2017 brings to Adult Sunday School the Doctrine and Covenants and church history. Let’s just take a moment and offer up thanks that the plan for topical Sunday School lessons was scrapped. Now, the Doctrine and Covenants is a great opportunity, because we have more context for it than any other scripture in our canon. There is also a fair amount of terrible material masquerading as study helps out there. This post is an outline of the best resources we have for approaching the text and preparing lessons in the coming year. Also, as a bonus, BCCers will be putting up lessons throughout the year, including lesson-specific resources.
Introductions, contexts, commentaries, and questions I think that the three best and accessible resources are:. Harper’s Check out my review,. This book is already eight years old, and there has been a lot of important work since. Still it is great all-around resource. Faulconer’s There is a Thanks Jim!. This book is questions, not answers. But they are good questions, and will perhaps help you think of new ways of approaching the text and your lessons.
The LDS Church History Department, I understand that these will be collected and published by the church. In the interim, they are Besides being available online, and in your LDS Library App under “Church History,” Update you can purchase from the distribution center. These are great essays giving excellent context for the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants. The Joseph Smith Papers Project is critical here. And the website has done a lot of important work to get documents and volume introductions up. For the deep dive, however, the introductions for the individual documents are only available printed Documents volumes.
They are pretty spendy, so they are probably best for people that have a long-term commitment to research. Still, check out the volume intros:. Update Also the Document introductions and annotations are available from the published volumes one year after publication. So when you go to the JSPP website and select, for example, a revelation text.
You can read the document intro, which is invariably important. And if the deep dive really is your thing, let me recommend Robin Jensen’s “‘Rely upon the Things Which Are Written’: Text, Context, and the Creation of Mormon Revelatory Records” (MLIS thesis, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2009).
This really changed how I see the revelation texts. I think it is only available from ProQuest, if you have institutional access, or you know someone. Histories The Gospel Doctrine curriculum isn’t just on the Doctrine and Covenants. Church History is also a topic for lessons. Here are some suggestions on that front:. Bowman’s Matt’s volume is an engaging wonderful one-volume history of the church.
It is on Audible, if you prefer to go that route. Staker’s I will not deceive you, this is a bit of a slog to get through, and probably best for people committed to research. It has weaknesses as well as strengths (see my review ).
But most of the revelations came from Kirtland, so this is a good place to go if you want to bone up on the era. Others to think about might be Bushman’s of Joseph Smith, Turner’s of Brigham Young, and/or Kimball’s of Spencer Kimball (out of print, but available used and on Kindle). As mentioned, I’m sure that we will have article and chapter suggestions for the individual lesson posts we put up. If there are other resources that you have found helpful, feel free to share. Hadn’t heard that it was scrapped. I just thought that it was delayed in coming out so that PH/RS could get through the last of the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church manuals, since next year is Pres.
Hinckley and the last one if we don’t include Pres. Since it also coincided with the end of the 4 year Gospel Doctrine cycle I figured that we would be starting the new program in 2018 once they could translate all of the materials into the various other languages. Wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong though. ReTx, From what I remember reading, the program they tested back in 2014 wasn’t purely topic based. For Gospel Doctrine they basically assigned a section of scripture to the entire month, gave some suggested topics and lesson plans for sections of that scripture, and then let the teacher choose how they approached the material with their class. I seem to remember that in the program they tested was Old Testament and January covered Moses/Genesis through around Chapter 40.
Buena onda translation. Of course my memory may be wrong and the program may also have changed since then. Only those in the Church Office Building probably. ReTx, The problem, IMO, with the not-so-new youth curriculum is that for it to be effective, it requires skills from the teachers and the students we don’t cultivate institutionally: willingness to openly ask questions with inherently ambiguous answers, the ability to tolerate multiple readings of a text, understanding the difference between a good question and a boring one, sincerely encouraging differences of opinion and interpretation. You know, good teaching. I was in YW as a Laurels Advisor in one of the stakes that piloted the new curriculum and remember thinking it was a vast improvement over the old manuals, which seemed to revolve around girls named Jenny who were perpetually late to their piano lessons. I spent much of my own time as a YW in Brazil, and it was cray-ay-ay-zy how white middle/upper-middle class the old manuals were. I remember feeling faintly embarrassed by them in the context of 1990s northeast Brazil.
I was shocked to find them still in use fifteen years later. But I agree with you overall, and with the OP. Switching from study of the scriptures to topics in GD is a recipe for awful for many of the same reasons I’m sure your kids hate the YW/YM curriculum. I’m glad it’s not happening next year. Glad to have the resources in the OP.
FWIW, I really liked the new Aaronic priesthood curriculum when I was teaching as a deacon’s quorum advisor. But, like Leona says, it requires a decent amount of investment from teachers and students.
