Item Detail
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27354
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4
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0
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English
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Joseph Smith, Central American Ruins, and the Book of Mormon
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Approaching Antiquity : Joseph Smith and the Ancient World
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Provo, UT
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Religious Studies Center, BYU
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141-162
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In 1841 and 1844, John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood published volumes on their travels through central America. Joseph Smith and his followers accepted these books as evidence of the historicity of the Book of Mormon. For example, early Latter Day Saints argued that the ruins described in these books revealed a civilization much more complex than popular opinion and more in line with descriptions of peoples in the Book of Mormon. This chapter also examines how these volumes influenced how Mormons viewed the Book of Mormon.