Chiasmus book of mormon examples of thesis statements

Chiasmus in the book of mormon religious studies center. Chiasmus in the book of mormon thoughts and truth from. Chiasmus in mayan texts book of mormon archaeological forum. 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 for the text. What can we learn from 10 of the best chiasms in the book of mormon. In rhetoric, chiasmus or, less commonly, chiasm is a reversal of grammatical structures in. This compilation of groundbreaking book of mormon articles is selected from over fifty years of lds scholarship published by byu studies. It is also found throughout the quran and the book of mormon. The authors find that examples of chiasmus in the book of abraham or the doctrine and covenants are likely to be due to chance, but several wellknown examples of chiasmus in the book of mormon appear to be intentional with a high level of confidence. Shipp was not trying to disprove chiasmus claims in the book of. Indeed, the presence of chiasmus in the book of mormon may be evidence of joseph smiths own literary style and genius.

Chiasmus and the book of mormon utah lighthouse ministry. The most common poetic structures are parallelisms and chiasmus. For those unfamiliar with the term, chiasmus is an ancient literary device that has been found in greek, latin, and hebrew writings. Since then, two organizations farms and fraa have published extensive literature to show that the book of mormon translated by joseph smith jr. Chiastic structure, or chiastic pattern, is a literary technique in narrative motifs and other textual passages. If weaided by the holy spiritdevelop an understanding of these structures, intended comparisons and deeper meanings will be unfolded to our understanding. If you engage lds apologists long enough, eventually youre bound to come across the topic of chiasmus in the book of mormon. Such simple examples of chiasmus are well known in english speech. For nine years, our veterans on topics related to book of mormon have aided college undergrads, ph. If this is a genuine chiasmus, welch is correct in saying that the book of mormon appears to reflect ancient rhetorical styles and that such a long and complex chiasmus is unlikely to have been. A there is an intelligent omnipotent being, who is selfexistent and infinitely b good and benevolent matter eternally existed.

Second, the doctrine and covenants has examples of the same pattern. They claim that such findings support claims of hebrew origins in the text on the basis that. Welch i am very happy to speak today about fortyfive years of chiasmus conversations. Does chiasmus prove anything about the book of mormon. Chiasmus in the book of mormon philosophies of men. Some of these examples may seem to be compelling, but when closely examined, they turn out to be little more than wishful thinking. According to most adherents of the latter day saint movement, the book of mormon is a. In the late 1960s, a young latterday saint discovered that an ancient form of middle eastern poetry was found throughout the book of mormon, suggestive of its ancient semitic origins. Discussed in detail in my thesis, a study relating chiasmus in the book of mormon to chiasmus in the old testament, ugaritic epics, homer and selected greek and latin authors m. At this point, one cannot establish a clear connection between near eastern use of chiasmus, its use in the book of mormon, and mayan use of chiasmus.

For example, if you are writing about how mormons love applebees and why your thesis could be mormons love applebees because of its delicious apple pie. I first heard about chiasmus in the book of mormon as a student at byu. Select one of the links above to view examples of chiasmus in various books of the book of mormon. Published in the new era, february 1972, pages 611. The chiastic structure, according to welch, is as follows. Since welchs thesis is that the two halves of the chiasmus present a. The presence of chiasmus in mayan texts may only disclose that the rhetorical device can emerge independently in the writings of an isolated ancient culture. Examples of chiasmus can be found in the book of mormon. It is basically inverted parallelism where words, phrases, or concepts are introduced in ascending order and then repeated in descending order.

The latest journal of book of mormon studies, 162 2007, features a personal remiscence by jack welch of his discovery of chiasmus in the bom on wednesday, august 16, 1967. Interestingly, the book of mormon, which claims to have its literary roots in the. The scriptures are full of poetic structures which add greatly to their richness, depth and meaning. Conceptual patterns of repetition in the doctrine and covenants and their implications masters thesis, brigham young university, 1975, 3234, 15859. It was also seen in sanskrit, mesopotamian, chinese and egyptian texts. Clear explanation of when and how to write a chiasmus. Though rational arguments cannot generate a testimony of the truthfulness of the book, the presence of chiasmus in. This volume features articles on hebraisms and chiasmus in the book of mormon, as well as articles discussing emendation of the text, naturalistic assumptions, wordprint analyses, variations between copies of the first edition, and more. The book of mormon, testifying of its past, 34, 12344321 and 123456654321. For several examples, see book of mormon central, why did nephi use chiasmus to testify of christ.

Discussed in detail in my thesis, a study relating chiasmus in the. Book of mormon, and it even cites the thesis of my wife, kendra lindsay. Chiasmus in the book of mormon mormonism, the mormon. Includes six copies as well as letters to the editor and handwritten notes.

Second, the angels stern statement to alma is repeated in the passage with. In 1967 chiasmus was discovered in the book of mormon, and the findings were published in byu studies. Obviously, in fortyfive minutes and moving at the rate of one year per minute, we wont be able to cover much of this interesting and rewarding part of my life. Both chiasmus and antimetabole can be used to reinforce antithesis. Stephen smoot is back and he is going deep on this episode. Welch wrote his masters thesis on chiasmus and continued study on the subject. Chiasmus and book of mormon textual studies deseret book. A study relating chiasmus in the book of mormon to chiasmus in the old testament, ugartic epics, homer, and selected greek and latin authors.

Welch discovered the presence of chiasmus on august 16, 1967 while on his mission in germany, and since that time, chiasmus has served as a profound witness for the beauty and complexity of the book of mormon. Mormons commonly cite alma 36 as the supreme example of a long, complex chiasmus in the book of mormon. In august 1967, fifty years ago this month, john welch was a young latterday saint on his mission in germany. This article provides an introduction to chiasmus, explaining what it is and why mormons think it is evidence for the book of mormon, giving examples from the bible, and discussing whether the book of mormon contains clear instances of chiasmus.

