Responses to the Book of Mormon
For years we have heard from the missionaries that the Smithsonian Institute and National Geographic have both corroborated the historicity of the Book of Mormon. I’ve been told by countless missionaries that all I had to do was contact them for the information so that is what I did via e-mail. The following are their responses to my inquiry.
9/10/2004 Dear Sir or Madam;
Sincerely, Michelle Grim Life After Ministries
10/27/2004 Dear Michelle Grim: Thank you for contacting the National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Society has not examined the historical claims of the Book of Mormon. We know of no archaeological evidence that corroborates the ancient history of the The Book of Mormon is clearly a work of great spiritual power; millions have read and revered its words, first published by Joseph Smith in 1830. Yet Smith’s narration is not generally taken as a scientific source for the history of the In fact, students of prehistoric (Lower sea levels during ice ages exposed the continental shelf beneath
I hope this information proves helpful. Sincerely, Lisa Research Correspondence
Dear Sir or Madam; I am looking for information from the Smithsonian Institue that will help me verify that you do/do not have anthropological evidence that there was a large civilization that supposedly existed in the Sincerely, Michelle Grim Life After Ministries
This letter from the Smithsonian’s Department of Anthropology is in response to your inquiry regarding the Book of Mormon. The Smithsonian considers the Book of Mormon a religious document and not a scientific guide. The Smithsonian Institution has never used it in archaeological research and has found no archaeological evidence to support its claims. You might wish to consult the following publications: Coe, Michael D. and Rex Koontz.
Coe, Michael D. The Maya. 6th fully rev. ed. Thames & Coe, Michael D. and Richard A. Diehl. In the Land of the Olmecs. 2 vols. Fagan, Brian. Ancient
Kingdoms of Gold, Kingdoms of Jade: The Americas Before Columbus. Thames & Hudson, 1991. Freidel, David, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker. Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand years on the Shaman’s Path. 1st Quill ed. William Morrow & Co., 1995. Hammond, Hunter, Milton R. and Thomas S. Ferguson. Ancient Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Jeremy A. Sabloff. Ancient Civilizations; The Near East and Larson, Stan. Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson’s Archaeological Search for The Book of Mormon. Freethinker Press, 1996. Marcus, Joyce. Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation. Riley, Carroll L. et al., editors. Man Across the Sea: Problems of Pre-Columbian Contacts. Sabloff, Jeremy A. The New Archaeology and the Ancient Maya. Scientific American Library, 1994. Sabloff, Schele, Linda, and David Freidel. A Schele, Linda. The Inscription on Stela 5 and Its Altar. Copán Mosaics Project, 1987.
Wauchope, Robert. Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents. Williams, Stephen. Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory. Thank you for your interest in the Smithsonian Institution. Department of Anthropology Smithsonian Institution 2004
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