Some Notes On Current Debates In Mormon Scholarship

Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon — This backlit illustration of the sons of Mosiah, located in the new buildings at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, appears (for whatever it’s worth) to show a Mesoamerican landscape, with Mesoamerican architecture visible in the background.

A photo by Kirk Magleby, perhaps? — I would never claim for a moment that this image in the Provo MTC establishes a Mesoamerican geography as the official view of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think it is, however, fairly safe to say that the image demonstrates that the Church hasn’t formally and officially adopted a “Heartland” model, either. Or at least that, if it has, the Missionary Department and the Missionary Training Center don’t appear to have received that memo.

The invaluable Jeff Lindsay, a member of the board of the Interpreter Foundation, continues his critique of Duane Boyce’s current article series in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:

“Unnecessary Attacks, Part 2: In Defense of Grant Hardy”

For the articles published by Duane Boyce in his series thus far, two of three, see here and here.

So that there will be no misunderstanding, by the way, I note for the public record that I’ve been very vocal over a considerable period about my admiration for Grant Hardy’s book Understanding the Book of Mormon. Here are two examples of that expressed admiration:

“Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide”

“Books that can help to build or reinforce testimonies”

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Some have asked, over the years, whether Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture is a peer reviewed publication. Here is the journal’s own statement about its review procedures:

Peer Review

As I’ve pointed out numerous times, peer review is an important academic process. It’s especially useful to editors, who want to be sure, to the extent that it’s humanly possible, that they’re not publishing something that is egregiously, obviously, and fatally flawed. But it isn’t magic. It doesn’t guarantee Truth. If that were so, there would be no disagreements between peer reviewed books and articles. In fact, however, disagreement is the life blood of academic research and publishing.

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If you haven’t seen the “Announcement regarding Church website” that has been posted on the Interpreter website, you might find it of interest:

Announcement regarding Church website

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Please don’t forget the annual FairMormon conference, which will be held Thursday and Friday of this week in Provo, in the Utah Valley Convention Center:

2017 FairMormon Conference

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And please don’t fail to remember the Chiasmus Jubilee that will take place on the campus of Brigham Young University on 15-16 August 2007:

https://bookofmormoncentral.org/events/chiasmus-day-2017

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Whether you can attend the Chiasmus Jubilee or not, you might find this new article interesting:

“Was Chiasmus Known to Ancient American Writers?”

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I’ve encountered some claims recently, that, in the course of producing a new series of films dramatizing the story of the Book of Mormon — as it has done with the Bible — the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is about to come down, quite decisively, in favor of the so-called “Heartland” model of Book of Mormon geography. One version has it that, by perhaps filming the production on property in Florida owned by the Church, our leaders will be signaling their belief that the Book of Mormon story took place largely within the boundaries of the modern United States of America.

I wouldn’t be too sure of that.

Here’s an article that appeared in the Church-owned Deseret News back on 12 July 2017:

“It’s not ‘The Movie’ — nor will Book of Mormon videos give a nod to location theories, either”