Introduction
For many years I have devoted time and energy to analyzing The Book of Mormon, especially to learn what it says about the ancient peoples it describes. One criterion I have striven to apply to my work is to be as attentive as possible to details in the text about the setting in which events in the scripture were played out. In that spirit my 1985 book, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah: Deseret Book and Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies) compared the internal picture of life in Book of Mormon times that I had derived from study of the text with the large body of data that scholars and scientists have accumulated about the area where the scriptural peoples probably dwelt. That is Mesoamerica (central and southern Mexico and northern Central America).
Since 19851 have completed further studies along the same lines. A number of the writings that resulted have been published but have not been conveniently accessible to nonspecialists. Other pieces have not been published at all. This collection of papers makes available for general readers further materials that can increase their understanding of the Nephite record beyond what is available in An Ancient American Setting.
While the topics covered by the present articles are varied, they share one characteristic that I seek to instill in all my work. They depend on fine-grained analysis of the text of The Book of Mormon. While some of my writing has featured comparisons with data from outside the scripture, these pieces consist almost entirely of internal analyses. I am of the opinion that it is important at this point in time for scholars to study the Nephite volume by analyzing its text intensively. Students of the ancient book need to put themselves as thoroughly as possible into Nephite settings and modes of thinking before trying to translate the ancient writings to modern-day terms.
For me, developing further knowledge of the contexts of the ancient book requires drawing upon models that have been derived from studying other unfamiliar cultures and their records. Seeing how other peoples and their cultures have been elucidated by scholarly analysis can provide fuel to Fire up more scholarly study of Mormon's book. My background in the field of anthropology has provided me with stimulating new approaches to understanding The Book of Mormon as a record of ancient peoples. One might think that what I consider new approaches refers to archaeology, since that is the scientific field particularly concerned with ancient life, but I have benefitted in my work from many other aspects of anthropology. Archaeology is the sub-field of anthropology by which I entered the discipline, and the ideas and data from archaeologists remain very helpful. But my experience has been eclectic, involving work in the social, cultural, linguistic, psychological and applied branches as well as archaeology.
The articles published in this book are contributions to my long-term aim to apply anthropology in the widest possible sense to elucidating The Book of Mormon. I hope to accomplish still more toward that end and hope that others will also pursue the task.
Additional materials have resulted from my research that cannot be put in this book because they do not exist in a suitable format. Serious students of The Book of Mormon may wish to keep an eye open for some of them for additional insights they may provide into issues relevant to the scripture. For instance, the topic of transoceanic voyaging, an introduction to which is given in Chapter 3 below, has led me to much more extensive handling of the matter. With the assistance of Martin H. Raish, I issued in 1990 Pre-Columbian Contact with the Americas across the Ocean: An Annotated Bibliography (Research Press: Provo). A revised and expanded edition appeared in 1996. This two-volume, 1200-page work annotates some 5100 bibliographical entries; it constitutes the foundational professional treatment of the subject to date. The subject is potentially important to Book of Mormon studies, of course.
Another relevant project that cannot be introduced here, given the format of the present book, is Images of Ancient Mesoamerica: An Illustrated Companion to The Book of Mormon (working title), slated to appear in mid-1997 from Research Press. Through aesthetically superior pictures accompanied by brief, professionally-responsible text, this large-format work will set a standard for the visualization of Nephite life and its setting by reference to faces, landscapes, sites, structures, art and other visual materials. Those who find value in the present set of papers will probably wish to see the Images book too.
Five of the articles included in this book are reprinted. I am grateful to those who saw to their original publication and am pleased with their willingness to allow New Sage Books to reprint them. Two articles have not been published before.
I owe a special debt and give sincere thanks to the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies and to Research Press, a publishing arm of FARMS. The people involved there have consistently encouraged, facilitated, and supported my work, although they are not responsible for anything I say. If there are faults in these writings, they are due to my failures. I would like to see them corrected.
It is my desire that the contents of this book stir and assist readers to think more penetrating thoughts about The Book of Mormon. I consider this book given to us by Mormon and Moroni to be of profound significance. It deserves our closest attention and best scholarship. To me it is both the sacred, ancient record that it purports to be and a challenging puzzle that will reward the exacting attention of scholars. I hope others see it in the same ways. "Blessed be he that shall bring this thing to light" (Mormon 8:16), whether prophet, scriptorian or anthropologist.
John L. Sorenson