Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Keywords
John W. Welch, chiasmus, ancient literature, Book of Mormon studies, Chiasmus Bibliography
Abstract
As a missionary in Germany in 1967, John W. Welch, along with his companion, attended a theological lecture in which the professor explained chiasmus, a kind of literary parallelism prevalent in the Bible. Soon thereafter Welch was the first person to discover superb examples of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, a strong indication of that record's ancient and artistic composition. Bringing this to the professor's attention, Welch was unceremoniously dismissed. But the response a few months later from a Jesuit priest who was an authority on the subject was encouraging, even prophetic: "You are very fortunate. I think you have found your life's work."
Recommended Citation
(1999)
"Chiasmus Bibliography Marks Thirty Years of Research,"
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship: Vol. 19:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/insights/vol19/iss2/4