Knjiga Mormona
Knjiga Mormona je sveti tekst mormona. Prvi put je objavljena 1830. godine od strane Džozefa Smita, osnivača mormonizma. Prema Smitovim tvrdnjama, on je Mormonovu knjigu preveo sa zlatnih ploča, koje mu je 1827. godine uručio anđeo Moroni, dok je prema mišljenjima većine ne-mormonskih naučnika knjigu napisao sam Smit. Mormonova knjiga sadrži tekstove o jevrejsko-hrišćanskoj civilizaciji koja je od 600. pne. postojala na tlu Amerike i koja je u 5. veku posle Hrista uništena od strane paganskih američkih Indijanaca. Arheolozi nisu pronašli tragove postojanja ove civilizacije. Prema tvrdnjama iz Mormonove knjige, Isus Hrist se posle uskrsnuća pojavio na tlu Amerike, gde je propovedao pripadnicima ove civilizacije. Mormonova knjiga je objavljena i na srpskom jeziku od strane Crkve Isusa Hrista svetaca poslednjih dana (Mormonske crkve).
Arheolozi i istoričari su skeptični prema tvrdnjama iz Mormonove knjige. Kritike ove knjige su podeljene u četiri glavne grupe:
- Nepostojanje veze između lokacija opisanih u Mormonovoj knjizi i američkih arheoloških nalazišta.
- Pominjanje životinja, biljaka, metala i tehnologija u Mormonovoj knjizi za koje areholozi i istoričari nisu našli dokaza u pred-kolumbovskoj Americi. Stavke koje se često pominju su goveda, konji, magarci, volovi, ovce, svinje, koze, pšenica, čelik, mesing, lanci, gvožđe, scimitari i kočije.
- Nepostojanje ligvističke veze između bilo kog američkog domorodačkog jezika i bliskoistočnih jezika.[1]
- Nepostojanje DNK veze koja povezuje Indijace sa narodima drevnog Bliskog istoka. Tradicionalni stav Mormonove knjige tvrdi da su Indijanci potomci Izraelićana koji su migrirali oko 600. pne. Međutim, DNK ispitivanja ne pokazuju postojanje bliskoistočnih komponenti u genima Indijanaca[2]
Mormonova knjiga sadrži mnoge jezičke sličnosti sa Biblijom kralja Džejmsa. U nekim slučajevima, cele odlomci Biblije su ponovljeni u Mormonovoj knjizi. Ponekad je izvor potvrđeni, kao u Drugoj Nefijevoj knjizi, gde su citirano 18 poglavlja Knjige proroka Isaije.[3]
Većina mormona smatra Mormonovu knjigu istorisjki tačnim delom.[4] U okviru mormonskog pokreta postoje apologetske grupe koji pokušavaju da izmire razlike na različite načine. Najviše dela od ovih grupa su objavili Zadužbina za dnevna istraživanja i mormonske studije i Zadužbina za apologetsko informisanje i istraživanje, koje pokušavaju da predstave Mormonovu knjigu kao tačnu istoriju, boreći se protiv argumenata koji kritikuju njenu istorijsku autentičnost ili da pomire istorijske ili naučne činjenice sa tekstom knjige. Jedan od najčešćih skorašnjih argumenata je model ograničene geografije, koji pretpostavlja da su ljudi iz Mormonove knjige naseljavali samo ograničenu geografsku regiju bilo u Srednjoj Americi, Južnoj Americi ili oblasti Velikih jezera.
- ↑ Lyle Campbell. 1979. "Middle American languages," The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment. Ed. Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun. Austin: University of Texas Press. Pages 902-1000.
Lyle Campbell. 1997. American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford University Press.
