Posts
I’ve been asked occasionally about the Heartlander theory of
Book of Mormon geography. I’m stumped by this answer, not because I’m
unfamiliar with their research, but because I’m so familiar with it that I
categorically reject that line of thinking. My first encounter with the
Heartlanders was at the Mormon History Association conference in St. George
around 2012. I talked to the representative of their press and when I disagreed
with their geography I suddenly felt like a mongoose trapped in the corner
by a chatty cobra. My short answer to these questions is that their scholarship
is cringe worthy poor, their most frequent tactic is to criticize the faith of
their opponents, and they should be avoided. Here are a few links that explain
that summary.
Historian Ardis Parshall visited the FIRM Foundation Conference
led by Rodney Meldrum. She provides good
summaries of the presentations but an even better explanation of why they miss
the mark and resemble conspiracists more than sincere believers or researchers.
Poor
Book of Mormon Scholarship:
One of the most erudite people I know, Stephen Smoot,
provides an 8 part review of the Annotated Book of Mormon. It’s a shoddy work
that consists of rampant errors, abuse of historical sources and DNA, reliance
on forgeries, and unsubstantiated claims.
Brant Gardner, one of the leading scholars on the Book of Mormon reviewed
two more books here. I like this review because it provides
detailed pictures and analysis about why key pieces of evidence are forgeries.
This one is longer, but its needed to show Rodeny Meldrum’s
DNA evidence is really snake oil and strained proof texting.
Personal Behavior and Apostasy:
By making these claims so iron clad, they are making their
own faith brittle, while at the same time clubbing those who disagree with
them. This post
explains why their obsession will lead them out of the church. This series
of posts explain why their geography theories are often no better, and many
times worse, than what they peddle.
I could do many more posts about their atrocious behavior
where their favorite tactic is misreading a source, making it binding doctrine
(against the official
church position) and then questioning the faithfulness of those that
disagree. They’ve strapped Joseph Smith
to the hood of their demolition cars so often their logo should be a Mad Max
car. Now you have a few resources that should help rigorously examine their
often too good to be true claims.
2 comments:
I wasn't aware of this work, but it's weird and the claims to a scientific basis are exceptionally brittle (or just manufactured). This stripe of person emerges from time to time and then just vanishes from the scene. They usually self-destruct.
Yes indeed. I'm glad this and other models exist, they are what drove me to investigate and conclude the likelihood of the Mesoamerican model, based not only on the evidence and arguments but also on the proponents of those arguments, both in number and in credentials.
Like you I've seen that the real problem with the Heartland movement is not their scholarly arguments (weak as they are) but the attitudes of self-righteousness and belief that they've found the true and living model and that all other models are false. This makes it impossible to have a healthy debate because all others are seen as opposing divine truth (based on their interpretations of scripture).
The unfortunate hypocrisy is that they appeal to prophetic authority (again based on their own interpretations of scripture, quotes of Joseph Smith, historical documents, etc) but end up having to reject the authority of current leadership when it says the geography has not been determined by revelation. Yeah, nowhere to go after that except out of the Church, and that makes me sad.
Post a Comment