Chiasmus is one of the most frequently cited evidences for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. 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.
Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon?
One of the main types of evidence that Mormons currently claim supports the authenticity of the Book of Mormon as ancient Israelite scripture is chiasmus. Chiasmus is a type of parallelism in which the second half of the text parallels in reverse order the first half. Mormon scholars and apologists argue that there are impressive examples of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith could not have composed and certainly could not have dictated off the cuff.
Several articles listed on this page address this argument by examining the most important passages of the Book of Mormon said to be written in chiasmus form. The articles demonstrate that the passages are not genuine instances of chiasmus and that other features of the passages show that they are modern in origin. There are additional resources on chiasmus also listed here.
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Mosiah 3:18-19—Ancient Chiasmus or Modern Composition?
Why this often-cited example of an Israelite chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is really a modern text.
Chiasmus, Theology, and the New Testament in Mosiah 5:10-12
The very first example of chiasmus discovered in the Book of Mormon isn’t a chiasmus at all.
Alma 36: Ancient Masterpiece Chiasmus or Modern Revivalist Testimony?
Mormons commonly cite Alma 36 as the supreme example of a long, complex chiasmus in the Book of Mormon. The first article here is a short, relatively non-technical response to this claim. The second article is a long, technical response with full documentation.
Chiasmus within Chiasmus in 3 Nephi 17:5-10?
Some scholars have claimed not only that 3 Nephi 17:5-10 is a chiasmus, but that it contains one or two smaller chiasmus structures within the larger one. This article explains why there is no chiasmus in the passage at all.
Repetition and Chiasmus in Alma 36: An Inductive Approach
Is Alma 36 a chiasmus? This article proposes a simple, easy to apply approach to settling the matter.
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Chiasmus: A Short Bibliography
A list of publications on chiasmus, both in and out of the Book of Mormon.
Chiasmus, the Book of Mormon, and the Aquarian Gospel
The third chapter of the 1907 book The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, a modern apocryphal gospel, looks like a lengthy chiasmus. It has weaknesses or flaws as a chiasmus, but the alleged examples of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon are far worse.