Thursday, August 31, 2017

What is the significance of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon?

In the past several months Book of Mormon Central has published a number of research summaries relating chiasmus and the Book of Mormon. The following article, "Does Chiasmus Prove Anything about the Book of Mormon?" provides a concluding capstone to this recent series.

For the sake of those who may have missed some of these I list them here with links to them at Book of Mormon Central.

"How Was Chiasmus Discovered in the Book of Mormon?"

"How Much Could Joseph Smith Have Known about Chiasmus in 1829?'

"What Counts as Chiasmus?"

"How Did Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Writers Use Chiasmus?"

"Can Chiasmus Survive Translation?"

"Was Chiasmus Known to Ancient American Writers?"

"What Can We Learn from 10 of the Best Chiasms in the Book of Mormon? Part 1"

"What Can We Learn from 10 of the Best Chiasms in the Book of Mormon? Part 2"

"What Can We Learn from 10 of the Best Chiasms in the Book of Mormon? Part 3"

There have also been several news stories about the recent Chiasmus Jubilee on August 16. These reports only deal with the last and closing event of what was actually a two day international conference hosted by Book of Mormon Central at Brigham Young University and included both Latter-day Saint and non Latter-day Saint Scholars. We expect that the proceedings will be published sometime in the future.

Here is a transcript of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's remarks at the Chiasmus Jubilee

Here is a brief report including some pictures of Elder Holland

and

"Chiasmus, a Columnist, and Conviction of the Book of Mormon"