{"id":85145,"date":"2020-05-16T13:35:02","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T19:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=85145"},"modified":"2020-05-16T23:23:38","modified_gmt":"2020-05-17T05:23:38","slug":"majoring-in-a-minor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/majoring-in-a-minor.html","title":{"rendered":"Majoring in a Minor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
This hill, Cerro La Vigia, near the town of Catemaco, in the Municipio de Santiago Tuxtla, Veracruz, M\u00e9xico, has been proposed by some adherents of a Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon as the location of the final Jaredite and Nephite battles. I think they may be right. \u00a0But it doesn\u2019t really matter very much from the perspective of eternity. \u00a0It\u2019s nothing over which to break fellowship with the Saints.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I very seldom think about \u201cHeartland\u201d models of the geography of the Book of Mormon, let alone about Jonathan Neville, who is an extremely vocal proponent of a \u201cHeartland\u201d point of view. \u00a0(He is particularly exercised over the location of the ancient Hill Cumorah.) \u00a0I rarely if ever post anything of my own replying to him or to \u201cHeartland\u201d ideas. \u00a0I\u2019m just not interested in them. \u00a0I don\u2019t think that I could pick Mr. Neville out of a police line-up. \u00a0If we\u2019ve ever met, I don\u2019t remember it. \u00a0I don\u2019t read any of his blogs. \u00a0I haven\u2019t read any of his writing. \u00a0I think<\/em> that he may once have been a lawyer. \u00a0But Mr. Neville apparently thinks about me<\/em> fairly frequently<\/em>, and plainly not with admiration. \u00a0Yesterday, a friend called my attention to this recent item on the excellent\u00a0Neville-Neville Land<\/em> blog, which responds to an attack on me by Mr. Neville. \u00a0I have to admit that, among other things, I was quite surprised at what it had to say about Mr. Neville\u2019s biography:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Latest Example of Outrage Theater\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My friend\u2019s alerting me to this article reminded me that I haven\u2019t called readers\u2019 attention to several recent items on the Neville-Neville Land<\/em> blog, and has inspired me to rectify that neglect by doing so now:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident M. Russell Ballard, M2C\/SITH intellectual\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cElder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, SITH intellectual\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cElder B. H. Roberts, SITH intellectual\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJonathan Neville: Liar or sloppy researcher?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJonathan Neville and the Hofmann saga\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whenever, as now, I do<\/em> think about Jonathan Neville, I worry<\/em>. \u00a0I worry because he apparently has a following, and because he\u2019s extremely critical not merely of evil people like me<\/em>\u00a0and even of employees in the Missionary Department, Historical Department, and other offices at the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> in Utah \u2014 which scarcely matters in the eternal scheme of things \u2014 but because he\u2019s increasingly critical of the leaders of the Church themselves. \u00a0In itself, the question of the location of ancient Book of Mormon Cumorah is of, at most, secondary importance. \u00a0That\u2019s not what\u2019s at issue. \u00a0I worry that Mr. Neville is heading, whether deliberately or not, toward the creation of a schismatic faction within the Church, and that he will ultimately lead at least some faithful believers away from full fellowship with the Saints. \u00a0I hope that this isn\u2019t true, and I hope that it never happens. \u00a0But I see clouds on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I very seldom think about \u201cHeartland\u201d models of the geography of the Book of Mormon, let alone about Jonathan Neville, who is an extremely vocal proponent of a \u201cHeartland\u201d point of view. \u00a0(He is particularly exercised over the location of the ancient Hill Cumorah.) \u00a0I rarely if ever post anything of my own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,6312,2262,2058,5183,11630,7638,3454,6780,6117,6783,1408,11633,11635],"class_list":["post-85145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-book-of-mormon-geography","tag-cumorah","tag-geography","tag-heartland","tag-intellectuals","tag-jonathan","tag-jonathan-neville","tag-m2c","tag-neville","tag-neville-neville-land","tag-schism","tag-sect","tag-sith"],"yoast_head":"\nMajoring in a Minor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I very seldom think about "Heartland" models of the geography of the Book of Mormon, let alone about Jonathan Neville, who is an extremely\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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