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In August of 2011, Mormon dissident John Dehlin interviewed mesoamarican scholar and non-Mormon Dr. Michael Coe about “Book of Mormon archaeology” on Dehlin’s podcast called “Mormon Stories.” In response, the Mormon mesoamerican scholar Dr. John Sorenson has drafted an open letter to Micahel Coe. It points out a variety of matters where Dr. Coe’s (and Dehlin’s) characterizations of both the discipline of Mesoamerican archaeology and the Book of Mormon account are either erroneous or greatly oversimplified. After quoting statements from the podcast, the “open letter” draws attention to technical literature that contradicts or modifies faulty claims, lest the errors be repeated. Instead of being a record that can be lightly dismissed, the Book of Mormon deserves to be studied with an open mind as a primary, if unconventional, source from an early Mesoamerican setting.

The full text of the letter can be found at fairlds.org.

The opinions expressed in this letter do not necessarily represent the views of the Church of Jesus Christ of Letter-day Saints, or of FAIR.

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In 1967, an ancient form of Hebrew poetry, called “chiasmus,” was discovered by a young Mormon missionary named John Welch, while he was serving in Germany. When Hugh Nibley learned of the discovery, he told Welch, “Young man, I think you have made the first significant discovery to come out of the BYU.” In this episode of Religion Today that originally aired on July 22, 2012, Martin Tanner talks with FARMS founder John Welch about what chiasmus is, how he discovered it in the Book of Mormon and some of the implications of that discovery.

Professor Welch is one of the presenters at the 2012 FAIR Conference. For more information about the conference, and to purchase tickets, go to FAIRlds.org.

John W. Welch is the Robert K. Thomas Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, where teaches courses on tax exempt organizations, ancient laws in the Bible and Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith and the law. He was educated at Brigham Young University with a B.A. in History and a M.A. in Classical Languages. He served a mission in South Germany (during which he discovered chiasmus in the Book of Mormon), studied Greek philosophy at Oxford University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, earned his law degree at Duke University, and practiced law in the Los Angeles firm of O’Melveny and Myers.

He is well known as the founder of FARMS (the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies) and since 1991 he has served as the editor-in-chief of BYU Studies Quarterly. He also was a Director of Special Projects for the BYU Religious Studies Center, the general editor of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, a member of the board of editors for Macmillan’s Encyclopedia of Mormonism, and on the steering committee of the Biblical Law Section of the Society of Biblical Literature.

A number of his recent publications presenting striking discoveries concerning Joseph Smith and the law, the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Trial of Jesus, King Benjamin’s speech, the Book of Mormon as a handbook of Church administration, and the nature and roles of evidence in law, science, and the nurturing of faith.

He is married to Jeannie Sutton. They have four children and sixteen grandchildren. He has served twice as bishop and also as counselor in a stake presidency.

This recording was used by permission of KSL Radio and does not necessarily represent the views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of FAIR.