

Gary Lehnhausen

Notwithstanding the fact I disagree with Sorenson about his views on Quetzecoatl, this book is a MUST for Book of Mormon students as it presents an extremely plausible geographical and cultural setting for the events related in the text of the Book of Mormon. Sorenson discusses how the drumlin in New York is _not_ the Hill Ramah/Cumorah of the Book of Mormon, contrary popular Latter-day Saint belief, metallurgy, plants and animals, distances, cities, and so forth. The fact that such a thing is plausible bodes poorly for the anti-Mormon theory that Smith was a fraud and the Book of Mormon is an example of 19th centiry fiction.

Sorenson attempts to give geographic ruins in north-central America the place names from the book of mormon text, and attempts to explain ancient culture, linguistics and genetic heritage in context of the book of mormon text. He makes no excuses for his pro-Mormon point of view, in advocating the book of mormon as real history of a lost-people.

Interestingly, he claims the culture and language of a group of north-central aboriginal americans has left remnants of their existence, but only a whisper of these alleged lost-people can be seen today. From the POV of modern-day fragments of archeology, anthropology, linguistics and genetics he attempts to construct a "probable" explanation of book of mormon events.

This is a book about WHAT Mormons could or can believe, and NOT about WHY you should believe it, and definitely NOT an official Mormon church stance on the matter. Sorenson asks so many questions that cannot currently be answered, I'm amazed more books haven't been published to counter or support this work, since it was first published in 1985! I was desperate to read a counter to Sorenson's ideas but all that I could find were whiner-babies on internet forums opposing the Mormon church or Mormonism as a religion.

Let's have a real "counter-Sorenson" scholarly treatise to this book and see what it turns up!?!

In the meantime, this book is very compelling FOR the legitimacy of the Book of Bormon.

Dr. Sorenson, along with FARMS, theories the most logical setting for the BoM by keeping its time and changing its space. Not since the discovery of the Joseph Smith Papyri has a LDS work been so penetrating as An Ancient American Setting. This book remains to be the cornerstone of the yet complete scientific translation of the Book of Mormon.

I personally enjoyed this book immensely. I have heard all of the various theories about potential settings for the Book of Mormon. This book by Dr. Sorrenson makes a plausible setting relying heavily upon deductive reasoning based upon what the text actually says, such as distances traveled to produce a limited geographic setting for the Book of Mormon.

Sorrenson does not pretend that this is the end to the discussion on the setting for the Book of Mormon, but rather a possible beginning. There are still many questions that need definitive answers which future research and scholarship will have to uncover.

One reviewer complained that this book flies in the face of Mormon prophetic understanding of Native Americans, which I disagree with completely. At worst it only refines what we already know, which is actually a good thing. Lehites were not the only people living on the American continent. The Book of Mormon tells us so by repeatedly hinting and openly discussing the existence of non-Lehite neighbors such as the Mulekites, surviving Jaredites, and others. What does the DNA of a Jaredite look like, or a Mulekite? What did the DNA of a "Lamanite" look like around 400AD when it was more of a title than a pure heritage? Wouldn't we expect to see diffusionism in the DNA? Wouldn't we expect to see a similar diffusionism in today's native American DNA? Absolutely, and we do!

Anybody interested in the best scholarship to date on a potential and plausible setting for the Book of Mormon needs to read this book.