Many latterday saints point out that the use of chiasmus in the book of mormon is proof that joseph smith translated a script that was hebrew in origin, since the chiasmus had not yet been discovered when the book of mormon was translated in 1829. Welch, chiastic syllabus of the book of mormon, abcbadc. Chiasmus is one of the most frequently cited evidences for the authenticity of the book of mormon. Benjamin tells us that the message of this chapter was given to him by an angel. We had a guest on our show and many of you know him already. Book of mormon mba dissertation topic writing a doctoral. However, a recently recognized phenomenon in the book of mormon has now made it possible for us to cite many specific examples of passages in the book of mormon which bear the distinct stamp of an ancient hebraic literary form. See welch, a study relating chiasmus in the book of mormon to chiasmus in the old testament, ugaritic epics, homer, and selected greek and latin authors, m. They are correct on the book of mormon, but what they cannot explain is how. The discovery of chiasmus in the bom by common consent. All you have to do is make up the first half of the sentence, and then flip a couple of words around for the second half. So it is, in my opinion, with the issue of chiasmus in the book of mormon. This is much easier to do if you have a relatively narrow topic. Promoters have published claims of stylistic forms that joseph smith and his.

The most famous example of this is chapter 36 of the book of alma. Chiasmus in the book of mormon judaicaworld archives. Chiasmus in the book of mormon book of mormon central. For example, many long and complex chiasmi have been found in. An example of chiastic structure would be two ideas, a and b, together with variants a and b, being presented as a,b,b,a. After attending a lecture in which the presence of a compositional feature called chiasmus in matthew was mentioned as an example of its hebraic style, welch began looking for chiasmus while he was reading the book of mormon in german. They also provide useful background information and other insights. In 1975, shipp also produced a masters thesis titled, conceptual patterns of repetition in.

Im not sure exactly what forum would be suitable for this thread. Chiasmus in the book of mormon 73 name he used for chiasmus in 1854 however john forbesforbes4forbess completed a much more extensive study the symmetrical structures of scripture with the publication of this book it is possible to begin speaking of relatively widespread awareness of chiasmic forms in the bible a wave of other writers fol lowed forbes and in 1860 a section on. The second article is a long, technical response with full documentation. The book begins and ends with prophetic statements about the impending fate of. I initially made it in the forum where i found the original.

Book of mormon do you require help with a doctorate dissertation, a phd thesis, or a ph. Chiasmus in the book of mormon or the book of mormon does it again new era, 1972 february. For example, the entire book of mormon serves as the larger work in the case. Chiasmus in the book of mormon, 1982 book of mormon central. Welchs thesis is now missing from byus computercatalog byline, but a copy is available in the lds church library, salt. For a more thorough explanation of chiasmus, see john w. Chiasmus in the book mosiah looking further at benjamins speech, the whole of mosiah chapter3 is a chiasmus. Does chiasmus appear in the book of mormon by chance. One way to breathe life into your speeches is to craft memorable phrases that will linger on the lips of your audience, and a great tool to help you achieve this goal is chiasmus. Perhaps welch could have strengthened his premise by demonstrating that the parallel members in the book of mormon consist of semitic word pairs, the basis of ancient hebrew poetry. Book of mormonevidenceshebraismschiasmus fairmormon. Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you mardy grothe 1999.

Solomon spaulding wrote a manuscript that is now missing some critics believe it is the actual source of the book of mormon had another book, manuscript found, in which appears the following chiasmus. In the simplest, broadest sense, a chiasmus is a literary device that uses inverted parallelism, which can be labelled as. The discovery of chiasmus in the book of mormon is one of the most significant scholarly contributions to understanding and appreciating the nephite record. Several brief examples of chiasmus in the book of mormon include.

What can we learn from 10 of the best chiasms in the. Joseph smith building auditorium brigham young university provo, ut 84604 the wednesday evening chiasmus jubilee will feature guest speakers, musical numbers, and special presentations on chiasmus in the book of mormon. Welch, a study relating chiasmus in the book of mormon to chiasmus in the old testament, ugaritic epics, homer, and selected greek and latin authors m. Some have argued chiasmus is evidence of the texts historical authenticity, suggesting it reflects the semitic background of nephi and other authors of the book of mormon. To see this for ourselves, we had best begin with an example of chiasmus. Chiasmus in the book of mormon byu scholarsarchive. Chiasms appear in greek, latin, english and other languages, but it. Shipp, conceptual patterns of repetition in the doctrine. Recognizing parallelisms and chiasmus in the scriptures. The structure of a chiasmus is pretty simple, so they arent difficult to craft.

The professor discussed the work of father paul gaechter, a catholic priest who had written a book titled, the literary art in the gospel of matthew. Probably the example of book of mormon chiasmus most cited and most. Chiasmus and the book of mormon by sandra tanner some lds writers are trying to establish the historicity of the book of mormon by maintaining that it contains a poetic style, sometimes used in the bible, called chiasmus see. In this article, we define what chiasmus is, study several famous and notsofamous chiasmus examples, and give some tips for crafting chiasmus into your own speeches. The thesis statement is simply what you want to say in the paper boiled down to one sentence. For this article i am going to discuss an ancient literary form known as chiasmus. Title page of the book of mormon chapter heading 1 nephi 1 an account of their sufferings 1 nephi 1 i, nephi, having been born 1 nephi 4 he promised and he also made an oath 1 nephi 14 angel tells nephi of blessings and curses. The first article here is a short, relatively nontechnical response to this claim.