Worthy of Another Look: The Historicity of the Book of Mormon

Abstract

WORTHY Of ANOTHER LOOK THE HISTORIcITY Of THE BOOK Of MORMON ELDER DALLIN H. OAKS This paper was originally presented 29 October 1993 at the annual dinner of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Provo, Utah, and was published in Historicity and the Latter-day Saint Scriptures, ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2001), 237–48. Some who term themselves believing Latterday Saints are advocating that Latter-day Saints should “abandon claims that [the Book of Mormon] is a historical record of the ancient peoples of the Americas.” 1 They are promoting the feasibility of reading and using the Book of Mormon as nothing more than a pious fiction with some valuable contents. These practitioners of so-called higher criticism raise the question of whether the Book of Mormon, which our prophets have put forward as the preeminent scripture of this dispensation, is fact or fable—history or just a story. The historicity—historical authenticity—of the Book of Mormon is an issue so fundamental that it rests first upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the first principle in this, as in all other matters. However, on the subject of the historicity of the Book of Mormon, there are many subsidiary issues that could each be the subject of a book. It is not my purpose to comment on any of these lesser issues, either those that are said to confirm the Book of Mormon or those that are said to disprove it. Those lesser issues are, however, worthy of attention. Elder Neal A. Maxwell quoted Austin Farrer’s explanation: “Though argument does not create conviction, the lack of it destroys belief. What 66 VOLUME 21 • NUMBER 1 • 2012 WORTHY Of ANOTHER LOOK