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Books on Chiasmus

• The Shape of Biblical Language by John Breck
  • The Shape of Biblical Language is the most comprehensive treatment of chiasmus occurring in both the Old and New Testaments yet published.  This work will fascinate and inform anyone who is interested in the dynamics of biblical literary composition.  Its special appeal will be to students, scholars, pastors and others who seek to understand more fully the message of the Scriptures and the manner in which the original message was conveyed.
• The Literary Structure of the Old Testament by David Dorsey
  • The Literary Structure of the Old Testament is an outstanding work and is the first comprehensive treatment of chiasmus of the Old Testament books and its significance for understanding their meaning and message.  The Old Testament authors conveyed meaning and emphasis by the way they structured their writings according to ancient Near Eastern methods.  Most modern readers are not aware of this, and thus, this volume will be pivotal to their understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures.
• Preaching Mark by Robert Reid
  • Far from the scissor and paste notion of modern biblical criticism of Mark's Gospel, the author argues for Mark's master craftsmanship of rhetorical form by employing literate compositional art.  The book documents the chiastic structure for the entire Gospel of Mark, divided into nineteen narrative complexes.

• Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey

  • This volume is a combined edition of Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes, Kenneth Bailey's intensive studies of the parables in the gospel of Luke.  Kenneth Bailey draws on more than twenty years of experience with Middle Eastern peasant culture in his study of the literary structure and cultural milieu of sixteen of Jesus' most significant parables as they are recorded in Luke.  In addition to illuminating the cultural framework of the parables, Bailey offers an analysis of their literary structure, most notably based on chiasmus.  Through its combination of literary and cultural analyses, Bailey's study makes a number of profound advances in parabolic interpretation.

• The Literary Development of John 13--17 by Wayne Brouwer

  • "The chiastic reading of John 13--17 presented in this study results in an interpretation of the farewell discourse that addresses a number of important issues in Fourth Gospel studies.  It offers, for instance, an intelligible role for the repeated "love command", showing it to be part of the chiastic framing and centering of the discourse as a whole.  Furthermore, it highlights the significance of the vine and branches teaching in John 15:1-17, allowing it to stand prominently as the turning point around which the discourse is built, and using its metaphor as the guiding principle by which the rest of the teachings of the discourse hold together.  Finally, it balances the introductory narrative, shaped by its expression of union with Jesus at entrance into the hour of glory, with the concluding prayer, where, once again union with Jesus is shown to take place in the experience of the hour of glory" (pgs. 167-168).

• Divine Symmetries: The Art of Biblical Rhetoric by Victor Wilson
  • Three survey chapters prepare for discussion of ten biblical books from representative genres spanning Genesis through Revelation.  Divine Symmetries considers the relationship of shape to meaning in the pattern of selected units within each book.  An appendix on the Sermon on the Mount guides the reader through a practical methodology.  Divine symmetries offers a highly visual approach to seeing the shape of Scripture on the Bible's own terms.  Extensive indexes and bibliography are provided. 
• Chiasmus in the New Testament by Nils W. Lund
  • ''Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man.'' That's inverted parallelism or ''chiastic structure,'' and since the 1942 publication of this landmark study, you can hardly read a commentary without finding a reference to it. Lund's work shows how Jewish speech and thought patterns influenced New Testament writers, challenging the assumption that they wrote without literary training or intention.
• Chiasmus in Antiquity, edited by John W. Welch
  • The study of ancient literature has been enriched in the twentieth century by the growing awareness and understanding of the presence of chiasmus.  This form of inverted parallelism has been found in the Bible and in other ancient writings, where it adds beauty and helps to reveal meaning.  The essays in Chiasmus in Antiquity, first published in Germany in 1981, examine the use and effect of chiasmus in both the Old and New Testaments, as well as in Sumero-Akkadian, Ugaritic, Talmudic, Greek, and Latin Literatures.  Readers will also find useful the extensive bibliography and index of what had been written up to 1980 on each identifiable chiastic passage.
• Chiasmus Bibliography, edited by John Welch & Daniel McKinlay
  • In 1981, an significant bibliography of works on chiasmus was published in Chiasmus in Antiquity.  Chiasmus Bibliography extends that bibliographic effort by including a large number of relevant works published or located in the last two decades.  Students of this literary form will find Chiasmus Bibliography an invaluable guide to the growing body of scholarly writings on this subject.
• Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You by Mardy Grothe
  • This is the first popular book ever published on the literary and rhetorical device of chiasmus.  If you aren't sure what chiasmus means, you have a lot of company.  Chiasmus occurs when the order of words is reversed in parallel expressions. While you may not be familiar with the word, you're well acquainted with the phenomenon, for it shows up in thousands of famous sayings, like "Failing to plan is planning to fail," "Quitters never win and winners never quit," and "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."  Some of the most clever, thought-provoking, and memorable things ever said or written are examples, like JFK's famous "Ask not what your country can do for you".