Popol vuh and book of mormon

The book of mormon itself reported to be a complex historic record deserves serious investigation, as much as the popol vuh, especially considering its claimed historic reality from ancient america and its foundational belief by the rapidly growing mormon world religion. Tvedtnes, more on the hanging of zemharihah, in pressing forward with the book of mormon. Blake allens 2012 book of mormon archaeological forums bmaf presentation drawing parallels between the ancient book. The quiches were the most powerful nation of the guatemalan highlands before the spanish conquest and, although conquered, were one of the few indian tribes not conquered in. It begins with the deeds of mayan gods in the darkness of a primeval sea and ends with the radiant splendor of the mayan lords who founded the quiche kingdom. Popol vuh also popol wuj or popul vuh or pop vuj is a text recounting the mythology and history of the k. The popol vuh which is translated as the book of the community or book of advice is an ancient work of literature, a collection of mythical, legendary and historical narratives of the kiche people, the guatemalan maya people. Another way of explaining the strength of the positive position on the historicity of the book of mormon is to point out that we who are its proponents are content with a standoff on this question. The popol vuh of the quiche maya of guatemala,tulane university, middle american research institute, publication 35 1971, xi.

Item consists of book published by the foundation for ancient research and mormon studies in. The popol vuh is to the ancient mayan people what the various gold plates that were compiled to make the book of mormon were to the ancient nephites. Other than the book of mormon itself, the popol vuh is probably the most valid evidence available that the maya, who, from our perspective, lived almost exclusively in the territory of the book of mormon s land southward, possessed a highlevel writing systema critical requirement in anyones attempts to identify the new world location of the lands of the book of mormon. One of the most common complaints against the book of mormon can also be fairly lodged against the popol vuh. Mormanity a blog for those interested in the church of. Popol vuh simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Christenson is a professor of humanities, classics, and comparative literature at brigham young university. Some time ago i posted a blog entry at interpreter on the atheist polemicist richard dawkins argument that the book of mormon is a fraud because joseph smith rendered his translation into jacobean english. Our changing understanding of ancient america and its scripture. The number seven was significant to the precolumbian communities of mesoamerica, as it was in the book of mormon. The popol vuh, a lineage history from highland guatemala, reports the invasion of a smallish body of warriors with mexican cultural patterns who came to rule the land about six hundred years ago. Lehis son, nephi, begins the book of mormon account in 600 bc, preserving it by engraving on metal plates.

It is mind blowing to think that cultures that are an ocean apart can have such similar texts depicting the beginning of the world and civilization. The ordeal of the three nephites and the popol vuh fairmormon. If the new world events of the book of mormon took place in mesoamerica, as we unequivocally maintain they did, then we. Parallelism, merismus, and difrasismo book of mormon central. Allen again began publishing the digest in a newspaper format which we continued on a quarterly basis for several years. The book of mormon relates the religious history of three groups who settled in the americas and is a sacred book written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation. To historians and ethnographers, the popol vuh offers unique insight into ancient maya culture, shedding light on many aspects of maya culture, including. Written in kiche a mayan language by a mayan author or authors between 1554 and 1558, it uses the latin alphabet with spanish orthography. Item consists of book published by the foundation for ancient research and mormon studies in provo, utah, 2000. The book, of great historical and spiritual value, has been called sacred book or the bible of. The work is divided into a brief preamble and four books. Prophetic decree and ancient histories tell the story of.

Moving from the particular to the general, i will consider finally the. The book itself details the creation of the world, and explores several other myths. See more ideas about book of mormon, lds scriptures and lds books. The book of mormon in two places describes ancient records similar to the biblical book of genesis. Jan 09, 2014 the ordeal of the three nephites and the popol vuh mesoamerican perspectives january 9, 2014 by matthew roper the book of mormon tells of three nephite disciples who, like the apostle john were blessed by jesus that they should never taste death and never endure the pains of death 3 nephi 28. Two to be compared are the genesis account, found in the bible and the mayan creation story, known as the popul vuh book of the community. The popol vuh is an important text for understanding late postclassic and early colonial maya religion, myth, and history, but also because it also offers interesting glimpses into classic period.

The popol vuh tells about the earliest settlers of guatemala and is known as the sacred book, or national book of the quiche popol vuh 5. Many latterday saints have not had access to sources which communicate how recent research has changed our understanding of the book of mormon as an ancient document. The quiches were the most powerful nation of the guatemalan highlands before the spanish conquest and, although conquered, were one of the few indian tribes not conquered in spirit. The book of mormon tells of three nephite disciples who, like the apostle john were blessed by jesus that they should never taste death and. It contains mythological stories and a genealogy of the rulers of the postclassic quiche maya kingdom of highland guatemala. In an interesting article, hebrew poetry in the book of mormon. This is crossposted from a twopart entry at ethers cave here and here. The sacred book of the quiche maya of highland guatemala, the popol vuh, was a late version of one of those, most likely being a transliteration of a hieroglyphic original. The story of moses raising the brazen serpent as a type of christ was important enough to book of mormon peoples that a variant of it appears at least seven times in the text. This book is the second of the farms series ancient texts and mormon studies. In fact, he says, there must have been thousands of such books in classic times.

