John Welch relates this story:
While in Germany, I attended a series of lectures delivered by a prominent professor at the University of Regensburg, one of which was on chiasmus in Matthew and Mark. Chiasmus is an ancient literary art form, often used in the Bible. A chiastic passage is one that is arranged so that the first element in the passage parallels the last, the second parallels the next to last, and so forth into the center. . . . In his lectures, the professor made several strong statements about the way in which the presence of chiasmus, especially in Matthew, was evidence of Near Eastern rather than Western thought. Shortly after these lectures, I arranged a conference with the professor in his stone-walled office. My purpose was to show him four of the intricate chiastic passages I had located in the Book of Mormon. (Mosiah 3:18-19, 5:10-12; Alma 36, and the book of 1 Nephi, for example.) The meeting was brief since this evidence of ancient Near Eastern thought in the Book of Mormon needed little explanation, and the professor, openly frustrated by the inescapability of the conclusion for which he himself had laid the premises, was convinced and had little to say.
Chiasmus as seen in Mosiah 5:10-12:
a And now . . . whosoever shall not take upon him the name of Christ
b must be called by some other name;
c therefore, he findeth himself on the left hand of God.
d I would that ye should remember also, that this is the name. . . .
e that never should be blotted out,
f except it be through transgression. . . .
f' therefore, take heed that ye do not transgress,
e' that the name be not blotted out of your hearts. . . .
d' I would that ye should remember to retain the name. . . .
c' that ye are not found on the left hand of God,
b' but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called,
a' and also, the name by which he shall call you.
[John W. Welch, "A Book You Can Respect," in The Ensign, September 1977, p. 48]
Welch notes that King Benjamin is interested in contrasting those who remember the covenantal name with those who do not or contrasting those who know the voice by which they will be called with those who must be called by some other name. The structure of the chiasm in this text accentuates this sharp contrast, the either/or separating these two options (the basic inverted sequence is: name, called, left hand, remember, blotted out, transgression, transgress, blotted out, remember, left hand, called, name). This formal structure also places at the center the divinely decreed consequence, namely, the blotting out of their names in the event of transgression, which the covenanters are therefore sternly admonished to avoid. [John W. Welch, "What Does Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon Prove?" in Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 206-207]
Mosiah 5:10-12 (Chiastic Form) [[Illustration]): The example here compares a chiasm in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiche Maya, with a passage from the Book of Mormon. [John L. Sorenson, Images of Ancient America, p. 177]