We had to really make an effort to get the teachers, parents, and kids to understand that what we were doing would not work with the old manuals’ regurgitation model. And even making that effort, I’m not sure we really succeeded. We had some really great lessons, but we had a lot that fell flat, too. On the whole, though, I think it was better than the old manuals. The other problem with the youth curriculum, though, is that changing both Aaronic Priesthood/YW and Sunday School to topic-based makes them seem kind of redundant. I think topical works well for YW/Aaronic Priesthood, but Sunday School works better with a scripture-based curriculum.
Greetings to all. On December 26, the Joseph Smith Papers will publish an e-book in which we have collected the transcripts and annotation for all the Joseph Smith revelations that have so far appeared in the Documents series (volumes 1 through 4). This means we will cover all the revelations up through section 107.
The e-book will be distributed through Deseret Book, same as all of our other print and e-books. We expect the retail price will be about $15. We will also do a free update of this book (to those who purchased it) when we have completed the transcripts and annotation for the Joseph Smith revelations we were not able to include this time. We are publishing this e-book this year, even though the e-book will be incomplete, in order to support the teaching of the Doctrine and Covenants in Gospel Doctrine next year. We hope the compilation will be helpful for other reasons as well. Thanks to all those that replied back to my little rant. I have to say that a program as described by Jared sounds wonderful to teach (as someone with a professional teaching background), but I am also iffy about most GD teachers having the skills/time to do any better than what is happening in YW/YM.
I wonder how other wards are handling the ‘no outside material’ rules. Our ward is still big on this with individuals being called into the Bishop’s office for bringing in church history not presented in official manuals, etc. The term being thrown around in our ward is “divinely approved sources.” (Gag) Which I believe comes from the new seminary program. We had an entire talk on it with a big graphic showing all the various leaders of the church we should seek knowledge from (God–Prophet–Apostles–All the way down to Bishops). Then the outside of the graphic (outer darkness?) was everything else that offers knowledge (summarized as the internet).
I wanted to raise my hand and ask where Historians fell in this scheme, but it never goes well for me when I start ruffling feathers. “Divinely approve sources” really caught on after that though and comes up regularly in lessons. (Again, Gag.). I’m with Clark, I’m not old enough to have experienced the topical lessons, but I’m looking forward to not having teachers try to squeeze some sort of relevant lesson from Levitical sacrificial protocol. If you accept the premises of the Church (that we have modern day prophets who have the same authority as the old ones), it seems to make more sense to focus on more current issues. With the traditional approach we’re studying copies of copies of copies x 10 of manuscripts written in completely different languages from completely different time periods (when nobody batted an eye at slaughtering cities wholesale), and that’s before we get to the fact that in about half of the cases the purported prophetic authors probably weren’t the actual authors. It might be more challenging intellectually, but if I want an intellectual exercise I’ll go play chess; that’s not the point of church.
As far as “outside material,” I think that varies a lot depending on the particular ward. I recently gave a talk that included information about the psychological research on God imagery, Jonathan Edwards sermons, 18th century diaries, and the JS papers. Nobody cared and many people thanked me afterwards. ReTx, I suggest Elder Ballard’s February 2016 talk to CES teachers as an antidote to the kind of restrictions you describe. “Divinely appointed sources” is from the seminary curriculum but here is one sentence from Elder Ballard’s talk that suggests its possible breadth, especially in light of the study of the Doctrine and Covenants and church history that we will undertake this next year: “For you to understand the doctrinal and historical content and context of the scriptures and our history, you will need to study from the ‘best books,’ as the Lord directed.
The ‘best books’ include the scriptures, the teachings of modern prophets and apostles, and the best LDS scholarship available.”. Elder Ballard’s talk was used for a R.S. It didn’t pick up nearly as much traction and my daughter’s seminary teacher sticks with only officially church sanctioned sources. Which says something about what the local people/leadership wants. Either way, I’m not teaching at the moment so it isn’t worth having a battle over. This all has caused a number of discussions at our house though. My daughter is putting pressure on her seminary teacher to come up with better answers to historical questions and then feels frustrated when the teacher comes back to ‘it isn’t vital for eternal salvation’ as an answer.
My response is that if my daughter wants real answers, she has to do the hard work of researching herself. And she’s coming to agree, but then sees seminary as totally worthless – especially compared to the excellent classes she is taking in high school. They way I figure, and I’m not claiming any authority on the matter, is that as all lessons and talks are supposed to be prepared under the influence of the Spirit (as in the member of the Godhead, not the kind from a glass bottle), if the Spirit approves your use of a source, and you are using it to help enhance your message, then you should feel more at ease using it (since lacking personal visitations, the Spirit is how most of us check whether something is in line with the Lord’s desire). For example, I used a Maxwell Institute article in a lesson I took.
It was relevant to the topic at hand, it helped demonstrate an important point, and gave people some different ways of thinking about things while reading the scriptures that could help improve/enhance what they gain from them in the future, and so I felt nothing wrong using it. However, I probably wouldn’t include a non-scriptural or manual source purely because it contains a funny story about a handcart pioneer vomiting on their pet dog (I made that example up. I have no idea if any similar stories exist, or whether any pioneers actually vomited on their pet dogs anyway). Likewise, I almost certainly wouldn’t use any sources that were intended to be antagonistic towards the Church, God, Christianity, etc, as its unlikely that they will allow the Spirit to be present.
