Mostrar código-fonte de Pergunta: É a presença de estruturas quiásticas no Livro de Mórmon simplesmente coincidência?

{{FairMormon}}
<onlyinclude>
{{translate}}
==Question: Is the presence of chiastic structures in the Book of Mormon simply coincidence?==
===The "hickory dickory dock" theory of chiasmus===

Critics of the Book of Mormon have proposed what might be called the "hickory dickory dock" theory of chiasmus.  They point out that the children's nursery rhyme ''Hickory Dickory Dock'' is chiastic:

{| border="2" cellpadding="1"
|+'''''Hickory Dickory Dock'' as Chiasmus'''
|-
|A - Hickory dickory dock
:B - The mouse ran up the clock
::C (central) - The clock struck one
:B' - The mouse ran down
A' - Hickory dickory dock
|}

===Such simple examples of chiasmus are well known in English speech===

To be sure, this is a trivial example.  If this was the only sort of chiasmus to be found in the Book of Mormon, then it would be weak evidence, at best, of any sort of ancient origin for the text.  Such simple examples of chiasmus are well known in English speech. This particular example becomes a bit more complicated, of course, because this poem can also be rewritten in a different format:

{| border="2" cellpadding="1"
|+'''''Hickory Dickory Dock'' as Limerick'''
|-
|Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
:The clock struck one
:The mouse ran down
Hickory dickory dock
|}

Which structural label better describes the poem? Was it intended to be read chiastically? Or was it intended to be a limerick? Or does neither description best suit the likely intent of the author?

{| border="2" cellpadding="1"
|+'''From the Bible'''
|-
|A - The last
:B - shall be first
:B' - and the first
A' - shall be last.
:''From: [http://scriptures.lds.org/matt/9/30#30 Matthew 9:30], [http://scriptures.lds.org/matt/20/16#16 Matthew 20:16]''
|}


{| border="2" cellpadding="1"
|+'''From Shakespeare'''
|-
|A - Fair is
:B - foul
:B' - and foul
A' - is fair.
:''From: Macbeth, Act I, scene 1, lines 11&ndash;12.''
|}

===Such simple examples do exist in the Book of Mormon===

The "hickory dickory dock" theory would seem to be a [[Logical fallacies#Straw_man| strawman]].  Such simple examples do exist in the Book of Mormon, (''examples'') but they are not the most impressive ones.  Critics try to pretend that the simple, trivial parallelisms represent ''all'' such chiastic samples in the Book of Mormon.  If Joseph Smith was writing the Book of Mormon himself, he might well compose simple parallelisms intentionally, or even accidentally.

Small, "trivial" chiastic structures containing only a few elements might well arise through chance or English rhetoric, especially when other elements within the text are not considered in the analysis.  

However, critics ignore numerous complex, subtle, and meaningful chiamus when they assume that ''all'' of the Book of Mormon's inverted parallel structures are so simple.  On the other hand, more work needs to be done to evaluate the hundreds of proposed chiastic readings of the Book of Mormon.<ref>Guidelines for such analysis can be found at {{JBMS-4-2-1}}</ref> Some of them will inevitably end up as less likely than others, though statistical analysis has sustained the presence of some Book of Mormon chiasmus,<ref>{{BYUS|author=Boyd F. Edwards and W. Farrell Edwards|article=[http://byustudies.byu.edu/chiasmus/pdf/Edwards.pdf Does Chiasmus Appear in the Book of Mormon by Chance?]|vol=43|num=2|date=2004|start=103|end=130}}; see also {{DialogueP|author=Boyd F. Edwards and W. Farrell Edwards|article=[http://www.dialoguejournal.com/excerpts/e1.pdf Response to Earl Wunderli’s Critique of Alma 36 as an Extended Chiasm]|num=1|date=30 April 2006}} </ref> and failed to support it in some of Joseph's modern writings.<ref>{{DialogueP|author=Boyd F. Edwards and W. Farrell Edwards|article=[http://www.dialoguejournal.com/excerpts/e4.pdf Does Joseph's Letter to Emma of 4 November 1838 Show that He Knew about Chiasmus?]|num=4|date=26 August 2006}}</ref> 

And for LDS members, the value of these readings is less about demonstrating historicity in the text, and more about interpreting the text with the intentions of the authors in mind, as viewed through their use of rhetorical figures.
</onlyinclude>
{{notas}}

<!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->

[[en:Question: Is the presence of chiastic structures in the Book of Mormon simply coincidence?]]