Title

How Has Canonizing/De-Canonizing Happened in the Doctrine & Covenants?

Publication Type

Podcast

Publication Date

September 26, 2023

Authors

Griffiths, Casey Paul (Primary), and Woodward, Scott (Primary)

URL

https://churchhistorymatters.podbean.com/e/how-has-canonizingde-canonizing-happened-in-the-doctrine-covenants/

Terms of use

Items in the BMC Archive are made publicly available for non-commercial, private use. Inclusion within the BMC Archive does not imply endorsement. Items do not represent the official views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of Book of Mormon Central.

Bibliographic Citation

Abstract

Because of our location in time and good record keeping, we are privileged to have an up close and personal view of the production of modern scriptural canon, and as we get into it, it’s a bit of a rollercoaster. From its first publication in 1835 to its current version today, the Doctrine and Covenants has undergone major additions, deletions, rearrangements, and textual changes. In today’s episode of Church History Matters, we’ll take a ride through the history of this iterative production of the Doctrine and Covenants, from its earliest 1833 version, known as the Book of Commandments, to its 1835 version, which added new revelations and seven major theological lectures known as the Lectures on Faith, to the 1844 version, which added a few crucial revelations and was the last version most of the branches of the Restoration agreed upon after Joseph’s death, to the 1876 version, which contained massive additions and rearranging, to the 1921 version, which decanonized the Lectures on Faith, and finally to the version we use today, which underwent revisions as recently as 2013.