Customer Reviews

Making Sense of the Doctrine & Covenants: A Guided Tour Through Modern Revelations

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Think page-turner and scripture reference in the same book. This one says more in a single volume than other D&C books say in 2 or 4. And it's not only comprehensive but fresh and fast-moving. Some D&C references state the obvious. This one is full of little-known storylines and characters that bring revelations to life. On every page there are new insights. The author is one of the editors of the Joseph Smith Papers and it shows. Because of his research, every page bursts forth with new information. Each chapter begins by explaining why a revelation was given, then delves into the revelation, then sums up how the early saints acted on it. It's a completely novel approach; one wonders why it's not been done before. Truly this book makes sense of the Doctrine and Covenants.

JS

Steven Harper does an excellent job throughout providing a wealth of pertinent and interesting background material, all carefully documented, while at the same time providing an inspiring perspective on the role of the different sections of the Doctrine and Covenants in the history and doctrinal development of the Church. An excellent book that I highly recommend to accompany anyone's study of Restoration scripture.

Revelations of the Restoration
A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, Volume 1
Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, Volume 2 (Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants)
A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, Vol. 3: Sections 81-105
A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, Vol. 4: Sections 106 - 138

Harper's book expands understanding of the Doctrine and Covenants by providing the historical and social context of the revelations. Each section in the Doctrine and Covenats has its own chapter in the book divided into Origin, Content, and Outcome divisions, which I found very useful. The Notes/References are very detailed and provide the opportunity for additional study.

This book explains the setting, but even better the historical results of the revelation! It is so helpful to know what happened afterwards. Did the people heed the revelation or not? For example, I found the explanation of Section 112 interesting. It was given to Thomas Marsh at his request. However, he was too arrogant to follow the direction given to him. He later left the Church. Late in life he returned to the Church, much humbled. He said, "The Lord could get along very well without me...but O! what have I lost?"
I have a better understanding of the history of the Church because of reading this book. I highly recommend it.

I love this book, I'll be using it as I teach the Doctrine and Covenants as an Institute teacher this year. I second the comments written before me, it's well worth having on the shelf - alongside Who's Who In The Doctrine And Covenants, by Susan Easton Black.

My rating would have been 5 stars except for the fact that I have the Kindle edition, and cannot understand why Deseret sell this book for $17.99 in copy protected epub format, and Amazon for some reason have put more than $10 onto that price. Why so much more for the Kindle edition?