Is the Book of Mormon Historically Accurate? Examining Archaeological & Textual Evidence

LDS Perspective

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms that the Book of Mormon is an authentic ancient record. It is "another witness of Jesus Christ" that documents "the lives of the inhabitants of the ancient Americas." It was written by ancient prophets "by the spirit of prophecy and revelation," abridged by the prophet-historian Mormon on gold plates, and translated by Joseph Smith "by the gift and power of God." The title page itself declares that it is "written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation," and Joseph Smith taught that it was "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion" (Introduction to the Book of Mormon). Its historicity is therefore not incidental to the Church's claims. It is foundational. The physical

Historical Perspective

The mainstream scholarly consensus in archaeology, anthropology, genetics, linguistics, and biblical studies is that the Book of Mormon is not a historical record of ancient America. The text, first published in Palmyra, New York in 1830, presents itself as an abridged history of two migrations: the Jaredites from the Tower of Babel, and Lehi's family from Jerusalem around 600 BC. Joseph Smith's own "Wentworth Letter" (1842) described it as "the history of ancient America" and identified the remnant of these peoples as "the Indians that now inhabit this country." As the Dialogue Journal's treatment of the issue notes, traditionalist LDS apologetics hold that the book is true only if its personalities and events were objectively real (Robert Millet's formulation), which makes the evidentiar