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Brant Anderson Gardner (born 1951) [1] is a Mormon apologist.
Gardner is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From 1971 to 1973, he served as a missionary for the church in the Spain Madrid Mission. [2]
Gardner received a B.A. in University Studies from Brigham Young University in 1975, and an M.A. in Anthropology from the State University of New York, Albany (SUNY) in 1978. [3] From 1978–80, Gardner continued at SUNY, completing all the course work, but not exams or a dissertation, [3] toward a Ph.D. in Mesoamerican ethnohistory. [4]
In Mesoamerican studies, Gardner has published on classical Nahuatl kinship terminology, ethnohistoric investigation of Coxoh in southern Mexico, and the Aztec Legend of the Suns. [4] He has published with the New World Archaeological Foundation and the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies. [3]
Professionally, Gardner has worked in software consulting [5] and product management. [4]
Gardner has published widely on the Book of Mormon and its possible geographical settings. He has often written for the FARMS Review of Books [5] and has presented in the conferences of the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) during 2000–4, and 2008. [6] In 2007 he presented on "DNA and the Book of Mormon" to the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum. [7]
Gardner is the author of Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon ( ISBN 1589580478), published by Greg Kofford Books in 2007. This six-volume commentary on the Book of Mormon focuses on its spiritual, theological, cultural, textual, and historical context. [8] For years much of this work was presented online as The Multi-dimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon, which Gardner further revised for publication and took offline.
The Book of Helaman is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon, a text held sacred by churches within the Latter Day Saint movement, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The book continues the history of the Nephites and the Lamanites from approximately 50 BC to 1 BC. It discusses political unrest among the Nephites and the formation of a group of secret dissenters called the Gadianton Robbers. Helaman, son of Helaman leads the Nephites for a time, and his sons Nephi and Lehi go on a successful mission to the Lamanites. When Nephi returns home, he correctly identifies the murderer of the chief judge using his prophetic powers, and sends a famine to the Nephite which lasts three years. After a digression from Mormon, the book of Helaman ends with Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy of the signs that will precede Christ's birth and death. Helaman deals with themes of external and internal conflict, hidden information, Nephite racism, and Mormon's views of history as deduced by his redaction of it.
The First Book of Nephi: His Reign and Ministry, usually referred to as First Nephi or 1 Nephi, is the first book of the Book of Mormon, the sacred text of churches within the Latter Day Saint Movement, and one of four books with the name Nephi. In First Nephi, the narrative attributes its authorship to Nephi and tells the story of his family's escape from Jerusalem prior to the exile to Babylon, struggle to survive in the wilderness, build a ship and sail to the "promised land," commonly interpreted by Mormons as the Americas. The book is composed of two intermingled genres; one a historical narrative describing the events and conversations that occurred and the other a recounting of visions, sermons, poetry, and doctrinal discourses as shared by either Nephi or Lehi to members of the family.
The Toltec culture was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. The later Aztec culture considered the Toltec to be their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tōllān as the epitome of civilization. In the Nahuatl language the word Tōltēkatl (singular) or Tōltēkah (plural) came to take on the meaning "artisan". The Aztec oral and pictographic tradition also described the history of the Toltec Empire, giving lists of rulers and their exploits.
Since the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, Mormon and non-Mormon archaeologists have used archaeological evidence to contextualize the narratives. While members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement believe it describes ancient historical events in the Americas, the available historical and archaeological facts point to the book being an anachronistic invention of Joseph Smith.
In the Book of Mormon, Laman and Lemuel are the two eldest sons of Lehi and the older brothers of Sam, Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph. According to the text, they lived around 600 BC. They were notable for their rebellion against Lehi and Nephi, becoming the primary antagonists of the First and Second Books of Nephi. Their descendants became known as the Lamanites and Lemuelites, while the descendants of Nephi and their other brothers became the Nephites. Disputes over the proper order of succession fueled disputes between the two peoples over the course of the Book of Mormon's narrative.