In Sunday School in 2017, Latter-day Saints will be studying the Doctrine and Covenants and Church history. This article reviews the extensive resources that have been created by the Church to help in your study. Doctrine and Covenants and Church History: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual Supplemental material has been added to the digital version of the found on LDS.org and in the Gospel Library mobile app. The has not been updated. The “Helps for the Teacher” section (before lesson 1) has been updated with additional resources. The “Preparation” section in many of the lessons has been updated with links to new resources. The right column of many of the lessons now includes links to related images, videos, and articles about events in Church history. Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Class Member Study Guide is available to each class member.
The guide provides the week’s reading assignment, along with questions and other information to enhance your study. You may use the questions to improve personal application of the scriptures and to prepare to make meaningful contributions to class discussions. Each section also has a scripture chain—a list of scripture passages that relate to the reading assignment. Pages 25–26 of the study guide contain the complete text of ” to refer to as you study lesson 45. The study guide also contains a chronology of Church history on pages 27–28 and three maps of significant Church history sites pages 29–31. The guide is available, and in the Gospel Library mobile app. Revelations in Context The Church History Department has published a new book, Revelations in Context, that provides helpful insights to the stories behind the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants.
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It is helpful to understand the historical context behind each of the sections in the Doctrine and Covenants to better understand and appreciate the experiences and perspectives of Joseph Smith and other early Church leaders. The Revelations in Context series is available on the Church history website, in the Gospel Library app (in the “Church History” category), and in in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It is part of a larger effort by the Church to improve transparency about its history, which includes the, the, and the.
Church History Study Guide This guide at provides additional resources for each lesson in the Gospel Doctrine Teacher Manual. Our Heritage The small book Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gives background information on Church history. Many of the lessons in the course include a reading assignment from this book. The book is available, and in the Gospel Library mobile app.
Historic Sites Pages The Church History website (history.lds.org) offers. These are online exhibits that show the sites of the restoration of the gospel and provide history about places, such as Palmyra, New York, and Jackson County, Missouri.
Other The following additional resources may be helpful for teaching and studying the Doctrine and Covenants:. Essays on important historical and doctrinal topics including, Joseph Smith’s accounts of the First Vision, women and the priesthood, and plural marriage. Online exhibits and short videos about the key events and ministry of each of the presidents of the Church. Various online exhibits about people and events in Church history.
A digital exhibit of 25 important records from the Church’s history. An interactive, online guide to objects inside of the Church History Museum that played notable roles in the restoration of the Church. Joseph Smith’s four accounts of the First Vision. Provides news and links to resources. Original documents transcribed and annotated that provide in-depth insight on every major aspect of the restoration and founding of the Church. Original, annotated documents conveying the challenges, contributions, devotion, and teachings of early Latter-day Saint women.
Available and. Stories of pioneers who have helped build the Church around the world. External Resources For those interested in an in-depth stufy of the Doctrine and Covenants and Church history this year, the following external resources may be of help. Joseph Smith Chronology – Events in Joseph Smith’s life are listed in chronological order and can be searched by date (year and month) or category.
Entries contain summaries and links to additional information. Scripture Citation Index – Allows for side-by-side comparison of conference talks, Journal of Discourses speeches, and the writings in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith to the scriptures. Includes a reverse citation index. The Scriptures, Mapped – Pinpoints (known) locations that are referenced in each chapter of scripture. Works best for Old and New Testament locations. Scriptures Bibliography – Connects scholarly articles to the specific books, chapters, and verses of scripture they reference.
Atom.lib.byu.edu/ includes other indexes compiled by ATOM Collections. The Interpreter Foundation – Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture is a free, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of Latter-day Saint scripture. BYU Studies – Doctrine and Covenants lessons are connected with relevant BYU Studies Quarterly articles and chapters from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism.
Book of Mormon Central – Provides access to scholarly evidence about Book of Mormon questions. Blue Letter Bible – Bible index of each word in the Bible. Includes Strong’s Concordance reference ID and definition, outline of biblical usage, and Greek/Hebrew root forms.
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Bible Browser – Allows for side-by-side comparison of multiple biblical translations in a single page. Languages include English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, and Western Apache.
Webster’s 1828 – or This dictionary published in 1828 sheds light on how words may have been understood in at the time the Book of Mormon was published. Allows for side-by-side comparison in three different dictionaries.
You may also check out the (subscription required). This will show how a word has transformed over time. Book of Mormon Onomasticon – Includes possible etymology of names in the Bible and Book of Mormon. Works best in Firefox browser. Thanks to Ryan in Church History for compiling this list.
On the LDS Media Talk blog, shares ideas about how to use media and other resources published by (the 'Mormons') and its members. The blog also shares ideas on using technology and social media to strengthen families and share the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. This blog is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed here are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Church. Copyright © 2006-2017 Larry L.