Some interesting little items from the Book of Mormon

Notes from a manuscript of mine:

Poetic form called climax (from the Greek word for “ladder”)[1]

  And the first fruits of repentance is

baptism; and

baptism cometh by faith unto

the fulfilling the commandments; and

the fulfilling the commandments bringeth

remission of sins; And the

remission of sins bringeth

meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of

meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the

Holy Ghost, which

Comforter[2] filleth with hope and perfect

love, which

love endureth by diligence unto prayer,

  until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.[3]

  Behold, he created

Adam, and by

Adam came

the fall of man.  And because of

the fall of man came

Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of

Jesus Christ came

the redemption of man.  And because of

the redemption of man, which came by

  Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord.[4]

Note not only that Adam is linked, rather unsurprisingly, with the fall of man and Jesus Christ with the redemption of man, but that Adam is implicitly contrasted with Jesus Christ and the fall of man juxtaposed with the redemption of man.  It is a deceptively simple arrangement.

[1] Parry, “Hits” article; Donald W. Parry, “Climactic Forms in the Book of Mormon,” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, ed. John W. Welch (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 290-292.  [See original.]

[2] The Comforter, of course, is the Holy Ghost.

[3] Moroni 8:25-26

[4] Mormon 9:12-13.

***

There are no surnames in the Old Testament.  Similarly, no surnames occur among the personalities mentioned in the Book of Mormon, whose culture purportedly derives, at least to a large extent, from that of the ancient Hebrews.  Of course, an ordinarily sensitive reader of the Old Testament would probably have noticed the lack of surnames in it.  But how many readers have noticed that the English versions of Old Testament personal names never begin with f, and that they never include either q or x or w?  Yet personal names in the Book of Mormon likewise never begin with f, and they never include either q or x or w.[1]

[1] Parry, “Hits” article; Arthur G. Pledger, “The W and I” (September 1976), 24-25 [see original]; Donald W. Parry, “The Book of Mormon: Integrity and Internal Consistency,” Expressions of Faith: Testimonies of Latter-day Saint Scholars, ed. Susan Easton Black (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996), 211 [see original].

Posted from Park City, Utah