Sacred Geography
The Book of Mormon transfers sacred geography from the Middle East to the Americas. This is not merely a spatial backdrop for events but a theological structure: the land is not neutral but a stage for covenant, testing, blessing, and cursing.
From Jerusalem to the “Promised Land”
The narrative begins in Jerusalem (around 600 BCE) and ends in the “promised land” in the Americas. This movement from east to west is not merely a migration: it is a transfer of the religious center of gravity.
- Jerusalem in the text: a city about to be destroyed, a place of departure not of staying
- The wilderness: a place of testing, murmuring, and revelation
- The ocean: the miraculous crossing to the new land
- The promised land: the place of the new covenant, “a land of liberty,” “a land of inheritance”
The Text’s Internal Geography
Scholars (both inside and outside the church) attempt to map the places mentioned in the text. There is no consensus on real-world locations. Proposed models include:
- The Mesoamerican model: places events in Central America. This model is common in traditional Mormon studies.
- The continental model: sees events distributed across the entire American continent.
- The “Heartland” model: focuses on the Great Lakes region and New York.
[Source needed] For proposed maps and models.
Note: This atlas does not adopt any of these models. Geography here is read as the text constructs it, not as archaeological or historical locations.
Major Places in the Text
Jerusalem
The point of departure. The city of prophecy and imminent destruction. Its influence extends across the entire text as a constant reference: later prophets return to the exodus story as the origin of identity.
The Wilderness
The transitional space. In the wilderness revelation appears (Lehi sees visions), faith is tested (the broken bow, the storm), and division forms (Laman and Lemuel murmur).
Bountiful
The place on the seashore where the ship is built. Also the name of a region that appears later in the narrative where Christ appears after his resurrection.
The Land of Nephi and the Land of Zarahemla
Two major competing lands in the narrative: the land of Nephi (in the highlands, later belonging to the Lamanites) and the land of Zarahemla (in the lowlands, belonging to the Nephites). A narrow strip of border lies between them.
The Rameumptom
A place of worship of an apostate group (the Zoramites). An example of how the text constructs “ritual geography”: the place reflects the group’s theology (self-worship instead of humility).
The Hill Cumorah
The place where the final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites was fought, and where Moroni hid the plates. In the church’s official narrative, the same hill (near Palmyra, New York) is where Joseph Smith received the revelation. Geography here connects the time of the ancient narrative with the time of the modern revelation.
Transferring the Sacred Center
One of the most powerful ideas in the text: Palestine is no longer the sole center of sacred history. God works everywhere. The promised land multiplies. Christ visits “other sheep.”
This idea can be read:
- Devotionally: God is not confined by place. Every nation has its prophet and its book.
- Critically: The text constructs legitimacy for America as a stage for sacred history, and this serves the founding of a new religion on new land in the 19th century.
Questions for Reading
- How does the “promised land” in the Book of Mormon differ from that in the Bible?
- Why does the text need two sacred geographies (Palestine and the Americas)?
- How does the idea of the “promised land” affect the text’s view of the indigenous peoples of the Americas?