Jorge Súarez. 1983. The Mesoamerican Indian Languages. Cambridge University Press. - ↑ Simon G. Southerton. 2004. Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church. Signature Books. The entire book is devoted to the specific topic of DNA evidence and the Book of Mormon." ...[T]he DNA lineages of Central America resemble those of other Native American tribes throughout the two continents. Over 99 percent of the lineages found among native groups from this region are clearly of Asian descent. Modern and ancient DNA samples tested from among the Maya generally fall into the major founding lineage classes... The Mayan Empire has been regarded by Mormons to be the closest to the people of the Book of Mormon because its people were literate and culturally sophisticated. However, leading New World anthropologists, including those specializing in the region, have found the Maya to be similarly related to Asians. Stephen L. Whittington...was not aware of any scientists 'in mainstream anthropology that are trying to prove a Hebrew origin of Native Americans... Archaeologists and physical anthropologists have not found any evidence of Hebrew origins for the people of North, South and Central America.'" (pg 191)
D. Andrew Merriwether. 2006. "Mitochondrial DNA," Handbook of North American Indians. Smithsonian Institution Press. Pg 817-830. "Kolman, Sambuughin, and Bermingham (1995) and Merriwether et al. (1996) used the presence of A, B, C, and D to argue for Mongolia as the location for the source population of the New World founders. More specifically perhaps, they argued that the present-day Mongolians and present-day Native Americans are both derived from the same ancestral population in Asia, presumably in the Mongolia-Southern Siberia-Lake Baikal region. T.G. Schurr and S.G. Sherry (2004) strongly favor a southern Siberian origin for the majority of lineages found in the New World." (pg 829)
Tatiana M. Karafet, Stephen L. Zegura, and Michael F. Hammer. 2006. "Y Chromosomes," Handbook of North American Indians. Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 831-839. "Zegura et al. (2004) have presented the following scenario for the early peopling of the Americas based on Y chromosome data: a migration of a single, polymorphic Asian population across Beringia with a potential common source for both North American founding lineages (Q and C) in the Altai Mountains of southwest Siberia. Since all their STR-based SNP lineage divergence dates between the Altai and North Asians versus Native Americans...ranged from 10,100 to 17,200 year ago, they favored a relatively late entry model." (pg. 839)
Defenders of the book's historical authenticity suggest that the Book of Mormon does not disallow for other groups of people to have contributed to the genetic make-up of Native Americans. Nevertheless, this is a departure from the traditional view that Israelites are the primary ancestors of Native Americans, and therefore would be expected to present some genetic evidence of Near Eastern origins. A recently announced change in the Book of Mormon's introduction, however, allows for a greater diversity of ancestry of Native Americans. See, for example, the following Deseret News article published on November 9, 2007: Intro Change in Book of Mormon Spurs Discussion - ↑ Tvedtnes, John A (1984), „Isaiah Variants in the Book of Mormon”, Featured Papers (Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute), arhivirano iz originala na datum 2007-04-08, pristupljeno 16. 4. 2007
- ↑ "The limited success so far in swaying popular LDS opinion is a constant source of frustration for Mormon apologists...It appears that Mormons are generally content to picture the Book of Mormon story in a setting that is factually wrong. For most Mormons, the limited geography models create more problems than they solve. They run counter to the dominant literal interpretation of the text and contradict popular folklore as well as the clear pronouncements of all church presidents since the time of Joseph Smith", Simon G. Southerton (2004, Signature Books), Losing a Lost Tribe, pp. 164-165.
"Some of the [Community of Christ]'s senior leadership consider the Book of Mormon to be inspired historical fiction. For leaders of the Utah church, this is still out of the question. [The leadership], and most Mormons, believe that the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon is what shores up Joseph Smith's prophetic calling and the divine authenticity of the Utah church", Southerton (2004), pg. 201.
Quotations from temple dedicatory sermons and prayers in Central and South America by President Gordon B. Hinckley in 1999-2000 continually refer to Native LDS members in attendance as "children of Lehi" (Southerton [2004], pp. 38-39).
"Latter-Day Saints believe their scripture to be history, written by ancient prophets...", Grant Hardy (2009, Yale University Press), "Introduction," The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, ed. Royal Skousen, pg. x.
