Doctrine & Covenants in 2013: Introduction

I’d like to kick the year off with a bit of an introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants, along with some links and suggested reading that will enhance your lesson preparation or participation. Then I’d like to discuss three common ways of reading the scripture. This year holds some important and dramatic differences from any previous cycle through this curriculum. The primary distinction is the availability of the work of the Joseph Smith Papers Project. While Revelations and Translations, Volume 1 (R1) and Volume 2 (R2) (reviewed here and here) are tremendously important, even key to a serious approach to the revelation texts, the Joseph Smith Papers website is almost overwhelming in its documentary and contextual goodness (http://josephsmithpapers.org/). For example, it has the earliest revelation texts in the documents section, the manuscript and published revelations collections in the revelations section, and biographical sketches of all those mentioned in the supplemental materials.