| Part of a series on the |
| Book of Mormon |
|---|
 |
The historicity of the Book of Mormon is the historical actuality of persons and events that are written in it, meaning the quality of it being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. Most, but not all, Latter Day Saints hold the book's connection to ancient American history as an article of their faith. This view finds no confirmation outside of the movement in the broader scientific and academic communities.[1][2] Relevant archaeological, historical, and scientific facts are not consistent with the Book of Mormon being an ancient record of actual historical events.[3][4]
Mormon apologists have proposed multiple explanations for apparent inconsistencies with the archaeological, genetic, linguistic and other records. These do not have currency with general academic communities of archaeology, history, or science.
- ^ Duffy 2004, p. 37
- ^ Simon G. Southerton. 2004. Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Salt Lake City: Signature Books).
- ^ Southerton 2004, p. xv. "Anthropologists and archaeologists, including some Mormons and former Mormons, have discovered little to support the existence of [Book of Mormon] civilizations. Over a period of 150 years, as scholars have seriously studied Native American cultures and prehistory, evidence of a Christian civilization in the Americas has eluded the specialists... These [Mesoamerican] cultures lack any trace of Hebrew or Egyptian writing, metallurgy, or the Old World domesticated animals and plants described in the Book of Mormon."
- ^ Coe, Michael D. (Summer 1973). "Mormons and Archaeology: An Outside View". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 8 (2): 41–48. doi:10.2307/45224400. JSTOR 45224400. S2CID 254386666.