Jack Welch
November 19, Annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture
John W. Welch is the Robert K. Thomas Professor of Law emeritus in BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. He is scholar of religion and law credited with discovering the many instances of the ancient literary form of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, a realization he had as a young missionary in Germany. Professor Welch received his bachelor’s degree in history and his master’s degree in Latin and Greek, both from Brigham Young University. He then studied at Oxford and later received his JD from Duke University. In 1979 he founded the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) while working as a lawyer in southern California. He was editor-in-chief of BYU Studies for 27 years, a contributing author for the Joseph Smith Papers project, editor for the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, and the General Editor of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley. He is the author and editor of numerous books and is one of the greatest living expositors of the Book of Mormon, known especially for his important books, The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount (Deseret Book, 1990), and The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon (BYU, 2008).