Does chiasmus prove that the Book of Mormon is an ancient text?

In this episode of LDS Discussions, we take a closer look at one of the most frequently cited arguments for the Book of Mormon’s ancient authenticity: chiasmus. Mormon apologists have argued that the presence of complex chiastic structures demonstrates that the Book of Mormon was written by ancient Hebrew authors and could not have been produced by Joseph Smith in the 19th century.

But there is a problem with that argument: chiasmus does not appear only in the Book of Mormon.

We examine what chiasmus actually is, how John W. Welch famously identified chiasmus in the Book of Mormon. We also look at the way chiasmus and other biblical literary patterns appear throughout the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Book of Moses, Book of Abraham, and even Joseph Smith’s personal writings and letters.

We also examine an important question about translation. If the Book of Mormon was originally written in Reformed Egyptian and then translated into English, how could highly specific Hebrew literary structures survive that process? The Book of Mormon itself says that its language had been altered, raising questions about the assumption that these literary structures should necessarily have been preserved.

If the presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is supposed to demonstrate that it was written by ancient authors, what should we make of the same literary technique appearing in texts that unquestionably originated in the modern era? Even Shakespeare, who was born in London, wrote complex chiasms. The goal is not simply to ask whether chiasmus exists in the Book of Mormon, but whether its existence actually demonstrates ancient authorship.