Author: Jonathan Neville

For those who have the Joseph Smith Papers in hard copy, Volume 1 of Histories contains Oliver Cowdery’s Letter VII as it appears in Joseph Smith’s own history, beginning on p. 72. The comments about Cumorah in New York start on page 76.

The Editorial Note explaining how the letters were copied into Joseph’s journal begins on page 38.

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Error in Joseph Smith Papers

Histories Volume 1 also contains what I consider one of the most serious errors in the Joseph Smith Papers. It’s actually a disastrous error, in my opinion. I’ve blogged about it before.

On p. 519, the Historical Introduction to Orson Pratt’s pamphlet titled A Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions includes this comment:

“In his description of the Book of Mormon, Orson Pratt superimposed his understanding of Book of Mormon geography onto the Western Hemisphere by placing the Nephites in South America and the Jaredites in North America. Pratt’s association of Book of Mormon peoples with the history of all of North and South America matched common understanding of early Latter-day Saints. Shortly thereafter, when John Lloyd Stephens’s Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan became available in Nauvoo in about 1842, JS greeted it enthusiastically and church members used it to map Book of Mormon sites in a Central American setting.6″

Note 6 says:

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Think about this a minute. 

Orson Pratt’s pamphlet was important because, as the Joseph Smith Papers volume points out, it was a source for the Wentworth letter, including the Articles of Faith. I’ve done a side-by-side comparison so anyone can see how the Wentworth letter compares with Pratt’s pamphlet. One of the most important comparisons involves Book of Mormon geography.

You can read the Wentworth letter in its original form here. Remember, you can’t read the entire letter in the Church manual Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, because the curriculum committed edited out Joseph’s comments about the geography question, which I’ll mention below.

I’m going to repeat the comment and note and insert my comments in red.

“In his description of the Book of Mormon, Orson Pratt superimposed his understanding of Book of Mormon geography onto the Western Hemisphere by placing the Nephites in South America and the Jaredites in North America. [Pratt wrote several pages of comments on this topic, claiming among other things that Lehi “landed upon the western coast of South America” and that “in process of time, the Nephites began to build ships near the Isthmus of Darien, and launch them forth into the western ocean, in which great numbers sailed a great distance to the northward, and began to colonize North America.” As the Joseph Smith Papers comments explain, Pratt’s pamphlet was apparently a source for the Wentworth letter. But instead of copying or adapting Orson Pratt’s imaginary account of Book of Mormon geography, Joseph Smith replaced it with the simple statement that “The principal nation of the second race fell in battle to wards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country.” These are the sentences that the Curriculum Committee edited out of the manual. People ask me why. Of course, I have no idea, but I infer that they didn’t want teachers taking time to explain how that statement can be rationalized with a Mesoamerican setting. It obviously cannot be reconciled; the statement is consistent with D&C 28, 30 and 32, which also specifically identify the Lamanites as the Indians living in the United States. The significance of this is that Joseph corrected Orson Pratt, but none of the scholars seem to care about that. Actually, apathy would be an improvement over the Curriculum Committee editing it out, especially when Joseph made the point at the beginning of the Wentworth letter that “all  that I shall ask at his hands, is, that he publish the account entire, ungarnished,  and without misrepresentation.” Joseph didn’t need to be concerned about Mr. Wentworth; he should have been concerned about the Curriculum Committee.] 

Pratt’s association of Book of Mormon peoples with the history of all of North and South America matched common understanding of early Latter-day Saints. [That should read, “early Latter-day Saints besides Joseph Smith. There is not a single reference to a hemispheric model that can be directly linked to Joseph. In fact, everything that can be directly linked to Joseph refers exclusively to a North American setting. The only location that early Latter-day Saints–including Joseph Smith–agreed upon was that the Hill Cumorah was in New York. Compare that to the current situation, when those of us who support the New York setting are rejected and ridiculed by LDS scholars.] 

