Does Chiasmus Appear in the Book of Mormon by Chance?

Title

Does Chiasmus Appear in the Book of Mormon by Chance?

Publication Type

Journal Article

Year of Publication

2004

Authors

Secondary Authors

Journal

BYU Studies Quarterly

Pagination

103-130

Volume

43

Issue

2

Terms of use

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Bibliographic Citation

Abstract

In 1969, John W. Welch reported his discovery of many-element chiasms in the Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith testified to have translated from plates written anciently by Hebrew descendants. Chiasmus is an inverted-parallel literary form that was employed by ancient Hebrew biblical writers, among others. An instance of this form, called a “chiasm,” presents two or more literary elements, and then restates them in reverse order. Short chiasms are not uncommon in literature. In some cases, the authors undoubtedly intended to use that form for literary effect (that is, by design); in other cases, the elements fell into that form without author intent (that is, by chance).

Table of Contents

Journal

BYU Studies 43/2 (2004)
Chiasmus
Literature
Inverted Parallelism
Language - Hebrew

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