In an attempt to downplay the scholarly evidence in favour of Book of Mormon historicity, one Evangelical wrote the following(emphasis added):
Mormons have a large number of scholars and other intellectuals who passionately argue in defense of the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Their arguments, though often sophisticated, cannot overcome the basic problems: There is no ancient text or even a copy of it . . .
Such a "criticism" is only reflective of the ignorance of the critic and/or that they are not interested in reaching out to informed Latter-day Saints, only gullible Evangelicals (“boundary maintenance”). As John Tvedtnes noted:
In recent years, some critics have noted that while ancient manuscripts of the books in the Bible exist, there are no such manuscripts for the Book of Mormon. In making such declarations, however, they ignore the unique character of the Book of Mormon as a hidden book, of which there was only one ancient copy. Mormon prepared this book and passed it on to his son, Moroni, who buried it and later revealed its location to the prophet Joseph Smith. (John A. Tvedtnes, The Book of Mormon and Other Hidden Books: “Out of Darkness Unto Light” [Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2000], 9-10)
The Tvedtnes volume is available in its entirety as a .pdf on the Book of Mormon Central Website:
Kevin L. Barney wrote a very good review of the book:
Just as good comes from evil, this silly argument has resulted in a "plug" for a very informative book on the plausibility and verisimilitude of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