Shortly thereafter, when John Lloyd Stephens’s Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan became available in Nauvoo in about 1842, JS greeted it enthusiastically and church members used it to map Book of Mormon sites in a Central American setting.6″ [This one is the most difficult to justify. Note 6 below gives the usual suspects as authority for the statement. The anonymous articles in the Times and Seasons, as even Terryl Givens points out, cannot be directly tied to Joseph Smith. As I’ve proposed elsewhere, William Smith was the acting editor of the Times and Seasons when those articles were published, and Benjamin Winchester is by far the most likely author, with editorial input from William and/or W.W. Phelps. The note also cites the Bernhisel letter, which I’ve shown was almost certainly written by Wilford Woodruff, the only person we know of who actually read the Stephens books before these articles were published in the Times and Seasons. This concept that Joseph “enthusiastically” greeted the Stephens books flies in the face of the Wentworth letter, which as I just pointed out, deleted Orson Pratt’s hemispheric model and reaffirmed the North American setting by specifying that Lehi’s descendants were the Indians living in this country; i.e., the United States. The “enthusiastically” characterization is derived from a particular uncited paper, but I won’t identify that paper here.]

Note 6 says:

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You can see this same comment and note in the online version here. Look under the Historical Introduction, third paragraph, including note 6.

Feel free to send in a comment to the Joseph Smith Papers. I already have, but I don’t think they’re listening to me.

🙂

Very interesting paths for upcoming solar eclipses in 2017 and 2024.

Read about them here: http://thejoshuaaaronblog.com/total-solar-eclipse-coincidence

One of the biggest obstacles to reaching consensus is interpreting the text through Mesoamerican lenses. Along with volcanoes, headwaters, and tapirs, the claim that Mayan cities are described in the text is inexplicable.

There are only three verses in the text that mention cement, all in Helaman:

Helaman 3:7-11
7 And there being but little timber upon the face of the land, nevertheless the people who went forth became exceedingly expert in the working of cement; therefore they did build houses of cement, in the which they did dwell.

9 And the people who were in the land northward did dwell in tents, and in houses of cement, and they did suffer whatsoever tree should spring up upon the face of the land that it should grow up, that in time they might have timber to build their houses, yea, their cities, and their temples, and their synagogues, and their sanctuaries, and all manner of their buildings.

10 And it came to pass as timber was exceedingly scarce in the land northward, they did send forth much by the way of shipping.

11 And thus they did enable the people in the land northward that they might build many cities, both of wood and of cement.

There is not a single mention anywhere in the Book of Mormon of people constructing buildings with stones or rocks.

Even in these verses in Helaman, they built houses of cement. They needed timber, not stones, to build their “houses, yea, their cities, and their temples, and their synagogues, and their sanctuaries, and all manner of their buildings.” Even if large stones were available, they explicitly did not use them. Instead, they imported lumber before they built their cities.

So if we read the text, we should be looking for a culture that built with wood (timber), along with cement, but not with stone.

The last thing we would look for is something such as this:

Oddly, this photo illustrates KnoWhy #174 at Book of Mormon Central. The title is “When Did Cement Become Common in Ancient America?” The photo shows anything but a culture that built with wood and cement.

The article proceeds to discuss archaeological finds involving cement in Teotihuacan in central Mexico, “which some Book of Mormon scholars consider to be in the land northward.” Anyone who has visited Teotihuacan, as I have, knows these massive buildings were not made out of wood and cement, as the Book of Mormon says. They were constructed with stone and cement.

There is another mention of cement in connection with the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith described the box that contained the plates, which was originally constructed by Moroni:

“Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.”

Moroni knew how to fabricate and use cement when he was in New York (unless you want to believe he hauled cement 3,400 miles north from Mesoamerica along with the plates and other artifacts).

At Cahokia, across from St. Louis, archaeologists have reconstructed the wood and cement walls that were common anciently in that area. These particular walls date a few hundred years after Book of Mormon times, but they show the kind of construction the text describes: wood and cement.

