View source for Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

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A literary structure known as "chiasmus" exists in the Book of Mormon. It is claimed that the presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is either coincidental, an artifact of the observer, or not impressive since examples of chiastic patterns have been found in the Doctrine and Covenants or other 19th century writing.

{{:Question: What is chiasmus?}}
{{:Question: Is the presence of chiastic structures in the Book of Mormon simply coincidence?}}
{{:Question: What forms of chiasmus exist in the ''Book of Mormon''?}}
{{:Question: Was knowledge of chiasmus available in Joseph Smith's era?}}
{{:Question: Does chiasmus exist in the Doctrine and Covenants?}}
{{:Question: Does chiasmus exist in Joseph Smith's writings?}}
{{:Question: What is the significance of the chiasmus in Alma 41:12-15?}}
{{:Question: What is special about the chiasmus found in Alma 36?}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Book of Mormon/Evidences/Hebraisms/Chiasmus/Alma 36
|subject=Couldn't Joseph Smith have made up the chiasmus in Alma 36?
|summary=What is special about the chiasmus found in Alma 36? Couldn't Joseph Smith have simply made it up just like "hickory, dickory, dock"?
}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Book of Mormon/Evidences/Hebraisms/Chiasmus/Alma 41:12-15
|subject=Chiasmus 41:12-15
|summary=
}}
{{PerspectivesBar
|link=http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2012-fair-conference/2012-forty-five-years-of-chiasmus-conversations-correspondence-criteria-and-creativity
|title=Forty-five Years of Chiasmus Conversations, Criteria, and Creativity: What Chiasmus Proves and Does Not Prove|author=John W. Welch
|authorlink=http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/authors/welch-john
|authorphoto=WelchJohn.png
|publication=Proceedings of the 2012 FAIR Conference
|date=August 2012
|summary=It’s hard to believe that the discovery of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon took place almost 45 years ago. I’m not that old! But indeed, it took place 45 years ago in Germany, in August 1967. A full account of that story is in the 2007 issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, which was published at the 40th anniversary of that discovery.1 (It and a lot of the other things I will be mentioning today are available free online on the Maxwell Institute website, maxwellinstitute.byu.edu, or the BYU Studies website.) Appropriately, this article has recently been translated and published in German under the title “The Discovery of Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon in Germany.”2 The German Saints are proud that the discovery happened in Germany.<br><br>I’ve been asked to tell the story many times. I’m always happy to oblige. In many ways it epitomizes the entire 45-year sequel of continuing conversations. I shall try today to emphasize some rarely used contemporary documents and pictures to flesh out for you what happened.
}}
{{MaxwellInstituteBar
|link=https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1389&index=1
|author=John Welch
|title=Criteria for Identifying and Evaluating the Presence of Chiasmus
|publication=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
|vol=4
|num=2
|date=1995
|summary= This article defines fifteen criteria one can use to measure the strength or weakness of a proposed chiastic pattern in a given text. The need for rigor in such studies depends primarily on how the results of the proposed structural analyses will be used. Ultimately, analysts may not know with certainty whether an author created inverted parallel structures intentionally or not; but by examining a text from various angles, one may assess the likelihood that an author consciously employed chiasmus to achieve specific literary purposes.
}}

{{Critical sources box:Book of Mormon/Evidences/Hebraisms/Chiasmus/CriticalSources}}
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[[pt:O Livro de Mórmon/Evidências/Hebraísmos/Quiasma]]