The opponents of the historicity of the book of mormon must prove that the people whose religious life it records did not live anywhere in the americas. Yet the beauty of quiche poetry may sound awkward and repetitive when translated into european languages. Its believed quite different from the mayan creation myth, written in the 1500s for spanish conquers. The sacred book of the quiche maya of highland guatemala, the popol vuh.

The book of mormon teaches the doctrine of the fall from the genesis tree of life and the forbidden tree 2 nephi 2. In 1996, upon returning from serving a mission in spain, dr. He holds a phd in precolumbian maya art, literature, and culture from the university of texas at austin. Both the popol vuh and the book of mormon are religious histories that record migrations to the new world. The popol vuh is the story of creation according to the quiche maya of the region known today as guatemala. Could the parallels in popol vuh to the tree of life and the forbidden tree have originated from the book of mormon. The title popol vuh translates book of the community, book of counsel and has been mentioned as the bible of the mayans. Welch, the legal cases in the book of mormon provo, ut. I happened to have with me a copy of the popol vuh manuscript, a book that was compiled in the midsixteenth century at a town that still exists less than thirty miles from where we sat. Revisiting the seven lineages of the book of mormon and the byu. The mat is the royal throne upon which the king gave counsel to his people, with the fibers symbolizing the interlaced community remembered in the text.

The mystic sectionstales of first beginnings from the. Popol vuh translates to book of the people, and its first lines attest to its creation after the violent colonization. Popol vuh, the quiche mayan book of creation, is not only the most important text in the native languages of the americas, it is also an extraordinary document of the human imagination. Tree of life and tree of knowledge parallels in the popol vuh. Maxwell institute for religious scholarship, 2008, 3322. May 01, 2016 this post is a continuation of the theme developed in the article art and iconography 1. Dec 28, 2015 tree of life and tree of knowledge parallels in the popol vuh and the book of mormon one of my favorite topics to talk about with regards to the book of mormon is the popol vuh. The book i have is a typical cliffs notes spanish version of the larger popol vuh which was taught in public secondary schools, but it is conveniently divided into summarized themes that are remarkably conducive to discussions of the book of mormon, the holy bible, and the tieins the popol vuh has with each. Popol wuuj in modern spelling is a book written in the classical quiche language.

The popol vuh kiche for council book or book of the community. This starting over can be paralleled with dispensations of the gospel. Apr 11, 2015 the popol vuh variously translated as the council book, the book of the people or literally as the book of the mat is the corpus of mythological and historical narratives, including the creation story according to the quichemaya people. When men were wicked, they were destroyed and god started over. Many also are unaware of some rather surprising new discoveries supporting the book of mormon which have been brought about by the advanced methods of science. Chiasmus, mesoamerican evidences, cement, olives, ancient names like alma, and other evidences for the authenticity of the book of mormon a divine ancient record from the new world that testifies of jesus christ. The popul vuh and its relation to the book of mormon youtube. Revisiting the seven lineages of the book of mormon and the. A panmesoamerica legend tells of a core people descended from seven tribes, which may coincide with the seven lineages mentioned three times in the book of mormon.

Book of mormon archaeological forums bmaf presentation drawing parallels between the ancient book popul vuh and the book of m. The sacred book the popol vuh, was written long before cortez. Mar 10, 2020 laman and lemuel were on the scene at precisely the time when izapa transitioned from an olmec polity with dozens of subordinate settlements to a widelyinfluential purveyor of culture that included the altarstela complex, the mesoamerican calendar, and the ubiquitous creation myth that eventually became the popol vuh. Members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints believe that the historical part of the book of mormon is a true history of peoples led by lehi and later by nephi that left the land of jerusalem and crossed the oceans.

The ordeal of the three nephites and the popol vuh. Angela crowell, hebrew poetry in the book of mormon, part 1, zarahemla record, nos. The great classic of central american spirituality, translated from the original maya text allen j. The popol vuh of the quiche maya of guatemala, tulane university, middle american research institute, publication 35 1971, xi. Obviously, maya scholars have much more to learn about and from the popol vuh.

