Review of Life In Ancient America (Leland Monson)

Leland H. Monson's book, Life in Ancient America: A Study of the Book of Mormon, was a Sunday School manual printed in 1958. This book contains 131 pages and comprises 48 lessons that are made up of disparate blocks of chapters, beginning with 1 Nephi and proceeding through each book of scripture until ending with Moroni. For some undisclosed reason the Book of Ether is excluded from these lessons. Each lesson begins with a summary outline of the prominent events or teachings in the selected chapters and then proceeds to provide some commentary as well as posing a handful of "Questions and Problems." The outlines provide more information than typical chapter headers, but are selective in what is disclosed. Monson's commentary generally consists of a handful of paragraphs that tends to restate, to some extent, what was already summarized in the lesson outline, but also contains an occasional quotation from B.H. Roberts, or other notable profiles, such as John Henry Evans, Henry Drummond or Shelley. The questions/problems portion of each lesson are rather generalized and are primarily concerned with modern applicability.

This manual was for course 15 and may have been good in its time and place, but I would not recommend this book. The commentary is not incredibly insightful and the questions too generalized to generate thought provoking insights. Nonetheless, the following few assertions seemed worthy of notice or further investigation:

"The burden of Jacob's message to his people centered on three fundamentals, the future of the Jews, the Lord's plan for the redemption of mankind, and the promised land (44).

Two quotations in the commentary were memorable:

"He'll call, persuade, direct aright, Bless them with wisdom, truth and light
In numerous ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind (72).

"Every man has a right to his own opinion, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it (72)" - Samuel Johnson 

Regarding Christ's visit to the Americas and His declaration of divinity:

The book of III Nephi has been called the "Fifth Gospel." Like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it gives us a story of the Christ. Unlike them, however, it does not present His life ministry on the eastern hemisphere, but is confined among the Nephites after His resurrection.

In other words, this Fifth Gospel is an independent witness that Jesus is the Christ. To many of us, it presents conclusive evidence of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

In an age when many Protestant ministers are questioning the divinity of Christ and are saying that He was just a great moral teacher, this new witness of the Christ is needed (109).

Regarding the political and cultural climate following the prosperity attendant with Christ's ministry, the subsequent factional division of 'ites' is worthy of noting. This is especially important considering the common misconception that Nephites and Lamanites referred to biological divisions at the end of the Book of Mormon just as it was primarily in the beginning of the Book of Mormon:

When the Nephites and Lamanites divided again it was not on a basis of race, but in accordance with their religious views, the Nephites accepting the established church and the Lamanites denying it (119-120).

But then we have this culturally nuanced assertion:

The American Indian, as we know him today, is a descendant of these merged peoples. The blood of Nephi and Laman courses through their veins. They are descendants of at least two tribes, the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of Manasseh (120). 

Remember this was written roughly 60 years ago at a time when a lot of Book of Mormon understanding was based on cultural traditions, rather than a critical reading of the text and externally relevant factors, such as John Sorenson published years later in his An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, or when Joseph Smith's later comments on Stephens and Catherwood came to be well known. Without treading too far on a tangent, I don't necessarily have a problem with his assertion, so long as it is qualified to be understood that Nephite or Lamanite blood would be so diluted as to render it virtually, if not entirely untraceable, as a result of thoroughly mixing with other indigenous or migrant populations.

At the end of the day, this book, while it may have served its purpose in its day and age, is not worth dusting off anymore.