Mesomania originated with a mistake in LDS Church history and then progressed through a series of logical fallacies driven by confirmation bias.
Mesomania continues to infect Church members today because a few intellectuals in the Church try to keep the M2C viable (M2C is the acronym for Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory).
Let's look back on one of the M2C classics: Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited. You can read it here:
https://publications.mi.byu.edu/book/book-of-mormon-authorship-revisited-the-evidence-for-ancient-origins/
The editor, Noel Reynolds, is one of the M2C promoters who doesn't want people to even know what the prophets have taught about the Hill Cumorah in New York. He's on the Executive Board of "The Interpreter Foundation."
http://interpreterfoundation.org/foundation/
This is the outfit that publishes the Interpreter, the aptly named "journal" that purports to tell Mormons how to interpret the scriptures and all things Mormon.
Except they have a rigid editorial policy that prohibits publications of any articles or comments that contradict the Interpreter's interpretation.
The Interpreter is the premiere example of scholars vs. prophets, and Brother Reynolds is one of the most determined scholars who teaches that the prophets were wrong about the New York Cumorah.
Whenever you read something published by the Interpreter, keep in mind 2 Peter 1:20:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
_____
Here is Brother Reynolds' introduction to his book (my comments in red):
https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1099&index=1
The extensive parallels between these different writings indicate strongly that the Book of Mormon fits nicely into the cultural context of ancient Mesoamerican books. Because Joseph Smith knew nothing about ancient Mesoamerican books, it is hard to see how he could have come up with such a match.
The "match" consists of redefining the terms in the text to fit Mesoamerica to confirm the biases of these scholars. Now, "head of Sidon" means "headwaters of Sidon." A "tower" is a "massive stone pyramid." Building with "wood and cement" is building with "stone and cement," etc.What these scholars have really done is find a few Mayan traits common to most human societies and retroactively imposed them upon the text.
Like his associates in the early Church, Joseph assumed that the Book of Mormon peoples had probably covered the entire Western Hemisphere and that all Indians were Lamanite descendants.
This claim cleverly conflates the Nephites and Jaredites. With respect to the Nephites, Brother Reynolds' assertion flat out contradicts what Joseph actually taught. E.g., in the Wentworth letter, Joseph deleted the hemispheric model described by Orson Pratt and replaced it with the declaration that the remnant of Lehi are "the Indians who live in this country." With respect to the Jaredites, Joseph was not as specific, but the text itself suggests they came from Asia and spread throughout the hemisphere--which is what modern DNA science is telling us. They were not limited to a small area of Mesoamerica.
Only in the last few decades has it become clear that the Book of Mormon narrative describes Nephite and Lamanite homelands that were confined to a few hundred miles in diameter during the entire thousand-year history.
It is "clear" in the minds of the M2C scholars, who insist the prophets are wrong about the New York Cumorah. To the rest of us, it is clear that these scholars think they know more than the prophets.
These and numerous other textual details escaped both translators and readers of the Book of Mormon for a hundred years. The book describes a cultural context not unlike that in ancient Mesoamerica but which is quite different from what Joseph and his contemporaries understood or expected.
Except Joseph recognized the plains of the Nephites and their mounds when he crossed Ohio, Indiana and Illinois for the first time during Zion's camp. The text describes Hopewell culture very well.
This clearly undercuts any theory that would attribute authorship of the Book of Mormon to Joseph or his associates.
This sentence explains why these scholars developed and continue to promote M2C. They think that putting the Book of Mormon in Mesoamerica is evidence that Joseph didn't write the text. But the same is true of the North American setting, with the added benefit that the North American setting does not involve the rejection of the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah.
_____
Here is Brother John L. Sorenson's explanation of his theory, where he claims it is a fact that Mesoamerica is the setting for Nephite history.
https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1099&index=1
What may startle some about this situation is that most of what Joseph Smith said or implied about geography indicates that he did not understand or was ambiguous about the fact, as it turns out, that Mesoamerica was the particular setting for Nephite history.
Until he encountered the Stephens’s book, Joseph gave no hint that he was aware that such a limited area with a distinctive civilized culture even existed in the Americas. Even with Stephens’s material in mind, he made no more than a passing attempt to relate the Book of Mormon’s story to the newly-found ruins. And in the long run, the little blip on the Latter-day Saints’ mental screen caused by the explorer’s book faded as the mistaken folk view reasserted its dominance.