The word popol vuh literally translates to mean the peoples book or book. Popol vuh, maya document, an invaluable source of knowledge of ancient mayan mythology and culture. Book of mormon, discovery, trail, channel, interview, the originals, city. Other important members during the next two decades included djong yun, renate knaup, conny veit, daniel fichelscher, klaus wiese and robert eliscu. The mythic sectionstales of first beginnings from the ancient kichemaya, reveals that allen christenson chose to publish the part of the popol vuh an ancient mayan story that explains the mayan view of the creation of humankind. Download the popol vuh in full text here, english pdf ebook.

The book of mormon contains accounts by several different people over a thousand years, harmonized into a whole narrative by a father and son, mormon and moroni, who lived around 400 ad. The ordeal of the three nephites and the popol vuh mesoamerican perspectives the book of mormon tells of three nephite disciples who, like the apostle john were blessed by jesus that they should never taste death and never endure the pains of death 3 nephi 28. Aug 09, 2012 one of the most common complaints against the book of mormon can also be fairly lodged against the popol vuh. These same accounts agree that it was provided by god and worked by the power of god milton r. The great classic of central american spirituality, translated from the original maya text. Since the book of mormon purports to be a religious document from precolumbian america. Totonicapan popol vuh ancient america and the book of. The historicity of the book of mormon religious studies. The second dvd in the journey of faith series discusses the religious milieu, culture, the land, and language surrounding the descendants of lehi and sariah in the new world. The mythic sectionstales of first beginnings from the ancient kichemaya is number 2 in the ancient texts and mormon studies series. May 27, 20 blake allens 2012 book of mormon archaeological forums bmaf presentation drawing parallels between the ancient book popul vuh and the book of mormon.

The original popol vuh is the mayan version of the bible. Priests taught out of scriptures, such as the popol vuh, and prophesied out of them. Jul 26, 2010 popol vuh describes the mayans creation myth, its epic tales of the hero twins hunahpu and xbalanque and other spectacular stories. The jaredites posessed knowledge of the creation of the world, adam, and events down to the time of the tower of babel ether 1. These were a branch of the maya that dominated the western highlands of modern day.

There are subtle references to the same doctrine taught in story form in the popol vuh, part 11, chapter 3, that includes both tree symbols. World wide distribution of the book of mormon has exceeded 115,000,000. How gods created mankind, according to the popol vuh. The preamble states the intention of the author in writing the work, sets the time period as postconquest, and makes the point that the original work takes a long performance and account to complete the lighting of all the skyearth 63. They say that theyre doing this because theres no longer a place to see this text, which is known as the council book. It is interesting that this concept is found in the bible, the book of mormon, and the popol vuh, along with other precolumbian american texts. Beginning in 2008 we began sending out articles on the history, language, culture and geography of the book of mormon. The similarities between popol vuh and the book of genesis esis are astounding. The ordeal of the three nephites and the popol vuh mesoamerican perspectives january 9, 2014 by matthew roper the book of mormon tells of three nephite disciples who, like the apostle john were blessed by jesus that they should never taste death and never endure the pains of death 3 nephi 28. The original book, written long ago, existed, but its. Popol vuh and the tree of life book of mormon archaeological. The popol vuh is a priceless document in many ways. Totonicapan popol vuh ancient america and the book of mormon. The person responsible for reading and making sense of the book has a hidden identity.

To celebrate this 50th anniversary, throughout july and august book of mormon central will publish one knowhy each week that discusses chiasmus and its significance and value to understanding the bible, the book of mormon, and other ancient literatures. It is located on the campus of the universidad francisco marroquin in zone 10, guatemala city and is known for its extensive collection of precolumbian and colonial art of the maya culture. Experts on the popol vuh are generally agreed, after much study, that the popol vuh is a genuine precolumbian sacred book. Dawkins argument is and im not making this up that the book of mormon was a 19th century book written in 16th century english. This series presents a wideranging collection of important ancient texts that are of interest to latterday saints. The historicity of the book of mormon religious studies center. Christenson explains the problem with the popol vuh on page 34. That thinking encompasses information about the mesoamerican book we know today as the popol vuh. Art and iconography 2 this post is a continuation of the theme developed in the article art and iconography 1. This year marks 50 years since the discovery of chiasmus in the book of mormon on august 16, 1967. Especially if one considers that each text was written in a different country.

In 1992, we published the first issue of the book of mormon archaeological digest. The sacred book of the ancient quiche maya, bandelier wrote that the first part of the popol vuh seems like an evident fabrication, or, at least, accommodation of the indian mythology to christian notions, a pious fraud, but the bulk is an equally evident collection of original traditions of the indians. In a similar vein, book of mormon scholars have an even greater task of correlating the findings associated with the popol vuh with the message and origins of the book of mormon. The museo popol vuh popol vuh museum is home to one of the major collections of maya art in the world. The mythic sectionstales of first beginnings from the ancient kichemaya.