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Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon
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Criticism
Critics claim 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.
Source(s) of the Criticism
Response
What is chiasmus?
Chiasmus is a poetical or rhetorical form used by many ancient peoples, including the Hebrews, Babylonians, insert others.[1]
Chiasmus is a form of parallelism, in which related or contrasting ideas are placed in juxtaposition for emphasis. Chiasmus uses "inverted parallelism," and takes its name from the Greek letter chi (χ) which looks like an English "X". This name was chosen to reflect the pattern of chiasmus:
Idea A
Idea A repeated |
Because chiasmus relies, to an extent, on relationships between ideas or concepts, rather than between words (e.g. such as rhymes or meter) it can survive translation. John W. Welch was the first to notice chiastic structures in the Book of Mormon.[2] Little was known of this poetic form in Joseph Smith's era.[3]
Coincidence?
Critics have proposed what might be called the "hickory dickory dock" theory of chiasmus. They point out that the children's nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock is chiastic:
A - Hickory dickory dock
A' - Hickory dickory dock |
To be sure, this is a trivial example. If this was the only sort of chiasmus to be found in the Book of Mormon, then it would be weak evidence, at best, of any sort of ancient origin. Such simple examples of chiasmus are well known in English speech.
A - The last
A' - shall be last. |
From: Bible ref
A - Fair is
A' - is fair. |
From: Macbeth, Act A, scene b.
However, the "hickory dickory dock" theory is a strawman. Such simple examples do exist in the Book of Mormon, (examples) but they are not the most impressive ones. Critics try to pretend that the simple, trivial parallelisms represent all such chiastic samples in the Book of Mormon. If Joseph Smith was writing the Book of Mormon himself, he might well compose simple parallelisms intentionally, or even accidentally.
But, the complex examples within the Book of Mormon show much greater sophistication that a child's nursery rhyme.
Alma 36
Conclusion
A summary of the argument against the criticism.
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
- Links to related articles in the wiki
FAIR web site
- FAIR Topical Guide:
External links
- John W. Welch, “Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon,” New Era (Feb. 1976): 6.
Printed material
- Noel B. Reynolds, "Nephi's Outline," BYU Studies 20:2 (1980): 131–49, reprinted in Noel B. Reynolds and Charles D. Tate (eds.), Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins (Provo, Utah : Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University ; Salt Lake City, Utah : Distributed by Bookcraft, 1996 [1982]), 53–74.
- John W. Welch, "A Masterpiece: Alma 36," in John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne (eds.), ‘'Rediscovering the Book of Mormon’' (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Co. ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991), 114–31. ISBN 0875793878.[4]
- John W. Welch, "Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies 10:1 (1969): 69–84; revised slightly for Noel B. Reynolds and Charles D. Tate (eds.), Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins (Provo, Utah : Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University ; Salt Lake City, Utah : Distributed by Bookcraft, 1996 [1982]) 33–52.
- John W. Welch, "Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon," in Chiasmus in Antiquity: Structures, Analyses, Exegesis, edited by John W. Welch, (Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1981).
- John W. Welch, "Chiasmus in Hel. 6:7-13" (Provo: FARMS, 1987).