Jenkins Rejoinder 7: Where’s the Beef?

For the sake of argument, let us grant not just that Ancient Book of Mormon Studies (ABMS) is a respectable academic discipline, but also that it is so active. Dr. Hamblin reports, for instance,

“1-  There are dozens, if not several hundred of qualified scholars publishing on ABMS.  

2- The bibliography in the field amounts to hundreds, and perhaps several thousand items.  

3-  Several professional journals are dedicated to ABMS.  

4-  Several conferences are held each year on ABMS.

5- Numerous books on the topic are published each year.”

In that case, it would be very simple for him, or any one of those qualified scholars, to respond to a straightforward question:

Can anyone cite any single credible fact, object, site, or inscription from the New World that supports any one story found in the Book of Mormon? One sherd of pottery? One tool of bronze or iron? One carved stone? One piece of genetic data? And by credible, I mean drawn from a reputable scholarly study, an academic book or refereed journal, not some cranky piece of pseudo-science.

As I have noted, we are after all dealing with a people whose numbers ran into the hundreds of thousands, at least, at any given time, if not millions, and they built great cities. If they were there, they would certainly, definitely, assuredly, have left a massive and unmissable archaeological trace

So, can anyone cite such a thing? Really, the question is so easy and straightforward that I am embarrassed to ask it.

Now, don’t everyone shout out the answer at once.