Customer Reviews

Images of Ancient America: Visualizing Book of Mormon Life

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The title describes exactly what this book is. Sorenson takes us into his world as a socio-cultural anthropologist, helping us understand what the different archeological and historical remains can tell us about the many aspects of the everyday lives of ancient peoples. The book is intentionally simple, you won't find in depth hypothosis' or commentary, but it is written at a level beneficial for newcomers as well as for those who already know much about ancient American culture. A small section of each topic cites Book of Mormon references that may be relative to the subject matter. Sorenson's intent is not to validate the history in the Book of Mormon through archeological discovery, but rather to help us understand the cultures that were a part of, or influenced, the peoples in that book-much like knowing about ancient Jewish culture helps us better understand the events in the New Testament. This book has added an important aspect to my study of the Book of Mormon, and as a visitor to ruins in Mexico, added life and meaning to what I saw there.

This is a terrific book and helps as a way of refocusing the view of how you think about the culture described in the Book of Mormon. If you are a believer, ... it helps to make things more specific and yet less cut and dried. Just like real life.

If you aren't a believer, and in fact if you actively disbelieve the Book of Mormon, that is OK too. You will get a more specific look at the vision of things you actively disbelieve.

In either case it is a helpful and valuable book, as are all of Sorenson's works.

While collective history of Central America is frustratingly scarce, John Sorenson has done a great job of pulling together a variety of images and artifacts to help the reader understand what the area may have been like 2,000 years ago and how the findings relate to the information in the Book of Mormon.

The book is well presented and well categorised - broken down into easy to digest chunks and is heavy on images (which is the point of it really).

This book is a good resource for anyone wanting to get more out their study of the Book of Mormon or wanting to increase their understanding of Book of Mormon people and geography.

WOW! This is a perfect addition to my collection! It's a perfect companion to Sorenson's "An Ancient American Setting For The Book Of Mormon". "Images" does just that, it provides excellent visualization for life during the Nephite/Lamanite era. What a gem!

Note: Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks, and if you are a Mormon, I respect your open-mindedness in reading this review. I like Mormons, and even love some Mormons, whom I consider some of the finest people who ever walked in shoe leather, as my grandmother used to say.

So now for the folly of this book:

I'll admit that this book has a lot of pretty illustrations, but the comparisons to the Book of Mormon are so general as to apply to any culture.

Further, Sorenson is disingenuous. He writes about the Bonampak murals that "some believe the body paint my explain the different hues." "Some believe"? Dah! No anthropologist of any repute believes otherwise. By not stating this fact, Sorensen has greatly mislead the uniformed reader.

For example, all you have to do is study a good reproduction of these Maya murals, you will see the discoloration within the same person's body. The beautiful green feathers of the headdresses of many figures are clearly water damaged, light green turning into dark green. The murals are 1200 years old, afterall.

Here is something else Sorenson did not mention. The modern Maya so closely resemble the people depicted in the murals that they could serve as models for the murals. This remarkable fact is listed in all reputable texts on the Maya--along with pictures of Modern Maya standing by the Murals.

I could go on, but I'll just note a couple other things. Maya babies are born with a blue spot at the base of their spine (also Asian babies). This "Mongolian Spot" was not mentioned by Sorenson.
If you look through the book, almost all of the pictures show Maya paganism, not Book of Mormon Christianity.

Also, I have been told by many Mormons that the Maya had nothing to do with the Book of Mormon--that the Book of Mormon took place somewhere else. Sorenson is reviving a long refuted idea that has been abandoned by almost all Mormon scholars.

Because such books are so easily refuted (the footnotes often do not check out), writers like Sorensen do a great disservice to their own religion. Remember Milton R. Hunter's "horse" at Chichen Itza that turns out to be the damaged feather of a "jaguar-serpent." (See Archaeology and the Book of Mormon, by Hunter. Hunter's picture of this so-called "horse" was also in hardback copies of the Book of Mormon for about twenty years).

Other readers will remember the many false citations in Paul R. Cheesman's book, "These Early Americans" (example, p. 65, where Cheesman says an Indian gave Pizarro an "iron hatchet." In the source listed (Helps, "The Life of Pizarro, p. 123), it says the exact opposite. Cheesman also left out the key word "Castillian" (Spanish) in referring to the animals in Mexico after the Spanish conquest. The meaning is thus changed.

I'll admit that this book has a lot of pretty illustrations, but the comparisons to the Book of Mormon are so general as to apply to any culture.

Here are some more things that Sorenson failed to mention:

All you have to do is travel to Guatemala (as I have) and look at the actual Maya people living there today. They could be models for the people depicted on the murals and sculptures. All reputable archaeologists point this out and even have photos of modern Maya people standing next to the carvings. But this is not a fact that you will read about in books about "Book of Mormon Archaeology."

Even more reprehensible is the failure of Mormon scholars to note one of the greatest achievements of the 20th Century--the decipherment of Maya writing. And guess what? It says nothing about the themes or subjects of the Book of Mormon. You'll read about "18 rabbit" but not about "Nephi."

Some other things you will not read in Mormon books on archaeology are the following:
1. The Maya drilled holes in their teeth and inlaid them the jade.
2. They deformed the skulls of their babies to produce a cone-head shape.
3. They hung small balls from strings that dangled in front of their noses to produce cross eyes.
4. They gave hallucinogenic enemas to each other in their temples (some 25 hallucinogenic substances have been identified (frog glans, insects, and plants).
5. Drinking and smoking (hallucinogenic plants) were an important part of their religion.
6. Scarification (tattoos are shown on their upper arms and thighs).
7. They filed their teeth into various shapes (often points).
8. They practiced self-bloodletting (the foreskin often looked like a tassel from cutting it for blood).
9. They practiced head-hunting and human sacrifice during all periods of their civilization.

In trying to turn native peoples into Book of Mormon Christians, Mormon scholars have resorted to misrepresenting the state of knowledge (or condition) modern archaeology (often by omission). These scholars can't even see straight enough to note that native peoples went around half naked and their dress would surely be condemned by the Mormon Church today. The ancient carvings and paintings confirm this uncomfortable truth.

Lastly, where are all those Book of Mormon cows, horses, steel swords, and chariots? Where is the writing? We have the copper scroll of the Book of Isaiah in the Bible (on display and translated in Jerusalem), but not a single Book of Mormon plate in hundreds of years of history? Come on. Give us some evidence that Mormon civilizations existed.



Your comments on this or my other reviews are appreciated. Thanks. Click on the following link, then scroll down to find my one-star review of "Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon." Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon

See also: "The Mound Builders: The Archaeology of a Myth," an essential book by Robert Silverberg. Click here: Mound Builders

Another fascinating book that debunks the crackpots is Robert Wauchope's "Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents: Myth and Method in the Study of the American Indians." Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents Myth Method in the

Your comments--positive or negative--are appreciated. Thanks, and please check my one-star review of the Book of Mormon, itself. Click here: The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