The famous scientist and philosopher Isaac Newton once observed to fellow polymath Robert Hooke: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”1 Any discussion of the future of Book of Mormon studies, especially in the field of historical and comparative approaches, is going to involve looking out from the vantage point of what has gone before and building on the work of previous scholars, many of whom were instrumental in first looking at the Book of Mormon through a scholarly lens. By historical and comparative approaches, I mean the branch of Book of Mormon scholarship that explores the volume based on evidence and materials that are found outside the Book of Mormon. Often this material comes from the ancient Near East or ancient Israel.2 Other times, the comparative material is drawn from connections with pre-Columbian America.3 These are very much blanket...

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