Alma 36:27

LDS John W. Welch, author of, Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, argues that the use of chiasms in the Book of Mormon supports its authenticity. Alma 36:1-30 is his most famous example of a chiastic structure in the Book of Mormon.

On chiasms, Dr. Nils W. Lund writes, "It is doubtful that as many books are chiastic as has been suggested, but the presence of chiasmus in the ancient world is unquestioned. They very way that learning occurred may have contributed to chiastic structures and awareness. In all probability chiasmus was used for mnemonic purposes to assist in the dissemination of material in an oral culture. It was a way for a hearer or reader to keep track of the sequence of ideas. Therefore, chiasmus was rhetorical, artistic, and functional both for the author in arranging material for emphasis and for the reader in remembering that material." -Nils W. Lund, Chiasmus in the New Testament: A Study in the Form and Function of Chiastic Structures, p. vii.

LDS philosopher Blake Ostler, in reviewing the book, Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins, commented, "Book of Mormon Authorship has made a prima facie case for the ancient origins of the Book of Mormon. It fails, however, to respond to scholarly criticism in some crucial areas. For example, since Welch first published his study on chiasmus in 1969, it has been discovered that chiasmus also appears in the Doctrine and Covenants (see, for example, 88:34-38; 93:18-38; 132:19-26, 29-36), the Pearl of Great Price (Book of Abraham 3:16-19; 22-28), and other isolated nineteenth-century works. Thus, Welch's major premise that chiasmus is exclusively an ancient literary device is false. Indeed, the presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon may be evidence of Joseph Smith's own literary style and genius. Perhaps Welch could have strengthened his premise by demonstrating that the parallel members in the Book of Mormon consist of Semitic word pairs, the basis of ancient Hebrew poetry. Without such a demonstration, both Welch's and Reynold's arguments from chiasmus are weak." -Blake T. Ostler, Review of Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins, by Noel B. Reynolds, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 16, no. 4 (Winter, 1983): p. 143.

We believe that when examined closely and in its entirety, Alma 36:1–30 fails to meet the criteria of a genuine chiastic structure and instead appears to be artificially constructed through selective and inconsistent analysis.

In response to Welch's claim that Alma 36 is chiastic, a writer reproduced the section in question on www.lds-mormon.com, showing which elements Welch included and which verses were ignored. The writer states, "The first thing that we note is that there is an awful lot of repetition in this passage... Given that there is so much repetition, does this not increase the chances that at least some passages would display a roughly chiastic structure? Especially when we depart from the strict definition of a chiasm, and note that there are a number of elements that have no parallels, and still others that have parallels that are outside of the chiastic structure. Take, for example, the phrase, 'born of God.' It occurs four times in this passage (and seven times in the book of Alma). Two of these occurrences are worked into the chiastic structure by Welch-verses 5 and 24. A third occurrence, in verse 26, can also be worked into the structure, because it occurs between elements L and J (See Welch's chiasm structure for reference). The fourth occurrence, in verse 23, is found between elements M and L. If, as Welch asserts, this passage were deliberately intended to be chiastic, why would the author include elements that break the structure? A similar problem afflicts element I, which is actually misplaced in the chiastic structure. Again, to labor the point, the phrase 'harrowed up' occurs three times (verse 12, 17 and 19). two of these, verse 17 and 19, can be worked into the chiastic structure. The third, in verse 12, cannot. In short,.. The chiasms that Mormon researchers find all over the Book are, in fact, a result of the incredible amount of repetition contained therein, and are well within the bounds of probability. This, couple with the rather loose definition of a chiasm employed by the researchers, wherein they can include only those elements which fit the structure, and discard those elements which don't, results in a large number of imaginary chiasms in the Book." -anonymous author. For full review, including Welch's proposed chiastic structure, see Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, pp. 221-233.