The ancient people used the cement in these structures to fortify and protect the wood. This type of cement doesn’t last a long time. It didn’t survive even a thousand years, so it couldn’t have survived from even earlier Book of Mormon times. For that matter, could we reasonably expect any of the Nephite wooden structures to survive to this day?

As always, I think it’s more useful to read the text and then look for something in archaeology that matches instead of deciding on a setting and then changing the text to make it match.

Any culture that built with stone instead of with wood (and, for a short time in one location, cement) cannot be the culture described in the Book of Mormon.

Missionary work involves a variety of expectations, but here I’m focusing solely on the expectations raised by the missionary edition of the Book of Mormon.

Over the years, the official editions of the Book of Mormon have contained sets of illustrations. I have copies of many of these that I’ll use to make this important point: The expectations of missionaries, investigators and members are set largely by these illustrations.

The illustrations that accompany the official edition of the Book of Mormon are tremendously influential. I suspect that far more people look at the illustrations than read the text. Probably 100 times more.

Obviously, the message in the text is ultimately the most important, but unless people read the text,they don’t get the message. If the illustrations convey ideas that contradict the text (and Church history), then they cause confusion.

The fact that these illustrations have changed over the years shows that they can be changed again. At the end of this post, I have a suggestion along those lines.

The history of these illustrations reflects a shift from a hemispheric model (the one that Friberg apparently intended) to the limited geography two-Cumorah Mesoamerican model that modern scholars support. For example, notice that the earlier editions showed both Mormon and Moroni at the New York Cumorah, while the newer editions show only Moroni in New York.

I suggest it’s time to shift back to a one-Cumorah model, based on New York.
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I have a copy of a 1961 Book of Mormon that contains the following illustrations at the front of the book:

Caption: The Prophet Joseph Smith. He translated the ancient writings inscribed on gold plates from which the first edition of the Book of Mormon was published in 1830.

Caption: The Hill Cumorah, near Manchester, New York where Joseph Smith obtained the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated.

Caption: The beautiful monument to the Book of Mormon Prophet Moroni was erected on the top of the Hill Cumorah in July, 1935.

Caption: Gold tablet found in Persia in 1961, dating to the time of Darius II (Fourth Century B.C.)…

Caption: Ancient copper and bronze tools dated from the Book of Mormon period.

Caption: Gold plates from Peru fastened together with gold rings. Ancient Americans were skilled craftsmen in gold and precious metals.

Caption: Textiles from Peru, dated from the Book of Mormon period.

Caption: Egyptian-like murals found on temple walls in Mexico.

Caption: Looking across the main plaza of Monte Alban (sacred mountain). This city dates back to 800 years before Christ.

Caption: Temple of the Cross in Mexico. This temple, believed to have been erected during the Maya Classic Period, contains the famous Cross of Palenque. Many archaeologists now agree that these artistic masterpieces date back to the beginning of the Christian era.

In addition to these illustrations, eight of the twelve Arnold Friberg paintings are interspersed in the text.

The exact same set of illustrations are in the 1980 English edition I’m looking at right now.

[Note: I also have a 1973 Spanish edition that contains the same illustrations except it substitutes Machu Picchu for Monte Alban. I suspect the reason is to show a hemispheric model that would appeal to people in South America.

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The 1981 English edition changed the illustrations to what we have now, both in print and on lds.org here. This is the edition that added the subtitle “Another Testament of Jesus Christ” to the cover.

If I’m an investigator, missionary, or member, here’s what I take away from these illustrations. First, Christ is the most important (the first illustration) and the Heinrich Hoffman painting depicts the traditional Christ accepted by Christianity generally. Awesome.

Second, Joseph Smith. Makes sense.

Third, finding the Liahona in the Arabian desert. One of the best Friberg paintings, set in the right place, and emphasizing a key element of the text. Nice.

Fourth, arriving at the promised land. So long as I don’t realize that Friberg intentionally used a bird species that exists only in Central America, and so long as I don’t notice the high mountains in the background, the painting is ambiguous enough that he could have landed almost anywhere in the Americas. Okay.

