Book of Mormon geography/Models/Limited/Curtis 1988

From FAIRMormon

Model Name	Date Proposed	Scope	Narrow Neck	Land North	Land South	Cumorah	River Sidon	Nephi's Landing	Religion	Type of model
Curtis 1988	1988	HGT	Unclear	Unclear	Other	New York	Unclear	Unclear	LDS	External	edit

Curtis places most of the Nephite lands in southern Ontario and western New York. He considers the Book of Mormon "seas" to be three of the Great Lakes: Lakes Erie, Huron, and Ontario.^[1]

Problems with Curtis model pointed out by reviewers include:

• Curtis believes that the snow and cold of his setting are appropriate for the Book of Mormon; reviewers have pointed to an absence of such terms and the evidence suggesting a more tropical locale
• the New York "Cumorah" propsed by Curtis only matches, at most, four of the thirteen criteria established by Palmer (See here.)
• the fifteen cultural aspects of Nephite/Lamanite life identified by Palmer (see here) are all found in Mesoamerica; none are found in the New York/Ontario locale proposed by Curtis.
• Book of Mormon evidence is consistent with volcanic activity; this would be prevalent in Mesoamerica (located at a nexus of tectonic plates) but not in Ontario/New York.^[2]

Endnotes

1. [back]  See Sorenson's discussion in John L. Sorenson, "Viva Zapato! Hurray for the Shoe! (Review of "Does the Shoe Fit? A Critique of the Limited Tehuantepec Geography" by Deanne G. Matheny," FARMS Review of Books 6/1 (1994): 297–361. off-site PDF link GL direct link
2. [back]  Delbert W. Curtis, The Land of the Nephites (Orem: Delbert W. Curtis, 1988.)
3. [back]  David A. Palmer, "Review of The Land of the Nephites by Delbert W. Curtis," FARMS Review of Books 2/1 (1990): 67–73. off-site