13 GOSPEL TOPICS ESSAYS

Last month, the Church published the last two of a series of thirteen Gospel Topics Essays begun in 2013. 

According to the news release:

“The 13 essays published to date were prepared through extensive research by men and women Church scholars and carefully reviewed by members of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other General Authorities and women leaders to provide an official, authoritative and transparent source of information.

The Church hopes that the material will be referenced in various lessons and classes, cited in talks and utilized in home study along with the large volume of resource materials now available to Church members worldwide.

While there are no immediate plans to publish additional essays of this type, it remains an option for the future.” 

Here is the official introduction:


Gospel Topics Essays

 
In the early 1830s, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was less than three years old, the Lord invited members of the Church to seek wisdom by study and by the exercise of faith:

“And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118).

This is more than a simple exhortation to learn about the gospel. It is an invitation from the Lord to recognize that not all sources of knowledge are equally reliable. Seeking “out of the best books” does not mean seeking only one set of opinions, but it does require us to distinguish between reliable sources and unreliable sources.

Recognizing that today so much information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be obtained from questionable and often inaccurate sources, officials of the Church began in 2013 to publish straightforward, in-depth essays on a number of topics. The purpose of these essays, which have been approved by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has been to gather accurate information from many different sources and publications and place it in the Gospel Topics section of LDS.org, where the material can more easily be accessed and studied by Church members and other interested parties.

The Church places great emphasis on knowledge and on the importance of being well informed about Church history, doctrine, and practices. Ongoing historical research, revisions of the Church’s curriculum, and the use of new technologies allowing a more systematic and thorough study of scriptures have all been pursued by the Church to that end. We again encourage members to study the Gospel Topics Essays as they “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

Thought it might be useful to have them all on our blog, so here is the list - hopefully with links!

1.  Are Mormons Christian? 
2.  First Vision Accounts
3.  Race and the Priesthood
4.  Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah
5.  Book of Mormon Translation
6.  Book of Mormon and DNA Studies
7.  Becoming Like God
8.  Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints
9.  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham 
10. Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo 
11. The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage 
12. Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, and Women 
13. Mother in Heaven