Historicity of the Book of Mormon: Difference between revisions

The '''historicity of the Book of Mormon''' is the historical actuality of persons and events that are written in it, meaning the quality of it being part of [[history]] instead of being a historical [[myth]], [[legend]], or [[fiction]]. Many members of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]] believe that the [[Book of Mormon]] is historically accurate. Most, but not all, Latter Day Saints hold the book's connection to ancient American history as an article of their faith. This view finds no confirmation outside of the movement in the broader scientific and academic communities.<ref name="Duffy 2004 37">{{Harvnb|Duffy|2004|p=37}}</ref><ref>Simon G. Southerton. 2004. ''Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books).</ref> Relevant archaeological, historical, and scientific facts are not consistent with the Book of Mormon being an ancient record of actual historical events.{{sfn|Southerton|2004|p=xv|ps=. "Anthropologists and archaeologists, including some Mormons and former Mormons, have discovered little to support the existence of [Book of Mormon] civilizations. Over a period of 150 years, as scholars have seriously studied Native American cultures and prehistory, evidence of a Christian civilization in the Americas has eluded the specialists... These [Mesoamerican] cultures lack any trace of Hebrew or Egyptian writing, metallurgy, or the Old World domesticated animals and plants described in the Book of Mormon."}}<ref name=":16">{{Cite journal|last=Coe|first=Michael D.|date=Summer 1973|title=Mormons and Archaeology: An Outside View|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/mormons-and-archaeology-an-outside-view/|journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]]|volume=8|issue=2|pages=41–48|doi=10.2307/45224400 |jstor=45224400 |s2cid=254386666 |doi-access=free}}</ref>