Dr. Randall Bell brings fresh new research to Mormon Studies in this fascinating episode of Radio Free Mormon! Apologists claim the presence of an ancient Hebrew literary form called “chiasmus” proves the Book of Mormon to be ancient. “Not so fast,” says Dr. Bell, who shares with us a much more plausible source for chiasmus in the Book of Mormon than being put there by ancient American Jews whom DNA studies show didn’t exist. This is an episode you will want to not only watch, but share with your friends and family! The more we study the Book of Mormon, the more apparent it is a product of early 19th Century America!
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Menorah Pattern is a more accurate description of Hebrew Poetic literary structure that reverse reflect such as
“chiasmus.” Visual presentations of this poetic motif concerning the Book of Mormon are found in at
https://adamgodthinking.com/hidden/
https://biblicalchiasmus.wordpress.com/
I don’t think your math quite works. Once you deduct all the Isaiah, etc, you’re left with 200 pages, and thus Joseph only had to produce 100 pages of unique content? So you are assuming that the remaining 200 pages are composed entirely of chiasms? I don’t think so.
This conversation is quite helpful in the sense that it shows where Joseph could have gained some of his information and constructs. I’ll make a couple of points not covered in the podcast. First, three kingdoms within God’s Kingdom came from Tertullian. Emanuel Swedenborg copied this church father. My next point is chaiastic formulas are ancient poetry. When you develop your concepts, the meanings of the words play off of each other especially in reverse order because that takes you back to the main point. Isaiah uses this technique over and over again as literary types especially in the bfid structures that refer to evil power and dictators. Swedenborg did not invent pre-existence although he did write about it metaphorically in his visions. This concept has some New Testament adherents as shown in the Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary. Origen held this position as well. Anglicans such as F. C. Gilbert and C. S. Lewis taught this doctrine also along with a few Orthodox. Thank you for this podcast. Sincerely, In Saviors Name, Msgr. Tom Roberts, PhD, DD