Dead Sea Scroll Chiasmus

Photograph of a Dead Sea Scroll containing a chiasm that is on display in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. Used in ancient scripture, chiasms are a powerful, symmetric pattern of writing. This funneling structure focuses in and emphazises the main concept in the middle. From here.  Personally, I find this particular design intriquing.  [...]

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Chiasmus Quotes – “Scripture in Tradition”

   . A few years ago I read the book, “The Shape of Biblical Language – Chiasmus in the Scriptures“, written by Father John Breck.  This morning I picked up John’s “Scripture in Tradition:  The Bible and Its Interpretation in the Orthodox Church“.  Chapter 5 is entitled, “Chiasmus as a Key to Biblical Interpretation”.  Below are [...]

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“The Value of Chiasm for New Testament Interpretation”

Just thought I would mention the 1984 Ronald E. Man article, “The Value of Chiasm for New Testament Interpretation” – available online.  The paper contains a number of nice chiasmi.  Eventually I would like to place some of the chiasmi on this blog.

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Extra-Biblical Chiasmi – “Chiasmus in Antiquity”

Chiasmus was not used exclusively by Biblical writers.  It was used by others as well.  John W. Welch‘s book ”Chiasmus in Antiquity“ is an excellent book for viewing possible chiastic structures from cultures outside of Israel.  It’s a good starting point for understanding chiasmus outside of the Bible. Here are the chapter titles: Preface Introduction Chiasm [...]

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Chiasmus Verification Criteria

  John W. Welch:   Criteria for Identifying and Evaluating the Presence of Chiasmus Craig Blomberg:  Criteria for Detecting Extended Chiasmus  (Click on Section I) _____ John Welch lists 15 criteria, while Craig Blomberg lists 9.

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Recommended Readings and Sites

  Recommended readings: A good overview of Chiasmus:  Chiasmus: An Important Structural Device, by Brad McCoy Recommended sites: Lists of possible Biblical Chiasmi:           - ‘In the Beginning’ website’s lists: -  Smaller selection  -  though still substantial. -  Larger bibliography -  Here’s a book by John Welch, written in 1998, which lists many possible chiasmi:  Chiasmus Bibliography (link [...]

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Chiasmus Synonyms

  Here I’m going to place alternative terms for chiasmus.  (Interestingly, synonym.com had no synonyms for chiasmus): Chiasm, concentric parallelism, reverse parallelism, introverted parallelism, inverted parallelism, reverse symmetry.  

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