“Fall of Man”

Alan C. Miner

According to Donald Parry, parallelism is universally recognized as the characteristic feature of biblical Hebrew poetry. (p. i) Apparently, the prophets and writers of the scriptures employed the repetition of alternating parallel lines for the purpose of reinforcing their teachings and doctrines. (p. x)

Climax is a form of staircase parallelism, because it demonstrates to the reader a gradual ascent through the recurrence of several identical words. This duplication of words creates a continuation of thought from one sentence to the next, which adds power through repetition to the discourse, while at the same time connecting the lines into an inseparable body. (p. xviii) A good example of Climax is found in Mormon 9:11-13:

Behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the

God of Abraham, and the

God of Isaac, and the

God of Jacob; and it is that same

God who

created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. 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;

[Donald W. Parry, The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted according to Parallelistic Patterns, pp. 449-450]

According to Parry, this striking passage contains two types of gradational parallelisms, climax (a climax of words) and anabasis (a climax of rhetoric, or a climax of sense). The climax of words is underscored and includes the duplication of the terms or phrases Adam, the fall of man, Jesus Christ, and redemption of man. Each is repeated twice, creating four parallel statements.

The climax of sense is determined by examining the actual theological concept taught by the prophet. It begins with Adam and the fall, and concludes with Jesus Christ and the redemption of mankind. First came the creation of Adam, who caused the "fall of man" (in Hebrew, Adam means "man," "mankind"), which of necessity brought Jesus Christ and his atonement, through which came the "redemption of man," which enables Adam ("man") to return "back into the presence of the Lord." The verse's climax is clear: it is because of the eternal roles of Adam and Jesus Christ that men "are brought back into the presence of the Lord." [Donald W. Parry, "Power through Repetition," in Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 298-299]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

References