Fifth, the waters of Mormon in the depths of a thick jungle featuring high mountains. Okay, now it’s inescapable. The Book of Mormon took place in Central America somewhere. Let’s say, not good because it conveys a specific setting based on the two-Cumorah theory.

Sixth, Samuel the Lamanite on the Mayan walls of the city of Zarahemla. No doubt about it. The Book of Mormon took place in Central America. Even more based on two-Cumorah theory.

Seventh, Jesus Christ visits the Americas by John Scott. This painting combines a variety of ancient American motifs to convey the idea (I think) that Christ visited people throughout the Americas. This is a reasonable inference from the text. (I like to think the clouds represent North America, but it would be far better to show something actually from North America, such as an earthwork, that is described in the text. Of course, the text never mentions pyramids, stone buildings, or even high mountains where the Nephites lived.) The biggest problem with including this illustration is the inference that Christ is visiting the Nephites in Central America. The painting is incorrectly labeled “Christ teaching Nephites” on lds.org, for example. If the webmaster at lds.org misunderstands the painting, surely investigators, missionaries, and members often make the wrong inference as well.

Eighth, Moroni burying the plates in New York. Awesome.
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My suggestion.

A member, missionary, or investigator who looks at the official edition of the Book of Mormon, online or in print, will naturally turn to these illustrations and take away the message that the Book of Mormon events occurred in Central America. There is really no other feasible conclusion to be drawn from the illustrations.

But the illustrations contradict the text itself in many ways.

The only certain connection we have between the Book of Mormon and the modern world is the Hill Cumorah. People who read the text should not be influenced by depictions of huge Mayan temples, massive stone walls, jungles, and the like. Artistic representations should rely on the text. Some of the Arnold Friberg paintings are set in places that conform to the text; i.e., Lehi in Arabia, brother of Jared on a high mountain, Mormon and Moroni on the New York Hill Cumorah. Others, however, have created expectations among members and nonmembers alike that simply cannot be reconciled with the text or satisfied in the real world.

The sooner they are replaced with text-based illustrations, the better.

Given the existing artwork, here’s what I would like to see in the way of Book of Mormon illustrations:

Awesome.

I’d like to go back to the emphasis on the Hill Cumorah in New York, both because of its central role in the restoration, and because of its importance in the text. This spot, in New York, is where the Nephite and Jaredite civilizations came to an end.

I’d like to see a quotation from Oliver Cowdery’s Letter VII here in the caption. After all, Oliver’s testimony as one of the three witnesses is already in the introductory material. Maybe instead of the statue, we could have a photo of the valley to the west where the final battles took place.

Keep this illustration of Lehi and the liahona because it is consistent with the text; i.e., a Middle-Eastern setting.

Add this one back because it’s an important story and shows the coast of the Arabian peninsula.

Add this one because it is important to show actual sheep instead of the species in Central America, although the tropical plants are still problematic.

Add this one back because of how important the story is and the setting, somewhere in Asia, doesn’t matter.

Add this one back because it shows both Mormon and Moroni at the Hill Cumorah in New York.

Keep this one because it shows Moroni burying the plates in New York in the stone and cement box he constructed, away from the repository of the Nephite records that his father Mormon concealed elsewhere in the hill.

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Illustrations that are consistent with the text can help encourage people to read the text and engage with it. Illustrations that are inconsistent with the text–i.e., illustrations of jungles and massive stone pyramids–are confusing and off-putting. When people discover that illustrations in the official editions rely on a variation of the two-Cumorah theory, it’s even worse. The various scholarly theories that the Hill Cumorah is actually anywhere but in New York, and that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were speculating about all of this, is hardly conducive to faith.

If we could have a consistent narrative based on the New York setting for the Hill Cumorah, the message of the text would be free from distractions, which would enhance understanding and faith. 

