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A great deal has been written about
the war chapters. This includes spiritual principles, and a sequential listing
and analysis of events within the narrative.
I think many of these accounts are good but sometimes miss the forest
from the trees. What follows would be a few of ways I approach the study of the
war chapters as whole. This study uses
specific details, but doesn’t get bogged down in a meticulous campaign
narrative. And it starts to see how the entire block signifies larger issues
and connects to what happened before and after it.
This examination assumes that
readers are well aware of spiritual insights within the text. It takes an
explicitly academic approach to add vital depth, nuance, and context to the
account that we read. Reading the Book
of Mormon for the first time after graduate school was like changing from a
black and white television to color and I hope to share those insights with
you.
To illustrate this principle I
might look at the chapter of my new book (yes that still exists) called “TheUndissected War.” It looks at the major reforms of Moroni and asks how they might have changed
Nephite society and led to a rapacious government, high taxes, and
insurgency. This is an example of how
one set of chapters tends to be studied in a vacuum, without asking how it
might look as a cohesive whole, and as something that is connected to what
happened before and after it. [1]
To start the study here I would
look at three models for looking at why the war started. The first is the anthropological model for
warfare. John Sorenson first suggested
this model and it’s rather popular for, naturally, anthropologists.[2]
It posits that increasing population
leads to intense competition for resources within and among societies. They forcefully compete for resources like
farm land, trade routes, or to avoid famine.
This model tends to downplay personal factors like great people (see
below), in favor of inexorable social factors.
To use a modern example, these would be people who argue that the long
term trends of the Soviet Union would have led to its eventual collapse because
they were failing to compete internationally and ruinous domestic policies.
Examples of this model would
include that many verses that refer to Nephite population growth (Alma 50:18; 62:48,
51), their increased wealth (Alma 4:6, 8; 45:24; 62:49), the Lamanite desire to
plunder (Alma 17:14), and the expanding settlements (Alma 49: 3; 50:13-15; 63:4). These events point towards an increasing
population, expanded wealth, and the competition among the Nephites and
Lamanites for it. A more detailed example is that of the Zoramites. I discuss
this in my first book, how the Zoramite elites wanted to flaunt their wealth
and increased status within society (Alma 31:28.) But this clashed with the egalitarian
nature of Nephite kingship (Alma 31: 4, 19, 24.) This contrasted a great deal with
King Benjamin who emphasized how he farmed with his own hands and the humility
of serving one another (Mosiah 2:14, 26.)This compares with the Mesoamerican
system that emphasized wealth and equated it with power during this period.[3]
The second model is based on
interstate competition. Thucydides
account of the Peloponnesian war is the classic tale of interstate rivalries.
After leading the Greeks to victory Athens and Sparta split and started to
compete for leadership of Greece. Athens
started in the much more dominant positions. But the Spartans were powerful as
well and they continued to vie for influence in Greece. This competition for
leadership in the political sphere led to armed competition as Athens tried to
maintain its preeminent status and deny Sparta any more strength.
The modern example for this would be
the rise of Germany before World War I. Britain had ruled the waves over an
empire where the sun never set. But Germany began a rapid buildup, repeatedly
created international crisis through the belligerent use of force, and expanded
their navy. This growing threat created
things like the alliance system and strict mobilization tables that set up what
Henry Kissinger called a doomsday machine.[4] Henry Kissinger would say that the British
sphere of influence was being threatened by the expanding German sphere which
created conflict.
The evidence in the Book of Mormon
is somewhat similar to the anthropological factors, but would look more at
politically inspired events. The shift
of the Zoramites into the Lamanite sphere of influence (Alma 31:4; 43:4), the
shift of the Anti Nephi Lehis into the Nephite sphere of influence (Alma
27:22-23), the expansion of the Nephites into the wilderness after expelling
the Lamanites, the quick strike at Ammonihah (a city that only tacitly acknowledge
Nephite rule, Alma 49: 6) in order to bolster Lamanite claims to Kingship (keep
in mind that was the first city they attacked several times) point to the geo
political factors of expanding and contracting spheres that cause
conflict. This happens in particular
during times of rapid growth or decay of one power against another. (Think of
the common phrase: power abhors a vacuum.)
The third model is the great person
concept of history. In classical history this would be closely related to
people like Caesar and Alexander the Great who, through force of will, marched
across the world, won many important victories, changed governments, and
altered the thousand year history of their people respectively through
Hellenization or ending the Roman Republic.
To use the modern example, in contrast to the argument that the Soviet
Union would inevitably collapse under the weight of communism and their
military adventures, the great person model stressed people like Ronald Reagan,
John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher and Gorbachev. They collectively change their
countries through their force of will and policies such as the Star Wars initiative,
Perestroika and Glasnost, and the Solidarity Movement.
This model is fairly obvious to see
within the Book of Mormon. Moroni and
dissenters like Amalickiah dominate the text. The latter’s rebellion instigated
the long conflict. He erected tours to inspire the people to war (Alma 48:1) and
overcome significant resistance to implement his plan (Alma 47:2.) Moroni had to pull down the pride and
nobility of many within his own society as well (Alma 51:15-21). And the text explicitly
states how arch dissenters placed fellow dissidents in leadership due to their animosity
towards the Nephites (Alma 43:6-7).
This post presented several models
to help readers better understand the war chapters and the causes of war within
the text. The anthropological model emphasizes the competition for scarce resources
among different groups, and the conflict in how to consume and display wealth
within society. In spiritual terms it
helps readers understand the natural man and the tendency towards satisfying
wants in dangerous and violent ways. The
competition model can help readers understand the swirling eddies are local and
international politics, the way that states can be sucked into war, and the
dangers or even possible benefits of interstate competition. And the great person dynamic takes out rather
large accounts involving thousands of people and cataclysmic battles to offer
respective inspiring tales about the power a strong righteous person can make (Alma
48:17), or a cautionary tale of the influence of one bad man (Alma 46:9.)
The next section will examine more
useful models and ideas concerning Nephite conduct within the war. Among other things it includes a brief
summary of the Nephite experience in battle, the home front model, and use of
selected military theorists to act as judges of Moroni’s strategy. (If you don't like to chase links, you can find the third section here.)
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[1]
History is sometimes maligned as insufficiently grand to study the Book of
Mormon. But I can’t think of anything more powerful, not even esoteric
philosophy, that compares to a sound understanding of multifaceted causes and
effects of complex events like the most dense and detailed narrative within the
Book of Mormon.
[2] In
a more detailed and formal paper I would provide a source. I would also
summarize his ideas more extensively and offer a judicious assessment. But
these are rather detailed notes and not a formal paper so I haven’t done that yet.
[3]
Chapter 3, “They Fought on Both Hands with Exceeding Fury,” in Bleached Bones and Wicked Serpents: Ancient
Warfare in the Book of Mormon (Ebookit Press, 2014).
[4] Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.)
