Brant Gardner


Brant Anderson Gardner is an American researcher, writer and speaker on the Book of Mormon, and Mesoamerican studies.

Biographical background

Gardner is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From 1971 to 1973, he served as a missionary for the church in the Spain Madrid Mission.
Gardner received a B.A. in University Studies from Brigham Young University in 1975, and an M.A. in Anthropology from the State University of New York, Albany in 1978. From 1978–80, Gardner continued at SUNY, completing all the course work, but not exams or a dissertation, toward a Ph.D. in Mesoamerican ethnohistory.
In Mesoamerican studies, Gardner has published on classical Nahuatl kinship terminology, ethnohistoric investigation of Coxoh in southern Mexico, and the Aztec Legend of the Suns. He has published with the New World Archaeological Foundation and the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies.
Professionally, Gardner has worked in software consulting and product management.
Gardner lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Mormon studies

Gardner has published widely on the Book of Mormon and its possible geographical settings. He has often written for the FARMS Review of Books and has presented in the conferences of the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research during 2000–4, and 2008. In 2007 he presented on "DNA and the Book of Mormon" to the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum.
Gardner is the author of Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, published by Greg Kofford Books in 2007. This six-volume commentary on the Book of Mormon focuses on its spiritual, theological, cultural, textual, and historical context. For years much of this work was presented online as The Multi-dimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon, which Gardner further revised for publication and took offline.

Published works