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Axes Mundi: Ritual Complexes in Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon

TitleAxes Mundi: Ritual Complexes in Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsWright, Mark Alan
JournalInterpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture
Volume12
Pagination79-96
KeywordsMesoamerica; Ritual; Sacred
Abstract

Places are made sacred through manifestations of the divine or ritual activity. The occurrence of a theophany or hierophany or the performance of particular rituals can conceptually transform a place into an axis mundi, or the center of the world. A variety of such axes mundi are known from the archaeological record of Mesoamerica and the text of the Book of Mormon. I compare and contrast several distinctive types of such ritual complexes from Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon and argue that they served functionally and ideologically similar purposes.

URLhttps://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/axes-mundi-ritual-complexes-in-mesoamerica-and-the-book-of-mormon/