Well, I'm ok with that. Actually I haven't been able to find the Tanner article as yet. But this seems quite a good critique of Chiasmus in the BOM. Especially intersting are mistranslations found in the KJV, which are repeated in the BOM. Source of the article is listed underneath. It is not my work of course. Due to the number of words, I've had to abridge, this all sections though can be accessed in the indexs. See especially Church and Synagogue, terms unknown at the supposed time of the Nephites
Linguistics and the Book of Mormon
Critics point out places where the language seems to be
anachronistic, a common sign of a fictional work.
Contents [
showhide]
1 Chiasmus
2 Stylometry
3 Proper Names
4 Possible Anachronisms
4.1 Word Choice in Translation
4.1.1 "Christ" and "Messiah"
4.1.2 "Church" and "Synagogue"
4.2 The King James Bible
4.2.1 Anachronistic Borrowings
4.2.2 Unique Words and Phrases
4.2.3 Mistranslations
5 Importance to Latter-day Saints
6 See also
Chiasmus
Relatively recently, a poetical form was found to be common in ancient Middle Eastern poetry, as well as in some parts of the Bible. Dubbed "
chiasmus", it is a form of parallelism wherein key ideas familiar to the reader are inverted, usually to make a point (see entry on
chiasmus for examples). It seems unlikely that this form of poetry was recognized in the 1800s, although instances of the rhetorical style have been found in writings from this period. In the 1960s, an
LDS scholar, John Welch, discovered many uses of chiasm in the Book of Mormon. (See
Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon for several examples.) The most commonly cited example is the prophet Alma's religious experience, as recorded in
Alma 36.
Writings in the form of Chiasmus are also found in other documents authored by Joseph Smith, lending further credibility to Joseph Smith as the sole author of the Book of Mormon. This includes the
Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price , and Joseph's own diary. This pattern is rather obvious and is most likely present due to the Bible being used to instruct individuals in how to write. With the Bible as the primary literary source in Joseph Smiths lifetime it is almost a given that certain structures of writing would carry over into Joe's constructs.
- Chiasmus in other LDS scripture:
- D&C: 88:34-38
- D&C: 93:18-38
- D&C: 132:19-26
- D&C: 29-36
- PoGP, BoA: 3:16-19
- PoGP, BoA: 22-28
Richard C. Shipp has produced a masters thesis out of BYU titled "Conceptual Patterns of Repetition in the Doctrine and Covenants and Their Implications". This thesis shows evidence that Smith had both the rhythm of Chiasmus and similar literary patterns throughout his writings.
Chiastic patterns have also been found in the
Book of the Law of the Lord, a purported translation of an ancient text by James J. Strang, who is considered by members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) to be the true successor to Joseph Smith. This book is not considered authentic by members of the mainstream
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Critics point out that the presence of chiasmus in Strang's writing as well as the literature of other cultures implies that the source could be non-Hebrew. Additionally, they claim that the process of translation would make identifying chiasmus from the original Reformed Egymption difficult. See
Ancient Chiasmus Studied (scroll to p 147) or
Chiasmus and the Book of Mormon
Proper Names
The Book of Mormon contains over 300
proper names, which some consider a strong evidence that the book could not have been written in the 19th century. Some of these names are found in the Bible and the
Apocrypha (e.g. Nephi: II Maccabbees 1:36; Lehi: Judges 15:9; Lemuel: Proverbs 31:1; Ammon: Genesis 19:38; Enos: Genesis 4:26; and many others). A few of the names are similar to place names around New York, where the Book of Mormon was first published (e.g. Lehi, Onidah, Morianton, Jacobugath, Alma, Shilom, Kishkumen, Moron, Shurr, Ogath, and Ramah).
Many non-biblical names found in the Book of Mormon resemble words from ancient Hebrew (e.g. Alma, Sariah, Aha, Ammonihah, Chemish, Hagoth, Himni, Isabel, Jarom, Josh, Luram, Mathoni, Mathonihah, and Muloki). Others, however, are Greek names, which seems to suggest a modern origin (e.g. Antipas, Archeantus, Ezias, Jonas, Judea, Timothy, and Zenos).
While the similarities to biblical, geographical, and Greek names do not seem to be strong enough to present strong evidence against the validity of the Book of Mormon, neither do the similarities to Hebrew names provide us with evidence for the book's claims.
The King James Bible
The Book of Mormon contains many linguistic similarities to the
King James Bible. In some cases, entire passages of scripture are duplicated in the Book of Mormon. Sometimes the source is acknowledged, as in the book of 2 Nephi, where 18 chapters of Isaiah are quoted. The English text is copied nearly verbatim from the
Authorized Version, with minor changes in the majority of verses. In other cases, the source is not acknowledged, especially in the case of seemingly anachronistic borrowings.
Categories:
Book of Mormon studies
Source:
The Ultimate Linguistics and the book of Mormon - American History Information Guide and Reference
Melissa G