“REVELATIONS IN CONTEXT: The Stories Behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, $3.45, 346 pages (nf)
The Doctrine and Covenants contains answers to questions and guidance as Joseph Smith, the founder and first president The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and other early leaders set the foundation for the church today.
“Revelations in Context: The Stories Behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants” gives the meticulously researched background of the sections, including the events that prompted the inquiry to the Lord and led to the revelation in the section. Each of the 50-plus essays is a handful of pages and shared in a format that shares the experiences in an easy to understand way for those new to LDS Church history and also shares insights for those who have been longtime students.
The sections are grouped in the narratives by situation and topic — some of the essays cover one section and others cover up to a half-dozen sections. Doctrine and Covenants 4, 11 and 23 are in the same essay titled “Joseph Smith’s Support at Home.”
In addition to the Joseph Smith Papers, the authors have used a variety of historical and biographical sources. An index shares the section number with the corresponding chapter.
Although biographical information for the authors for each essay isn’t provided, many of them are involved with the LDS Church History Department, the Joseph Smith Papers Project and Brigham Young University’s religion department.
“Revelations in Context” is available in printed books from the LDS Church’s Distribution Centers, digitally through the LDS Gospel Library app under Church History and online at history.lds.org.
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