Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson's Archaeological Search for the Book of Mormon

Leaving the faith of one's parents is often a very difficult thing. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in Thomas Stuart Ferguson's position. Here we have a man who devoted so much in the way of time and treasure to prove that the Book of Mormon was true. He wrote many books defending the Book of Mormon from an archeological point of view. Yet he came to see that archeology and history will not vindicate the book of Mormon. He lost faith in the Book of Mormon completely.I had the good fortune some years past to meet the author of this book. He gave a presentation on his findings with regards to Ferguson. I came away from that presentation somewhat amazed at the chameoleon nature of Thomas Stuart Ferguson. He had no faith in the Book of Mormon and even indicated so to Jerald and Sandra Tanner. Yet, he still continued to attend church regularly. To those who had questions about the Book of Mormon, he could give answers in either direction. To faithful Mormons seeking faith building material, he could and would give out much information that would confirm them in their faith. To Mormons questioning the historical veracity of the Book of Mormon, he could and would give out much information that would demonstrate the historical and archeological problems involved in the Book of Mormon.He was a complex character. However, his story is very much worth telling. He is fortunate to have found a sympathetic biographer in Stan Larson.

This is an excellent book, treating the heroic but ultimately doomed quest of one man for support for his beliefs.This book, as described in the Preface "focuses on the efforts of Thomas Stuart Ferguson to verify the authenticity of the Book of Mormon through archaeology." The story in fact shows not only Ferguson's failure to identify a single Book of Mormon city, mountain, or river, but ends in Ferguson's disillusionment with Joseph Smith and his loss of faith in Smith as an alleged prophet, not only because of the years wasted in central America looking for evidence that wasn't there, but also by Ferguson's realization that the exposure by renowned Egyptologists of the "Book of Abraham" papyri, accepted as canonical by the LDS church, as nothing more than pagan funeral texts, proved the supposed prophet Smith very much in error, and certainly unable to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics.Earlier in his search, Ferguson had apparently encouraged himself with the publication in 1958 of "One Fold and one Shepherd" as described on page 59 of this book. This earlier work was supposed to present evidence of the antiquity of the Book of Mormon, but, as reported in the book, in actual fact gave evidence only of 16th century post-Conquest Spanish Catholic misssionary influence, even down to the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity ( whch is rejected by Mormonism). So it was quite meaningless for Ferguson to cite this sort of material as evidence for the antiquity of the Book of Mormon. That, and the "shopping list fallacy" mentioned on page 62 (that is, the idea that parallels between cultures, such as idols, sacrifices, slaves, are supposedly significant is erroneous because the parallels are either not complex or not uniques to the two cultures under consideration) effectively destroy any claim of archaeological support for the Book of Mormon. At the end of the book is given a list of tests for the Book of Mormon, under the categories Plant Life, Animal Life, Metallurgy, Script, and Others. It is quite noteworthy to see that the evidence required to substantiate the Book of Mormon is found failing in every category.I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who is Mormon or to anyone who is considering converting to the LDS church, as it contains information that missionaries will not readily admit.

I bought this book while reading and studying the Book of Mormon. I was intrigued by the various aspects of ancient life that Joseph Smith describes in the Book of Mormon from their cities to their great battles to even their coinage, food, and animals (including elephents, horses, sheep, cows). I wondered who was right since I have been taught by non-LDS antropologist that none of the above listed in the Book of Mormon has been found.Then I bought this book. This book is both the story and the findings of Stuart Ferguson in his search for archeological remains of various Book of Mormon listings. He begins his search in Central America (the most common area believed by Mormons to be the site of the Book of Mormon accounts). The books is neither pro-Mormon nor anti-Mormon but is simply Ferguson's own pursuit of the truth. What he finds will amaze you!The book also deals with Ferguson's desire to know the truth concerning the papyrus that Joseph Smith claimed to have translated from Egyptian into the Books of Abraham and Joseph (although he did not publish the Book of Joseph). Modern Egyptianologist have since disproven Smith and his "translation" of the papyrus but Ferguson was bent on disproving the modern findings in favor of Smith. Again, his findings will amaze you.Whether you are a Mormon or not, this book will offer great insight into not accepting the standard answers for faith but willing to search out evidences for your faith and religion to see if they are objectable and clear. You will be glad you read this book.

I picked up Stan Larson's "Quest for the Gold Plates" after reading the recommendations for it from other readers at this site. I read it in two nights -- I simply could not set it down. With a readable style and a suprisingly fair view of all three, pro, anti, and non Mormon views of the current events it contains a great deal of information not only about Thomas Stuart Ferguson's archaeological search for Book of Mormon cities and ruins -- but also about the rediscovery of the Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri - it's relation to the Book of Abraham, and also a great deal of information on Book of Mormon archaeological opinions and statistics in general. A very scholarly work that includes a _LOT_ of documentation. (i.e. 10 pages of the 40 page first chapter are end-note references to the 118 footnotes made in that chapter alone.) I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject - Mormon - Anti-Mormon - Non-Mormon, as well as Novice - Intermediate - and Advanced in in their knowledge of Archaeology and it's activity in Mesoamerica.

In an ideal world you'd expect that any subject could be coolly and dispassionately examined and judged according to the facts. We don't live in such a world, though, and this is abundantly clear upon reading Stan Larson's book "Quest for the Gold Plates."This is a book about one man's search for truth. Thomas Stuart Ferguson was a staunch Mormon with a dream to show to the world that Mormonism is true, and that the Book of Mormon is literally the history of a vast ancient Amerindian civilization. According to the Book of Mormon there were three migrations from the Old World to the New. The first migration happened sometime around the fabled tower of Babel described in the Old Testament. The second two migrations happened within a few years of each other, and involved Hebrew migrations from the area around Jerusalem roughly 600 BCE. According to the Book of Mormon, the people involved in these migrations established huge civilizations that stretched from sea to sea. They wrote extensively using Hebrew and Egyptian, domesticated horses and cattle, cultivated many Old World plants, traveled in chariots, and smelted many metals, including iron and steel.The Book of Mormon, ostensibly written by these civilizations, came to us from the prophet Joseph Smith, who founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Not too surprisingly, however, the golden plates are not available for scientific examination - the same angle who gave them to Joseph for "translation" took them back when the book was complete. Thus giving us the title of Larson's book.The Book of Mormon is so descriptive and unambiguous about the extent and type of ancient Amerindian civilizations it describes that it practically screams for corroborating archaeological evidence to support its assertions. As a young man, Ferguson felt foreordained as the person responsible for finding this archaeological information and bringing it to the world - proving Mormonism is true and opening the floodgates for converts into Joseph Smith's religion.Ferguson was unrelenting, and he moved in high circles within the Mormon Church. He co-authored "Ancient American and the Book of Mormon" with Milton R. Hunter (a General Authority in the Mormon Church) and on October 1952 Ferguson organized the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF) in California. Early on NWAF performed some valuable archaeological research, and employed some eminent non-Mormon scientists. This was part of Ferguson's plan, as he intended the archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon to be of the highest academic quality. Eventually, however, the Mormon Church lost its enthusiasm for funding a strictly academic organization, especially as the promised evidence for the Book of Mormon failed year after year to appear. In 1960 the First Presidency of the LDS Church announced that NWAF would be reorganized, and its continued support from the LDS Church would come t