malkie wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 4:23 pm
Richard S. Van Wagoner, Steven C. Walker and
Allen D. Roberts wrote:THE "LECTURES ON FAITH," seven 1834—35 lessons on theology and doctrine
prepared for the '&hool of the Elders" in Kirtland, Ohio, were canonized in
the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants by official vote of the Church.
In the preface of that volume, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon,
and Frederick G. Williams — then the First Presidency — specifically justified
the inclusion of the Lectures:
- We deem it to be unnecessary to entertain you with a lengthy preface to the fol-
lowing volume, but merely to say, that it contains in short, the leading items Of the
religion which we have professed to believe.
The first part Of the will found to contain a eries Of Lectures as delivered
before a theological class in this place, and in consequence of their embracing the
important doctrine of salvation, we have arranged them into the following work.
We do not present this little volume with any Other expectation than that we are to
called to answer to every principle advanced.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/45225561#m ... b_contents
The "justification" listed above is in the preface to the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, and contains no indication that the Lectures were received as revelation.
Granted, the title page for the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants does state "From the revelations of God."
And, the first publication of the lectures (1 and 2) in the Messenger and Advocate in May of 1835, was introduced as follows:
- The following are two short lectures which were delivered before a Theological class, in this place last winter. These lectures are being compiled and arranged with other documents of instruction and regulation for the church, titled “Doctrine and Covenants of the church of the Latter Day Saints,” &c. It may be well, for the information of the churches abroad, to say, that this book will contain the important revelations on doctrine and church government now extant, and will, we trust, give them a perfect understanding of the doctrine believed by this society. Such a work has long been called for, and if we are prospered a few weeks, shall have this volume ready for distribution. A full detail of its contents will be given hereafter.
In giving the following lectures we have thought best to insert the catechism, that the reader may fully understand the manner in which this science was taught. It was found, that by annexing a catechism to the lectures as they were presented, the class made greater progress than otherwise; and in consequence of the additional scriptural proofs, it was preserved in compiling
However, Larry Dahl addresses these and other issues in the seminal study on the Lectures of Faith which he co-authored with Charles D. Tate, Jr:
https://rsc.byu.edu/lectures-faith-hist ... ures-faith
It should be noted that: Between 1835 and 1921 the Lectures were printed in
almost all of the English language editions of the Doctrine and Covenants, and in many, but
not all non-English editions." (ibid. emphasis mine) Evidently, during the period before the decision was made to exclude the Lectures from the D&C, there were editions of the D&C which did not include the Lectures. And, as Larry goes on to point out, there were several times over the intervening years where the Lectures were published on their own.
To my knowledge, the pre-1921 exclusions of the Lectures in some printings of the D&C, and the separate publication of the Lectures, did not require a vote of the saints, but was an editorial decision by the select leaders of the Church. This should tell us something.
Thanks, Wade Englund
