Per the Mormon Times, the Book of Mormon Archeological Forum is holding a conference on Saturday October 25 in Salt Lake City, uh, promoting the Limited Geography Hypothesis. It is interesting that if you Google "limited geography hypothesis" what you get is mostly Bloggernacle blogs. What does everyone else call it?
The BMAF home page promotes a travel tour to "Book of Mormon lands" ... not that there's anything wrong with that. I looked carefully but did not find BMAF energy drinks or diet bars advertised at the site.
Anyone who has attended a previous BMAF conference is welcome to leave comments. A critic would say they are just assembling evidence in favor of a desired conclusion (Mesoamerica as the site of Book of Mormon events) in the context of an unquestioned conviction (that there are Book of Mormon sites to be found, it's just a matter of finding the evidence). Proponents would say they are just following the evidence.
By odd coincidence, I just ran across my copy of Sorenson's book in a box in my garage. I read fifty pages about twenty years ago and just gave up. I guess I should give it another shot.
I found, and still find that Sorenson's book is still worth reading and yes I think you should try it again. The best aspect of the book or perhaps 'set of themes' is that he really does try to read exactly what is IN the Book of Mormon text and think of what that would mean in geographical terms. You do get the clear picture for example that all of the warfare was done on foot with infantry strategy and tactics.
I don't think you have to take his particular "solution" to his "abstract" definition of the geographical features of the Book of Mormon. I find it less than convincing but it is a good starting point.
What I think it clearly does is make a limited geography by far the best hypothesis to work on and test.
Posted by: Bill A | Oct 15, 2008 at 08:35 PM
Other names I see are:
Limited geography theory
Limited geography model
Limited Mesoamerican geography
Limited Mesoamerican model
Posted by: Justin | Oct 16, 2008 at 08:53 AM