Nephite Conquest
There are two frames I’ve found for understanding the Mosiah-Alma transition in the Book of Mormon and all the political and social change that comes fast and heavy until Christ appears to them.
- Nephite modernity
- Nephite cultural conquest — the Nephites effectively brought the Lamanites into their cultural sphere at this time. With a little help from the priests of King Noah, the Amalekites, and other Nephite dissenters.
It’s striking that Ammon and the 4 Sons of King Mosiah were able to convert Lamanites at this point which had never really happened before. This is less an act of cultural conquest and more a result of it already happening. It’s interesting that in Alma 22 Mormon stops describing all the Lamanites as idle nomads and only describes “the more idle part” that way. In contrast, there is a newly urbanizing population that is also Nephitizing that seems more susceptible to conversion.
Which brings us to
3. Partly as a result of 1 and 2, the Lamanites are also going through some kind of state formation transition around this time.
The Book of Mormon is for our day.
Modernity and cultural conquest are defining elements of our own era.
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July 12, 2024
Meiji reference particularly apropos as the Lamanites did not seem to have any recorded attempts to adopt the Nephite form of government, even when their entire nation was converted later on.
Comparing Lamanites to the Japanese is also fun when you consider that both nations made big conquests quick when their ancient enemy weakened – were the Lamanites similarly relieved to have an excuse to return occupied Nephite lands?