Jenkins 20: It’s all Coincidence

Last updated on: July 17, 2015 at 12:13 pm by William Hamblin

Jenkins 20: It’s all Coincidence 2015-07-17T12:13:54-07:00 William Hamblin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/enigmaticmirror/2015/07/08/hamblin-27-the-entrada-of-ad-378/

So there’s lots of wars described in the Book of Mormon in the 360s/370s, and lots in real world Maya history around the same time. This would be an impressive match or correlation if the Maya were a peaceful bunch whose lives were seldom rocked by wars and invasions, which would not be the case. They had war after war, invasion after invasion, and dynasties changed and fell frequently. It would be hard to point to a twenty or thirty year period without being able to select some tumult or dramatic violence somewhere.

I am on less secure ground when talking about the Book of Mormon, but my impression is that we have plenty of wars and struggles recorded there, over the centuries. So there’d be plenty of opportunities to chose from there as well.

It would be truly odd if the two sets of records did not enjoy a vague correspondence or correlation somewhere along the way.

I am struck by the way that you not only accept the Book of Mormon’s record, but even the dates that are given. Boy, such precision is going to make any case you may present massively harder to prove, and raises the bar of proof enormously, especially given the accuracy of most Maya datings. Rather you than me!

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/enigmaticmirror/2015/07/08/hamblin-28-homophony-and-proper-names/

I see nothing here that demands or merits a response.

What you are basically saying is that some Mayan names could, conceivably, recall versions of Book of Mormon names, and/or vice versa. There are a huge number of ifs and buts, as you correctly and modestly recognize. As you say,

“Nonetheless, some interesting results occur–more than I think we should expect from random chance homophony. … Admittedly many of these suggestions are speculative. But the fact that BOM names contain plausible Maya components–some of which actually make sense out of otherwise apparently random sounds–means the BOM broadly fits the very limited and ambiguous Maya name data we have for the early Classic period.”

I see nothing that goes beyond random choice homophony.

Actually, I think that what you have here fits exactly what Neal Rappleye was writing about in his sage remarks about Sorenson’s book Mormon’s Codex

“I will say that some of the “correspondences” here are fairly weak, some being more just comparisons than anything else (any two things can be compared, whether they are related or not).”

Indeed.

So you no longer attempting even to offer credible objective evidence to prove any aspect of the Book of Mormon?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 17, 2015

Hamblin 31: I am not a Post-Modernist

Next Post

July 17, 2015 Jenkins 21: The Empirical Past?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ancient Studies Atheism Bible bibliography Book of Abraham Book of Mormon Book of Moses Christianity Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Deseret News Column Doctrine and Covenants Documentary Hypothesis Genesis Haram al-Sharif Historicity History Islam Israelite Religion Judaism LDS Mormon Studies Mormonism Mormons Movies Noah Penteteuch Photography Religion Temple Temple Mount Temples Third Temple Movements Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 October 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What year was the first complete English Bible printed?

Select your answer to see how you score.

1450 1535 1382 1611