The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) was an informal collaboration of academics devoted to Latter-day Saint historical scholarship. The organization was established in 1979 as a non-profit organization by John. W. Welch. In 1997, the group became a formal part of Brigham Young University (BYU), which is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2006, the group became a formal part of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, formerly known as the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, BYU. FARMS has since been absorbed into the Maxwell Institute's Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies.
Sam is a minor character in the early part of the Book of Mormon narrative. He is the third son of Lehi and the older brother of Nephi, the narrator of the Book of Mormon's first two books. Sam is almost always allied with Nephi in conflicts with their older brothers, Laman and Lemuel. In the later books of the Book of Mormon, Sam's descendants are combined with Nephi's descendants and simply called "Nephites."
Laban is a figure in the First Book of Nephi, near the start of the Book of Mormon, a scripture of the Latter Day Saint movement. Although he only makes a brief appearance in the Book of Mormon, his brass plates play an important role when they are taken by Laman and Nephi and are used by the Nephites.
Thomas W. Murphy is an American anthropologist and writer. His work has focused on environmental issues and various topics related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Grant Hart Palmer spent thirty-four years in the LDS Church Education System, teaching institute and seminary, and served as a chaplain at the Salt Lake County jail for thirteen years. In 2002 Signature Books published Grant’s book, An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, in which Grant scrutinized many of Mormonism’s foundational stories. Grant went on to publish two additional books, The Incomparable Christ in 2005, and Restoring Christ: Leaving Mormon Jesus for Jesus of the Gospels.
Matthew B. Brown was a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) author and historian whose emphasis was on the history and doctrine of Joseph Smith and his successors through Brigham Young.
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. Relevant archaeological, historical, and scientific facts are not consistent with the Book of Mormon being an ancient record of actual historical events.
Todd Merlin Compton is an American historian in the fields of Mormon history and classics. Compton is a respected authority on the plural wives of the LDS Church founder, Joseph Smith.
Quetzalcoatl is a deity in Aztec culture and literature. Among the Aztecs, he was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood. He was one of several important gods in the Aztec pantheon, along with the gods Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli. The two other gods represented by the planet Venus are Tlaloc and Xolotl.
Boyd Jay Petersen is program coordinator for Mormon Studies at Utah Valley University (UVU) and teaches English and literature at UVU and Brigham Young University (BYU). He has also been a biographer of Hugh Nibley, a candidate for the Utah House of Representatives, and president of the Association for Mormon Letters. He was named editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought for the term 2016-2020.
Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement associated with the Book of Mormon, though not all churches and members of the Latter Day Saint movement identify with the terms Mormon or Mormonism. Denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by far the largest, as well as the Community of Christ (CoC) and other smaller groups, include some categorized under the umbrella term Mormon fundamentalism.
The John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) is an independent, nonprofit organization promoting study, research, and publishing about the history and culture of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is especially focused on the Community of Christ, other midwestern Restoration traditions, and early Mormonism. The Community of Christ's approach to its own history was influenced, in part, by historical problems raised and explored through JWHA publications and conferences, and those of its sister organization, the Mormon History Association. JWHA membership numbers around 400 and is open to all, fostering cooperation with LDS and non-Mormon scholars.
Kelli D. Potter is an American philosopher and associate professor of philosophy at Utah Valley University. Her areas of expertise include: philosophy of religion, Mormon studies, philosophy of gender, and philosophy of logic. Potter was a founding board member of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology and founding editor of Element: The Journal for the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology, serving from 2000–2002. Potter also served on the editorial board of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought from 1999–2003.
Brent Lee Metcalfe is an independent researcher and writer of the Latter Day Saint Movement.
The story of Coriantumr (/ˌkɒriˈæntəmər/) son of Omer, in the Book of Mormon, is that he is a Jaredite prince and one of three Coriantumrs also mentioned in the Book of Mormon. His account is found in chapter 8 of the Book of Ether. The account tells the story of how Coriantumr and his brother rescue their father, Omer, from captivity and restore the throne. They then show mercy toward the brother who brought Omer into captivity.