If you’ve been following these blogs, you undoubtedly know that most LDS people still have a vague notion that the Book of Mormon took place in Central America. They probably have never read BYU Studies, or books and articles published by Deseret Book, the Maxwell Institute, or the various organizations and web pages that promote the Mesoamerican theory.

So where does the notion come from?

It’s definitely not in the text.

But it is in LDS culture.

Mesoamerican imagery is ubiquitous in Church media, creating expectations and imprinting interpretations that last a lifetime.

Think about the impact the media has. Do kids growing up with these images have any chance of imagining the Book of Mormon in North America?

Historical narratives are created by words and images, but images usually prevail over words. Images are easier to remember, especially when they are viewed many times.

The Mesoamerican narrative is so strongly imprinted that even considering a different setting feels somehow disloyal to what one has been taught from childhood.

All of this artwork defies the New York setting for the Hill Cumorah. Many people don’t realize that because they haven’t thought about it and they don’t read what the LDS scholars write, but LDS scholars are adamant that the Hill Cumorah must be somewhere in southern Mexico.

Church authorities did not commission Arnold Friberg to illustrate the Book of Mormon. The work was privately funded and then donated to the Church. Apparently Church leaders at the time were reluctant to illustrate the text.

They probably knew that once a scene was depicted, it would become fixed in the minds of the people. And that is exactly what has happened.

I think the LDS scholars who continue to promote the Mesoamerican geography were deeply influenced at a young age and don’t even realize it.

In the context of Book of Mormon geography, images have framed the interpretation of the text for generations.
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Primary. 

Here’s an example of how children are taught to think of Samuel the Lamanite, the city of Zarahemla, and what Nephites looked like. In this puzzle from the Friend, children are asked to study this painting in detail, using a form of catechism.

“How many Nephites can you count on the stairs?”
“How many vases are hanging in the shop?”
“How many arrows are near Samuel?”

Every Primary child is taught from an early age that the city of Zarahemla was built of massive stone structures featuring Mayan motifs. The text says nothing of the sort. There is not a single building made from stone in the entire Book of Mormon. And yet, this illustration launches children on a course of expectations that stays with them their entire lives.
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Youth.

The lessons from Primary are reinforced over the years. Here’s a poster from the New Era that reiterates the message about the city of Zarahemla and the appearance of the Nephites.

This one is particularly ironic because the caption, with the title, reads:

Popularity. It’s overrated. Sometimes the crowed is just plain wrong.

Truer words could not be written about the scholarly approach to the Book of Mormon geography.
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Sunday School.

The Sunday School manual and student guide is explicitly Mayan.

Fortunately, the lessons don’t focus on geography, but the when the only illustration in the manual depicts a Mayan scene, the message is clear and unmistakable.

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Seminary

Here is the cover for the Book of Mormon Seminary Teacher Manual. It’s almost generic, but the massive stone pyramid in the background pays homage to the Friberg painting of the massive stone Mayan pyramid that is also featured in the logos of the scholarly organizations.

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Institute

The Institute manual is also explicitly Mayan with the temple structure and the jungle vegetation. No ambiguity here.

When Church-approved material depicts a consistent Mayan setting for the Book of Mormon from Primary through adulthood classes, what other conclusion can members reach?

Popular media

Because official publications feature Mayan themes, it is not surprising that private individuals pick up on that theme and expand it. Here are a couple of examples.

My First Book of Mormon Stories goes hand-in-hand with the Primary materials to imprint a Mayan setting in the minds of the children. Presumably the authors and publisher feel safe to depict the Book of Mormon this way because they’re basically replicating the ubiquitous Arnold Friberg painting.

The Tennis Shoes series has sold over a million copies and has influenced untold numbers of people.

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Of course, people can believe whatever they want. Artists can interpret the text however they want. But parents and teachers and Church leaders and missionaries and individuals need to be aware of the power of media in forming narratives.

It is far better to stick to the text than to rely on these images. In the text, there is not a single pyramid, stone building, or jungle animal or plant.

So why do artists continue to depict Mayan features in Book of Mormon art?