Here, Brother Sorenson characterizes the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah as a "mistaken folk view." This degree of derision for the prophets definitely "may startle some" members of the Church who accept what the prophets teach.
Mesomania continues to infect Church members today because a few intellectuals in the Church try to keep the M2C viable (M2C is the acronym for Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory).
https://publications.mi.byu.edu/book/book-of-mormon-authorship-revisited-the-evidence-for-ancient-origins/
The editor, Noel Reynolds, is one of the M2C promoters who doesn't want people to even know what the prophets have taught about the Hill Cumorah in New York. He's on the Executive Board of "The Interpreter Foundation."
http://interpreterfoundation.org/foundation/
This is the outfit that publishes the Interpreter, the aptly named "journal" that purports to tell Mormons how to interpret the scriptures and all things Mormon.
Except they have a rigid editorial policy that prohibits publications of any articles or comments that contradict the Interpreter's interpretation.
 |
| Paperback edition |
Whenever you read something published by the Interpreter, keep in mind 2 Peter 1:20:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
_____
Here is Brother Reynolds' introduction to his book (my comments in red):
https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1099&index=1
The extensive parallels between these different writings indicate strongly that the Book of Mormon fits nicely into the cultural context of ancient Mesoamerican books. Because Joseph Smith knew nothing about ancient Mesoamerican books, it is hard to see how he could have come up with such a match.
The "match" consists of redefining the terms in the text to fit Mesoamerica to confirm the biases of these scholars. Now, "head of Sidon" means "headwaters of Sidon." A "tower" is a "massive stone pyramid." Building with "wood and cement" is building with "stone and cement," etc.What these scholars have really done is find a few Mayan traits common to most human societies and retroactively imposed them upon the text.
Like his associates in the early Church, Joseph assumed that the Book of Mormon peoples had probably covered the entire Western Hemisphere and that all Indians were Lamanite descendants.
This claim cleverly conflates the Nephites and Jaredites. With respect to the Nephites, Brother Reynolds' assertion flat out contradicts what Joseph actually taught. E.g., in the Wentworth letter, Joseph deleted the hemispheric model described by Orson Pratt and replaced it with the declaration that the remnant of Lehi are "the Indians who live in this country." With respect to the Jaredites, Joseph was not as specific, but the text itself suggests they came from Asia and spread throughout the hemisphere--which is what modern DNA science is telling us. They were not limited to a small area of Mesoamerica.
Only in the last few decades has it become clear that the Book of Mormon narrative describes Nephite and Lamanite homelands that were confined to a few hundred miles in diameter during the entire thousand-year history.
It is "clear" in the minds of the M2C scholars, who insist the prophets are wrong about the New York Cumorah. To the rest of us, it is clear that these scholars think they know more than the prophets.
These and numerous other textual details escaped both translators and readers of the Book of Mormon for a hundred years. The book describes a cultural context not unlike that in ancient Mesoamerica but which is quite different from what Joseph and his contemporaries understood or expected.
Except Joseph recognized the plains of the Nephites and their mounds when he crossed Ohio, Indiana and Illinois for the first time during Zion's camp. The text describes Hopewell culture very well.
This clearly undercuts any theory that would attribute authorship of the Book of Mormon to Joseph or his associates.
This sentence explains why these scholars developed and continue to promote M2C. They think that putting the Book of Mormon in Mesoamerica is evidence that Joseph didn't write the text. But the same is true of the North American setting, with the added benefit that the North American setting does not involve the rejection of the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah.
_____
Here is Brother John L. Sorenson's explanation of his theory, where he claims it is a fact that Mesoamerica is the setting for Nephite history.
https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1099&index=1
What may startle some about this situation is that most of what Joseph Smith said or implied about geography indicates that he did not understand or was ambiguous about the fact, as it turns out, that Mesoamerica was the particular setting for Nephite history.
Until he encountered the Stephens’s book, Joseph gave no hint that he was aware that such a limited area with a distinctive civilized culture even existed in the Americas. Even with Stephens’s material in mind, he made no more than a passing attempt to relate the Book of Mormon’s story to the newly-found ruins. And in the long run, the little blip on the Latter-day Saints’ mental screen caused by the explorer’s book faded as the mistaken folk view reasserted its dominance.
Here, Brother Sorenson characterizes the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah as a "mistaken folk view." This degree of derision for the prophets definitely "may startle some" members of the Church who accept what the prophets teach.
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