Demythizing the Lamanites' "Skin of Blackness"

by Gerrit M. Steenblik

Overview

Abstract: Racial bias is antithetical to the Book of Mormon's cardinal purpose: to proclaim the infinite grandeur of the atonement of Jesus Christ. The book teaches that the Lord welcomes and redeems the entire human family, "black and white, bond and free" — people of all hues from ebony to ivory. Critical thinkers have struggled to reconcile this leitmotif with the book's mention of a "skin of blackness" that was "set upon" some of Lehi's descendants. Earlier apologetics for that "mark" have been rooted in Old World texts and traditions. However, within the last twenty years, Mesoamerican archaeologists, anthropologists, and ethnohistorians have curated and interpreted artifacts that reveal an ancient Maya body paint tradition, chiefly for warfare, hunting, and nocturnal raiding. This discovery shifts possible explanations from the Old World to the New and suggests that any "mark" upon Book of Mormon people may have been self-applied. It also challenges arguments that the book demonstrates racism in either 600 BCE or the early nineteenth-century.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160880884
Publisher:	Interpreter Foundation
Publication date:	12/08/2021
Series:	Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship , #49
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Gerrit Mark Steenblik received his B.A. from the Honors Program at the University of Utah where he was the President of the Latter-day Saint Student Association. Later he was called to the Melchizedek Priesthood MIA (Single Adults) General Board. He obtained his law degree at BYU and was a member of its Law Review before commencing his legal career in Phoenix, Arizona. He served as President of the Phoenix Sister Cities Commission and, in 2001, was called as Mission President of the Abidjan, Ivory Coast Mission, which included the French-speaking countries of Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Cameroun, and the Central African Republic. France appointed him to be its Honorary Consul in Arizona, a position he held for 19 years and for which he was decorated as Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite. For his years of service to young men, the Boy Scouts of America awarded him the Silver Beaver. In 2015, when the Arizona Ecumenical Council became an interreligious organization (Arizona Faith Network), Gerrit was called to represent the Church on its Board of Directors. He continues in that role, and with his wife, Judy, serves on the Church’s Phoenix Metro Communications Council. They have three children, five grandchildren, and are actively engaged in interfaith outreach, especially to the African American Christian clergy and community leaders.