Item Detail
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4786
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17
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8
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English
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The 'Lectures on Faith' : A Case Study in Decanonization
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Dialogue : A Journal of Mormon Thought
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Fall 1987
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20
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71-77
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[1988 Mormon Historical Association Winner for Best Article]
The Lectures on Faith were included in the Doctrine and Covenants from 1835 until the 1921 revision. Even though Orson Pratt had early questions the orthodoxy and authoritativeness of the Lectures, the First Presidency's introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants made no distinction between the inspirational quality of the Lectures and the rest of the book, 'Covenenants and Commandments.' In 1921 a committee headed by George F. Richards, and including Anthony W. Ivings, Melvin J. Ballard, James E. Talmage, John A. Widtsoe, and Joseph Fielding Smith, decided to delete the Lectures. The authors of this article say that canonization procedures in the Church have never been officially specified, though not all revelations need be considered scripture. The show some disagreement among general authorities as to whether the Church members can accept or reject something as revelation. Joseph Fielding Smith, who was on the committee in 1921, said that one reason the Lectures were deleted is that they were 'instructions,' not 'doctrine,' but the First President in 1835 considered them to be the 'doctrine' part of the Doctrine and Covenants.
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Documents, Volume 4: April 1834-September 1835
Do We Have to Believe That? Canon and Extra-canonical Sources of LDS Belief
Exploring Mormon Thought : The Attributes of God, Volume 1
James E. Talmage and Scientific Consulting in Early Modern Utah
Mormons and the Omnis : The Dangers of Theological Speculation
Perfection and Progression : Two Complementary Ways to Talk about God
The Adam-God Doctrine and the Persistence of Polygamy
The Book of Mormon Reference Companion
The Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith
The Doctrine of Divine Embodiment : Restoration, Judeo-Christian, and Philosophical Perspectives
The King James Bible and the Future of Missionary Work
The Latter Day Saints in Ohio : Writing the History of Mormonism's Middle Period
The Lectures on Faith in Historical Perspective
The Triangle and the Sovereign : Logics, Histories, and an Open Canon
The Weeping God of Mormonism
What is Mormonism? A Student’s Introduction -
A Study of the Doctrine and Covenants
History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Period I : History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, by Himself
Mormon Polygamy : A History
The Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants
The Rocky Mountain Saints : A Full and Complete History of the Mormons
The Words of Joseph Smith : The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph
What of the Lectures on Faith?
Who Wrote the Book of Mormon? An Analysis of Wordprints