Several things make next year extremely challenging for me. D&C is the book I have taught the least, read the least, know the least about, and have the most limited mental bibliography. The arrangement of the manual is not chronological nor section-by-section, but a hybrid topical/chronological mix. Some lessons draw on multiple D&C sections and others none at all, like this one.

So today, as I’ve done for Book of Mormon, New Testament, and Old Testament, I’m providing a list of resources for the next year, after consulting a number of friends who know these things better than I. My criteria are a little idiosyncratic: accessibility, utility, breadth, depth, centrality, approach. Resources that are too narrow will be slotted into mini-recommendations where they fit a lesson. I’ve left out all biographies and personalities except for Joseph Smith, because there are simply too many.

All of these recommendations have flaws and limitations, and a link is not endorsement of everything an author has said, etc. Nevertheless, I think reading these will help us better understand early LDS Church history, scripture, and the mindset of those early members, why they talked and acted the way they did.

In spite of my limited selection, there is a lot here, and it can be overwhelming, so I’ve divided this up into sections. If you don’t want to wade through it all, here’s my shortlist of 5 books I wish everyone would read pertaining to Church history, the D&C, etc.

History is largely about understanding change and difference, something we don’t always do well as Mormons and which causes us lots of problems. We talk about line-upon-line which implies change and difference, but then assume or teach that the past wasn’t really any different or that we can safely ignore those differences. This shortlist (which I found very difficult to put together) emphasizes understanding those differences.

Shortlist

In the categories below, I’ve starred some things to call attention to, for various reasons.

Things not to read– Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Why? In short, it’s just not accurate or what it appears to be. First compiled in 1934, TPJS is presented as direct 1st person teachings of Joseph Smith, as if written by Joseph himself. This is largely not the case, and it has been superseded. Read instead

Change and the Continuing restoration.

Joseph Smith’s day was different than ours. Different worldview (Millenarian World of Early Mormonism), different issues, different day-to-day problems. Development and change. Nature of revelation. He knew things in 1844 that he didn’t know in 1830.

Approaching History, Church History, and its Potential Issues–

Nature of the D&C text (duplicated in Lesson 1)

Scripture is the “word of God” but only rarely the dictated “words of God.” We need to recognize the humanity that is always entangled with revelation and scripture. (This is something I spend time on in my book.) As it pertains to D&C, we should understand that the text has been fluid and changeable, is sometimes composite, gets “updated” with new revelation, etc.

D&C itself and Commentaries

The manual’s organization undercuts the utility of section-by-section, verse-by-verse commentaries, but these may be useful.

Journals

There is no shortage of good material about particular events, sections, etc. from lds-focused journals. I suspect the three that might be most accessible are

Last but not Least!

One important category in which both American culture and Mormon policy/doctrine have changed dramatically since the 1830s involves how we conceptualize people, relationships, and the categories we consciously and unconsciously put them into.

As I said at the beginning, this is a far from a complete list. Others have offered more academic lists of articles and books, and I’ll be offering more lesson-specific suggestions in each lesson. As always, you can help me pay my tuition here, or you can support my work through making your regular Amazon purchases through this Amazon link. You can also get updates by email whenever a post goes up (subscription box on the right). If you friend me on Facebook, please drop me a note telling me you’re a reader. I tend not to accept friend requests from people I’m not acquainted with.