In this Mormon Stories Podcast interview, historian John Hamer discusses the 19th century historical and cultural context—largely forgotten today—that informed the composition of the Book of Mormon.

John Hamer graciously created a number of slides that give important visual cues to his research surrounding literary criticism of The Book of Mormon, possible literary influences for The Book of Mormon, multiple 19th century instances of writers attempting to tie ancient American artifacts to Israel, and much more. This interview may be best digested using our video editions below.

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This interview is part of the Mormon Stories Podcast “Examining Mormon Truth Claims” initiative that involves a new set of essays being released at mormonstories.org/truth-claims and a billboard campaign on I-15. For more information on how you can help in this effort, please visit mormonstories.org/billboard.

Part 1 – We discuss literary criticism of The Book of Mormon:



Part 2 – We delve deeper into the 19th century worldview and context of The Book of Mormon’s creation:



Part 3 – We discuss different 19th century instances of writers attempting to tie ancient American artifacts to Israel:



Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

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John Hamer is no stranger to Mormon Stories Podcast. Past episodes including contributions from John may be found here:

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Additional past Mormon Stories interviews referenced may be found here: