original gospel topic essays

“Gospel Topics Essays,” Gospel Topics Essays (2016)

“Gospel Topics Essays,” Gospel Topics Essays

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 ChurchofJesusChrist.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 cited in the links below as they “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

President Nelson taught, "Good inspiration is based upon good information." If you are a Latter-day Saint and haven't read Oliver Cowdery's 8 essays on Church history, including Letter VII, you need to read them to understand Church history, the Book of Mormon, and the related teachings of the prophets.

Friday, February 9, 2018

The original gospel topics essays, no comments:, post a comment.

1365: The LDS Gospel Topics Essays – A History by Dr. Matt Harris

December 8, 2020.

Join me now as I interview historian Dr. Matt Harris about his new book entitled “ The LDS Gospel Topics Series: A Scholarly Engagement ” published by Signature Books. In this episode we will provide an overview of the book, and discuss the events that led to the release of the essays by the LDS Church.

Please purchase this book !  It’s an amazing read, and is filled with super important history and analysis!

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Timecodes (for YouTube video): 00:00 Introduction 02:48 Overview of Matt’s book about the GTEs 06:43 Events that lead to the release of the Essays 20:22 Elder Marlin Jensen telling answers to questions are underway. Further events 30:34 Rise of the internet & Journal of discourses available. 37:58 A few shoutouts. Other people playing into the story 43:02 What do you say, what do you not say? 44:53 Timeline of publishing the research 51:54 Transparency& Church leaders trying to walk back on comments that get leaked. 57:15 “Uber-theme” in research – the feeling of being deceived 1:01:28 Going back to the timeline. Mixed responses after the research is presented to LDS headquarters 1:09:15 Uchtdorf gets involved. Confirms research results. 1:19:02 Martin asking why Uchtdorf said what he said. “We’re aware.” 1:27:50 How the essays got created. ‘Soft rollout.’ 1:36:10 Who are the scholars writing the first drafts? Focusing on essays 1:40:58 No attribution and no date. Revisions 1:46:58 Knowledge about the essays in church management and members 1:54:30 Church between a rock and a hard place when publishing. Their strategy 2:03:12 “Who wants to talk about polygamy?” 2:07:40 Addressing social issues today and provide a place to talk about them 2:09:36 Too little too late. Freefall in large parts of the world 2:15:52 Chosen release strategy might be very wise after all 2:20:24 Are there essays that are higher quality than others? The polygamy essay 2:25:06 Facts about marriage in the region at the time 2:34:05 1890 Revelation. Mitt Romney. 2:39:12 Were the essay gaslighting? Were they candid? 2:44:18 Overarching questions about the Essays 2:51:30 Issues like LGBTQ, sexuality. Striking at the core of the plan of salvation 2:59:10 A little about mormon “revelation” related to the 2015 decision 3:03:59 Unpublished or to be published essays? Other plans? 3:06:12 Matt’s book by Signature books 3:08:52 Closing words

I have enjoyed Dr. Harris’s insights and presentation. Also, thanks for your comments and analysis John. His historical research is first rate. I wish to enter the conversation. I think those who are leery of the intent and presentation of the Gospel Topic Essays come about it honestly. The LDS Church has a long history of being disingenuous and of lying for the Lord. I disagree with Dr. Harris’s analysis of why all essays are unattributed and undated. President Oaks was brought into the Quorum in large part for his legal experience and I suspect the same is true of Elder Cook. The Essays have plausible deniability written in invisible ink all over them. One can’t hold the essays up as ground-breaking or any other “gee-whiz” descriptor without comparing them to similarly described documents such as the Proclamation on the Family, Christ proclamation or the recent restoration proclamation. It’s also common to see First Presidency supportive statements in class manuals and other less public publications.

His explanation of why there are no names or dates associated with the Essays just doesn’t hold up to examination. In the current era of electronic and online publication, changes are simple. Organizations requiring the publication of policies and procedures (his own university included), which is nearly any organization subject to legal scrutiny or who need internal continuity and clarity, publish these documents. The documents ALWAYS include among several items that are pertinent to the Essays: 1) Who owns the documents (The LDS Church); 2) Approval (The First Presidency); 3) Date of approval or date of origin or of the latest iteration. It’s not difficult as Dr. Harris said. His university and every other complex organization keeps track of, and indicates changes, of each policy. The Church does exactly that with their internal operational policies.

The first time I heard of members saying the Essays can’t be real (hacked) or that the First Presidency didn’t approve them made guessing the process easy. We’ve seen this Church movie before. So, the Church is opening up- but not really unless they are brought kicking and screaming into the twilight (they never move into the bright light).

Love hearing Dr. Harris and look forward to reading more of his work.

Completely agree.

This interview with Matt was great. We need to be able to talk about these things at church –absolutely. But in my experience growing up in the church, it was always a sterile environment where everyone tried to impress others in their Sunday best. Time to get real and have real conversations about real issues that effect us all.

What About Church Theology in the Now, who is Jesus and His relationship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, as God the Son or the Word, as described in Gospel of John, The first Vision was it a Lie or an exageration?/

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Gospel Topic Essays: 009: Race and the Priesthood

• July 15, 2020 April 24, 2023

We continue our tour of the Gospel Topics Essays and with the essay Race and the Priesthood .  The Goal – To share the LDS Church’s Gospel Topic Essays and help the both the believing member and the non-believer get a sense of the why these essays were written, who the intended audience is, whether these essays resolve the concerns of the faithful and non-believer and why they perhaps these essays even add to the disbelief of those who skeptical of the issues they find in Mormon History.

Co-Hosts of this episode

Allan Mount is Co-host of the Marriage on a Tightrope podcast with his wife Kattie. After 35 faithful years in the church, it was the Gospel Topic Essays that acted as a catalyst to his faith transition. He is a sales director for a technology company in South Jordan Utah. Kattie and Allan have 4 children.

Anthony Miller is an entrepreneur and education enthusiast in Billings, Montana, with Masters degrees in Business Administration and in Financial Services. After a lifetime of faithful membership in the church, he experienced a faith transition after he stumbled across the Gospel Topics Essays and similar materials in 2016, while he was searching for resources to support his adult gay son. Anthony blogs at UnpackingAmbiguity.com and is a frequent contributor to post and progressive Mormon support communities.

Ryan de Roque lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and two sons. He grew up in Arkansas and was raised in the Mormon church, serving as a missionary in Venezuela. He got his degree from BYU in Spanish Translation, and currently teaches High School Biology. He went through a faith transition and left the Mormon church in 2017 after studying concerning historical and doctrinal information about Mormonism that he had not been exposed to previously. Part of this transition was learning through genealogical work that he had African ancestry, which motivated him to look further into the pre-1978 priesthood and temple ban against those with African ancestry.

Julienna Viegas was born and raised in Belgium. She served a mission on Temple Square. She has a B.A in International Politics from Brigham Young University. She published several Op-eds in the Salt Lake Tribune in regards to changes needed in the Mormon Church. She works and lives in Texas with her three children.  She can be found on the “ Faith Transition Podcast ”

RESOURCES: Mormonthink article Wikipedia article on Blacks within Mormonism Dr. Paul Reeve – The Long Promised Day Wikipedia article on Jane Manning James Wikipedia article on Elijah Abel Article on Priesthood of Elijah Abel Religion of a Different Color Saints, Slaves, & Blacks Mormonism and White Supremacy Jane and Emma Brigham Young’s speech as read by Jonathan Streeter Dr Darron Smith and Marvin Perkins on Thinker of Thoughts The Stewart Udall Sequence The Lowry Nelson Exchange Lowry Nelson correspondence Podcast delving into some of the facets of Race and Priesthood Podcasting dissecting the crux of truth issues within Race and Priesthood Follow up podcast on the crux of these same issues 

After listening, feel free to reach out to any of the hosts:

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New Essays Address Topics on Women, Priesthood, Mother in Heaven

Essays complete series of 13 begun in 2013.

•  Copied to Clipboard

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published two new Gospel Topics essays on LDS.org today. One essay outlines the teachings of Church founder and prophet Joseph Smith on women, temple and the priesthood . The second explains Church teachings regarding a Mother in Heaven , which it describes as "a cherished and distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints."

• General Womens Session Sept 2015

These essays complete a series of 13 that the Church began publishing in 2013 to provide an accurate resource for its members to gain insight and understanding into some of its teachings, practices and history. 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.

Church leaders decided to publish the essays, recognizing that today some of the information about its history and practice is obtained from questionable and often inaccurate sources, especially on the Internet.

The introduction to the  Gospel Topic Essays page explains, "The purpose of these essays 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 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.

The full series of essays is listed below. While there are no immediate plans to publish additional essays of this type, it remains an option for the future. 

• Are Mormons Christian?  November 20, 2013
• First Vision Accounts  November 20, 2013
• Race and the Priesthood  December 6, 2013
• Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah  December 16, 2013
• Book of Mormon Translation  December 30, 2013
• Book of Mormon and DNA Studies  January 31, 2014
• Becoming Like God  February 24, 2014
• Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints  May 13, 2014
• Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham  July 8, 2014
• Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo  October 22, 2014
• The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage  October 22, 2014
• Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, and Women  October 23, 2015
• Mother in Heaven  October 23, 2015

Style Guide Note: When reporting about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please use the complete name of the Church in the first reference. For more information on the use of the name of the Church, go to our online Style Guide .

To download media files, please first review and agree to the Terms of Use . Download a photo or video by clicking or tapping on it. To download all photos or videos related to this article, select the links at the bottom of each section.

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Gospel Topics, Gospel Topics Essays, and Church History Topics Explained

Lately there’s been some excitement online about the Church History Topic “ Masonry ” and the Gospel Topic “ Book of Mormon Geography ”  ( I wrote on the latter last week ). In those discussions, I’ve noticed some confusion about what those entries are and where to find them. Both were sometimes incorrectly described as Gospel Topics Essays, which got people scratching their heads when they couldn’t find them in that section . I decided to put together some background on these three very important, and very different, topical resources. Since the Church has a proclivity to change things online without notice[1], I’m going into detail for the benefit of future readers (for a quicker read, skip the bullet points).

GOSPEL TOPICS

Note: for clarity, I’m going to refer to the shorter essays in the Gospel Topics section as entries to avoid confusion with the official Gospel Topics Essays.

The online Gospel Topics section first appeared with a major overhaul of the LDS.org website in January 2007 ( the beta version was available six months earlier ). Bloggers at the time (including our own Dave B)  noted that entries in the Gospel Topics section were pulled directly from the 2004 publication True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference . The tiny  True to the Faith  handbook was published by the Church with little fanfare and immediately incorporated into the “approved missionary library.” (It was listed in Preach My Gospel, another significant publication  released in 2004 ). True to the Faith contained 170 topical entries arranged alphabetically from Aaronic Priesthood to Zion.

Before the Gospel Topics website was ever created, the contents of  True to the Faith  received special attention in the bloggernacle due to Lavina Fielding Anderson’s presentation at the 2005 Sunstone Conference and an article in the Winter 2006 volume of Dialogue . She noted that in contrast with Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s unauthorized Mormon Doctrine or the restricted Church Handbook of Instructions, True to the Faith made “available an authoritative, correlated source upon which members [could] draw with complete reliance that ‘this is what we believe.'” The publication represented a “snapshot of authorized Mormon beliefs and behaviors…” The Gospel Topics section on LDS.org carries the same authoritative weight.

When the Gospel Topics website first went live, it included several new entries in addition to the original 170 True to the Faith topics. As of February 2007 ( per the Internet’s Wayback Machine ), they added:

• Baptisms for the Dead;
• Christ; Church Finances–Commercial Businesses[2]; Communication;
• Dating and Courtship;
• Food Storage;
• Media; Miracles; Movies and Television; Music;
• Ordination to the Priesthood;
• Single Members of the Church; Single-Parent Families; Spiritual Experiences;
• Women in the Church.

In the intervening years, the Gospel Topics Section has significantly expanded. Topics added since 2007 (Gospel Topics Essays are noted in red) :

• Accounts of the First Vision (See First Vision Accounts ) ; Answering Gospel Questions; Apostate (See Church Disciplinary Councils); Are Mormons Christian? ;
• Becoming Like God ; Bible, Inerrancy of; Book of Abraham (See Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham ) ; Book of Mormon and DNA Studies ; Book of Mormon Geography[3]; Book of Mormon Translation ;
• Christian (See Are Mormons Christian? ); Christmas;
• Daughters in My Kingdom; Deification (See Becoming Like God ); Disability; Dispensations; Diversity and Unity in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; DNA and the Book of Mormon (See Book of Mormon and DNA Studies );
• Easter; Emergency Preparedness; Emergency Response; Employment; Environmental Stewardship and Conservation; Excommunication (See Church Disciplinary Councils),
• Family Finances; Family Proclamation (See The Family: A Proclamation to the World ); First Vision; First Vision Accounts ;
• Gardening; Gay (See Same-Sex Attraction); Genealogy (See Family History); Gold Plates;
• Health; Heavenly Mother (See Mother in Heaven ); High Council; High Priest; Humanitarian Service;
• Immortality; Inspiration;
• Jesus Christ Chosen as Savior; Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, Women ; Journal of Discourses;
• Latter-day Saints (See Are Mormons Christian? );
• Missionary Preparation; Missionary Training Centers; Mormon Church; Mormonism; Mormons; Mormons and Christianity (See Are Mormons Christian? ); Mortality; Mother in Heaven ; Mountain Meadows Massacre;
• New Testament; Noah;
• Old Testament;
• Patriarch; Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints ; Peer Pressure; PEF Self-Reliance; Physical Death (See Death, Physical); Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ; Polygamy (See Plural Marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ); Postmortality; Pre-Earth Life (See Premortality); Premortality; Priesthood and Race (See Race and the Priesthood ); Priesthood Blessing; Primary; Proxy Baptism;
• Race and the Priesthood ; Religious Freedom;
• Same-Sex Attraction; Same-Sex Marriage; Sealing; Self-Reliance; Spaulding Manuscript; Spirit Children of Heavenly Parents; Spirit World; Stewardship; Study (See Answering Gospel Questions); Suicide;
• The Family: A Proclamation to the World; Transgression; Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham ;
• Unwed Pregnancy; Urim and Thummim;
• Vicarious Work; Virtue;
• War in Heaven.

Topics deleted since 2007 :

• Area Authority Seventy (see Church Administration);
• Body Piercing;
• Hot Drinks (See Word of Wisdom);
• Ordination to the Priesthood.

Members may have noticed that the Gospel Topics section on the LDS.org website doesn’t currently match the Gospel Topics section in the Gospel Library app. For one thing, none of the Gospel Topics Essays appear in the app’s Gospel Topics section (although a link is available in the Gospel Topics introduction). The essays have their own section in the Gospel Library app.

The vast majority of Gospel Topics entry deletions in the app are minor, usually the alternate wording associated with the paranthetical “See XYZ.” The topics of Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching understandably got the axe. Other entry omissions are not as easily explained (Church Organization, Disability, Family Home Evening, Humanitarian Service, Missionary Preparation, Missionary Training Centers, PEF Self-Reliance, Plan of Salvation, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and Welfare). Perhaps they figured those topics are accessible in other areas of the app.

GOSPEL TOPICS ESSAYS

We now have better background on the creation of the thirteen Gospel Topics Essays thanks to Lisa Olsen Tait’s August 2018 FairMormon presentation, “Takeaways from the Gospel Topics Essays.” Tait, a Church Historian, was one of many collaborators on the project. She explained that the process “began around 2010 when leaders convened a committee and commissioned them with developing in-depth, accurate, balanced, and faithful answers to questions about difficult issues in church history.”[4] The Church “needed to do better in the Google wars” and topics were selected by the committee based on awareness of what was driving online discussions that could be “very damaging.”[5][6]

“Over the course of the project, historians in the Church History Department worked with a committee of Seventies to develop and write the essays. Scholars from outside the department also participated in the discussions, reviewed manuscripts, and in some cases contributed substantial material.”[7] Tait stressed the involvement of senior leadership in reviewing and approving the essays, including the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency. “The Gospel Topics Essays are church statements.”[8]

Here are the titles and release dates of the thirteen Gospel Topics Essays:

• Are Mormons Christian? (20 November 2013);
• Becoming Like God (24 February 2014);
• Book of Mormon and DNA Studies (31 January 2014);
• Book of Mormon Translation (30 December 2013);
• First Vision Accounts (20 November 2013);
• Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, and Women (23 October 2015);
• Mother in Heaven (23 October 2015);
• Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints (13 May 2014);
• Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo (22 October 2014);
• Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah (16 December 2013);
• The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage (22 October 2014);
• Race and the Priesthood (6 December 2013);
• Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham (8 July 2014).

This is the list as it appears in the Gospel Library app. On the Church’s Gospel Topics Essays website , all three plural marriage (polygamy) essays are nested in a single essay Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Tait noted that the essays were originally placed in the Gospel Topics section of LDS.org in order for members to access them easily. Unfortunately, as I covered in a post a couple years ago , the Church didn’t publicize the release of these essays ( the last two excepted ), and there are still members who are unaware of them. Perhaps the separation of the essays from the rest of the Gospel Topics in the Gospel Library app may help. One of the most exciting details from Tait’s presentation is that the Gospel Topics Essays have now been translated into about 20 languages.

CHURCH HISTORY TOPICS

Many readers are less familiar with this new resource. With the publication of the new narrative church history  Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days   several months ago, over 110 associated short essays related to church history were published by the Church History Department (released in 14 languages). These essays provide further details on subjects related to the first volume of Saints (I assume more will be added as subsequent volumes are published). Typically the footnotes in Saints  alert readers to an associated Church History Topic essay, if available. Matt Grow, director of publications at the Church History Department, explained at a worldwide youth devotional that these essays go more in-depth on events, themes, people and places in Church history, and “they even point you to further reading, things not published by the church, that can help you increase your understanding.”

Like the much-longer Gospel Topics Essays, many of the Church History Topics essays cover subjects long considered controversial or uncomfortable. Generally, these are brief, accessible introductions to the topics with the expectation that readers will consult the recommended reading material if they desire more detail. Some of the Church History topics also include embedded bite-size videos of interviews with Church historians. In a few cases, the Church History topic essay goes more in-depth in a topic only briefly covered in an associated Gospel Topics essay. The Fanny Alger essay , for example, provides a few more details on her plural marriage with Joseph in Kirtland than what is found in the early plural marriage Gospel Topics Essay .

Although these Church History Topics essays were discussed in public venues , individual topics were rarely mentioned. That may be why even readers familiar with the Saints project are unaware of them. Because of that oversight, below is a complete list of all 118 Church History Topics essays currently available in the Gospel Library app and online (some titles of these essays seem to match those in the Gospel Topics section, but these essays are focused on historical context):

• Adam-ondi-Ahman ; Amanda Barnes Smith ; American Indians ; American Legal and Political Institutions ; Angel Moroni ; Anointed Quorum (“Holy Order”) ; Awakenings and Revivals ;
• Baptism for the Dead ; Bishop ; Book of Abraham Translation ; Book of Commandments ; Book of Mormon Translation ;
• Canada ; Christian Churches in Joseph Smith’s Day ; Church Discipline ; Church Periodicals ; Common Consent ; Consecration and Stewardship ; Council of Fifty ; Critics of the Book of Mormon ;
• Daily Life of First-Generation Latter-day Saints ; Danites ; Deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith ; Dedication of the Holy Land ; Departure from Nauvoo ; Dissent in the Church ; Divining Rods ; Doctrine and Covenants ;
• Early Missionaries ; Elijah Able ; Emma Hale Smith ; Endowment of Power ; England ; Extermination Order ;
• Fanny Alger ; Far West ; Female Relief Society of Nauvoo ; First Presidency ; Founding Meeting of the Church of Christ ; French Polynesia ;
• Gathering of Israel, The ; Gift of Tongues ; Gifts of the Spirit ; Gold Plates ;
• Hawn’s Mill Massacre ; Healing ; High Council ; Hymns ; Hyrum Smith ;
• Independence, Missouri ;
• Jackson County Violence ; Jane Elizabeth Manning James ; Joseph and Emma Hale Smith Family ; Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage ; Joseph Smith Jr. ; Joseph Smith’s 1826 Trial ; Joseph Smith’s 1844 Campaign for United States President ; Joseph Smith’s First Vision Accounts ; Joseph Smith’s Leg Surgery ; Joseph Smith Sr. ; Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible ; Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family ;
• Kinderhook Plates ; King Follett Discourse ; Kirtland, Ohio ; Kirtland Safety Society ; Kirtland Temple ;
• Lamanite Identity ; Lectures on Theology (“Lectures on Faith”) ; Liberty Jail ; Lost Manuscript of the Book of Mormon ; Lucy Mack Smith ;
• Martin Harris’ Consultation with Scholars ; Masonry ; Missouri Extradition Attempts ; Mormon-Missouri War of 1838 ; Mother in Heaven ;
• Name of the Church ; Nauvoo (Commerce), Illinois ; Nauvoo Expositor ; Nauvoo Temple ;
• Oliver Cowdery ; Opposition to the Early Church ; Other Latter Day Saint Movements ;
• Palmyra and Manchester ; Patriarchal Blessings ; Printing and Publishing the Book of Mormon ; Prophecies of Joseph Smith ;
• Quincy, Illinois, Settlement ; Quorum of the Twelve ; Quorums of the Seventy ;
• Religious Beliefs in Joseph Smith’s Day ; Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood ; Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood ; Revelations of Joseph Smith ;
• Sacrament Meetings ; Sacred Grove and Smith Family Farm ; School of the Prophets ; Sealing ; Seer Stones ; Sidney Rigdon ; Slavery and Abolition ; Solemn Assemblies ; Succession of Church Leadership ;
• Temple Dedications and Dedicatory Prayers ; Temple Endowment ; Thomas B. Marsh ; Tithing ; Treasure Seeking ;
• United Firm (“United Order”) ;
• Vigilantism ; Vision, The (D&C 76) ;
• Wards and Stakes ; Washing of Feet ; Witnesses of the Book of Mormon ; Word of Wisdom (D&C 89) ;
• Zion/New Jerusalem ; Zion’s Camp (Camp of Israel) .

ACCESSIBILITY

There are a few different ways to access these different topic resources online. The traditional Gospel Topics website can be accessed from the main menu on LDS.org. Click on “Scriptures and Study” and then “Gospel Topics.” On the main Gospel Topics website, you can scroll down to access the Gospel Topics Essays .

For the Church History Topics, the easiest access is via the Saints website (saints.lds.org). Once you’re there, scroll down and click on “Topics.”

In the Gospel Library App, you can access all three of these resources (Gospel Topics, Gospel Topics Essays, and Church History Topics) via the “Topics” icon.

Both the Gospel Topics Essays and Church History Topics are also available via the “Church History” icon.

[1] For a recent example, see this post about Elijah Able’s ordination record suddenly popping up in a citation at the Joseph Smith Papers website.

[2] This entry about Church’s commercial business ventures may have been related to increased scrutiny around the Church’s involvement in downtown Salt Lake City revitalization efforts (like City Creek Center ).

[3] I wrote last week that the “Book of Mormon Geography” entry was NOT available on the regular Gospel Topics website and put up a screenshot as evidence. It now appears to be available, except the link currently takes you to a replica of the Book of Mormon Translation Gospel Topics Essay page. Probably still a work in progress.

[4] About 2:23.

[5] From the Q&A. About 44:50.

[6] I’ve previously written about the November 2010 fireside in Sweden where two members of the Church History Department (including a general authority) were sent to allay widespread concerns about difficult church history topics.

[7] About 2:36.

[8] About 3:28.

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17 thoughts on “ gospel topics, gospel topics essays, and church history topics explained ”.

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Mary Ann, this is a very useful post, thanks.

I forgot to put one detail in the post. There were some title adjustments between the original entries and those which now appear on the Gospel Topics page. Most are inconsequential (like “Church Administration” to “Church Organization”). I found it curious that the title of the original 2007 entry (based on the True to the Faith topic) “Restoration of the Gospel” was at some point changed to the current “Restoration of the Priesthood.” It covers the same major 19th-century events of the Restoration, but there is much less talk of the Great Apostasy and prophesied “future destiny” of the church.

I liked the call out to Lavina Fielding Anderson. We need a guest post or an interview with her.

Very helpful, Mary Ann — and I know it was a lot of work setting up and populating those lists.

The remarks on how the Gospel Topics Essays were commissioned, drafted, and reviewed is very interesting. But why do we have to get this helpful information sort of under the table, so to speak? It would sure be nice if some of this background was posted at the Essays site. Everyone knows how tricky it can be to distinguish LDS doctrine from “folklore,” and what has come to be called “core doctrine” from just regular doctrine, whatever that is.

The Newsroom published an essay a few years back titled “Approaching Mormon Doctrine” (link below) trying to help journalists figure out what was LDS doctrine and what wasn’t. The way material is posted at LDS.org, with no notice, no date or authorship, and no context contributes to that problem. The way the Gospel Topics Essays are posted and highlighted at LDS.org suggests they are reliable statements, but never being mentioned in General Conference and not being integrated with the curriculum (this might change as it gets updated) suggests the Essays are not so official. So sometimes the Church creates the doctrinal confusion it then complains about.

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/approaching-mormon-doctrine

I agree 100% with Dave B. I find it very interesting that in a normal Sunday School, priesthood, or Relief Society class one could cause quite a stir by simply mentioning basic facts found in some of the Gospel Topics essays. Some members are very uncomfortable with these kinds of discussions, yet the source material can be found on the Church’s official web site. I applaud the Brethren for approving the publication of these essays but I still get the impression that they hope members don’t really bother to read them, much less discuss them.

I thought I was familiar with the gospel topics essays and related material, but I was unaware of a lot of the content here and the difference between the gospel topics entries and gospel topics essays. Actually, I’m still a bit confused, but I’m sure that’s not the fault of the OP. I’m quite impressed with the completeness of the post.

I’m still not convinced that church leadership actually wants people to know about some of the content here. But I will note that some of the controversial essays were referenced in the online version of last year’s gospel doctrine manual as supplementary(?) material, but it was never used it referenced in any class I attended.

I think the perceived failure to adequately publicize is a reflection of the outsized interest of this particular community rather than a desire to hide the essays. It’s human nature to assess that what’s important to me is important to everybody, but I just don’t think that the average member of the Church cares about the issues addressed in the Gospel Topics essays. I care. Everyone here cares. But I don’t think our priorities reflect the priorities of most people. You see this in a lot of blogs. Tech bloggers and their readers place outsized importance on things like whether iOS should have a robust file system like Android. The fact is that most people don’t care.

There’s a limited allotment of time in Sunday School (even less now), and that time is best spent on discussions of things other than academic crtiticisms of the Church and/or apologetics. I’m glad these resources are available for anyone looking for them. There’s a functioning search bar on lds.org, so even “buried” articles will surface for those interested in looking.

After the Sunday School Lesson, in my local Ward last Sunday, I would give anything to have ANY of these topics openly discussed among a group of adults. The lesson which was given was so boring, un-inspiring, and yes faithful to what we’ve always been taught, many of us were looking for any excuse to get out the door. Just imagine how stimulating and intriguing a lively discussion would be – if we gave ourselves license (and safety within the group) to talk openly.

Re: “perceived failure to adequately publicize” being a matter of interest “rather than a desire to hide the essays”

I’m not sure any desire to hide has been uniform over time or across the spectrum of Church leaders and employees, but still the following quoted comment can be instructive:

“… I was working short-term on a project at CHL [Church History Library] when the first Gospel Topics essays were posted. I knew they were going live about two hours before they did so, and asked if I could post a short announcement here on Keepa. You would have thought I’d proposed throwing a kegger in the temple: No way, no how, never, on pain of who knows what, could I say anything publicly about those essays. They were certain the essays would “fly under the radar” (the exact term they used), and I could not, repeat not, say anything. …” Comment by Ardis E. Parshall — January 19, 2019 @ 2:10 pm

Guest Post: Newly Discovered Document Provides Dramatic Details about Elijah Able and the Priesthood

Thanks, Mary Ann for the post and Ardis for that comment.

JR: Thanks so much for sharing. All I can say is “Wow”!

That [see comment quoted above from Ardis] was then. This is now: https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-02-04/president-oaks-advice-to-young-married-couples-in-chicago-on-how-to-tackle-faith-threatening-questions-48930 This Church News report both mentions and links to the Gospel Topics Essays. See also J. Stapley’s comments at BCC: https://bycommonconsent.com/2019/02/05/research-is-not-the-answer/#more-108153 For me they put the matter in a healthy perspective.

I agree with much in Dsc’s comment, with one caveat.

We had been using the same Sunday school manuals for my entire adult life, at least twenty years, maybe longer. I think that last year was my fifth time in the same Old Testament manual. I’m not going to fact check my numbers here; they are close enough. With this being the first year new material was added, I expected teachers to jump at the opportunity to include the new material if they felt comfortable teaching it. There has not been much effort to promote, publicize, or otherwise make members comfortable with that new material. The end result was a year of repeating the same classes for the fifth time. It was boring to me, but Dsc is right that it seemed to serve everyone else pretty well.

Note: When the 2013 Gospel topics essays were first introduced, all of the controversial ones had a picture on the right side of the page showing a person praying over their scriptures and the caption: “Seek ye learning even by study and also by faith”. This disappeared when the pages were updated around 2015-2016 or so.

I find this information exceedingly useful.Thank you Mary Ann. I did not know how the church history topics were different from the gospel topics.

As an experiment with a sample size of one, I picked one of my favorite hobby topics, the story of the very nice and comely young woman Fanny Algers. I read the entry in the church history topics (CHT). Then I read the entry in wikipedia on her.

Ok, I get it-that because plural marriage was a big secret, we don’t have the kind of evidence that might stand up in court for every detail. The GHT material gives me the impress that probably nothing happened between Joseph Smith and Fanny Algers. The wiki article gives me quite the opposite impression.Neither tells bold faced lies.

It is a sample of only one. But if it is repeated for many difficult topics, I see this project as a much more sophisticated effort to hide the history at a time the internet is making that very difficult..This is a problem with me. Plural marriage is a problem, Fanny is where it begins. (maybe Sally Chase?) I have a conversation with my orthodox brother. He has no respect for wiki, not worth his time. I maybe get him to read the CHT entry and he asks me what is your problem? I don’t see a problem. You are just looking for excuses to trash the Prophet.

This CHT does not adequately illuminate the answers to questions. It causes more discord and confusion. And the other problem I have is that I think most people know about wiki and that although not perfect, it is often thought to be pretty accurate. It is also easily self-correcting which near authorative sources are not. In a few decades these CHT entries will need to be gradually modified- which could be a good thing if they are improved and a bad thing if they find additional ways to cloud the issues.

Finally, I have a problem with the old people in the church. People like many of my relatives who gave their lives for orthodox Mormonism. In their last years they face terrible challenges. Loss of health, spouses, loneliness, digital confusion, increasing violence and disrespect, etc. .The church is all they have with which to cling. To read and discuss this CHT entry about Fanny Algers with most of them would be socially irresponsible. Let them die in peace. While their grand children quietly leave.

It is a real pickle. To say we have the answers. We are right and truth never changes. Then to be forced to make changes .Slyly and reluctantly. I just wish the previous generations had not been so dishonest about so many of these things.

Mary An n given your interest in Mike Stroud you may be interested in knowing he was excommunicated for “apostasy “ last week. It seems to me you better keep your mouth shut about things like calling and election etc or else. It is ironic because that doctrine use to be taught in General Confetence by apostles like Marion G Romney in the mid 70s.

Mike l am one of those “old people” (73) and would rather die knowing the truth than be saddled with lies.

• Pingback: Why Did the Church Change the “Book of Mormon Geography” Gospel Topics Entry? – Wheat & Tares

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Mormonism and history/gospel topics essays.

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The Church's Gospel Topics essays on LDS.org

Summary : The Church has posted a series of Gospel Topics essays on LDS.org which discuss a variety of issues related to Church History and belief.

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• Source:Steven E. Snow:Deseret News:9 Dec 2013:The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve both have been very supportive of this process

Question: What has the Church done to help members learn about historical issues?

Steven e. snow: "the first presidency and the quorum of the twelve both have been very supportive of this process".

The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve both have been very supportive of this process....I think they sense the need to provide accurate information to our members to counter a lot of sensationalism that tends to come about online or on the Internet over some of these historical topics. We want them to be able to go to a place where they can read accurate information and be able to seek to understand those historical chapters in the context of time and place and understand these answers have been approved by the presiding Brethren of the church. I think that will give many of our members confidence that they can rely on those answers. [1]

The Church has posted a series of essays on LDS.org in the Gospel Topics section

The Church has posted a series of essays on LDS.org in the Gospel Topics section. These essays have been written by historians and reviewed and approved by the First Presidency. In addition, material on these topics has been incorporated into new Seminary manuals. The Gospel Topics essays may be accessed through the main menu by selecting the "Teachings" menu on LDS.org, then selecting "Gospel Topics." The essays may be found under the alphabetical index. Additional essays will be posted on LDS.org in the upcoming months.

CHURCH ESSAYS

• First Vision Accounts — Brief Excerpt : Joseph Smith published two accounts of the First Vision during his lifetime. The first of these, known today as Joseph Smith—History, was canonized in the Pearl of Great Price and thus became the best known account. The two unpublished accounts, recorded in Joseph Smith’s earliest autobiography and a later journal, were generally forgotten until historians working for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rediscovered and published them in the 1960s. Since that time, these documents have been discussed repeatedly in Church magazines, in works printed by Church-owned and Church-affiliated presses, and by Latter-day Saint scholars in other venues.1 In addition to the firsthand accounts, there are also five descriptions of Joseph Smith’s vision recorded by his contemporaries. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Book of Mormon Translation — Brief Excerpt : Some accounts indicate that Joseph studied the characters on the plates. Most of the accounts speak of Joseph’s use of the Urim and Thummim (either the interpreters or the seer stone), and many accounts refer to his use of a single stone. According to these accounts, Joseph placed either the interpreters or the seer stone in a hat, pressed his face into the hat to block out extraneous light, and read aloud the English words that appeared on the instrument. The process as described brings to mind a passage from the Book of Mormon that speaks of God preparing “a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light.” ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Race and the Priesthood — Brief Excerpt : In 1852, President Brigham Young publicly announced that men of black African descent could no longer be ordained to the priesthood, though thereafter blacks continued to join the Church through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Following the death of Brigham Young, subsequent Church presidents restricted blacks from receiving the temple endowment or being married in the temple. Over time, Church leaders and members advanced many theories to explain the priesthood and temple restrictions. None of these explanations is accepted today as the official doctrine of the Church.....Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Are Mormons Christian? — Brief Excerpt : While members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have no desire to compromise the distinctiveness of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, they wish to work together with other Christians—and people of all faiths—to recognize and remedy many of the moral and family issues faced by society. The Christian conversation is richer for what the Latter-day Saints bring to the table. There is no good reason for Christian faiths to ostracize each other when there has never been more urgent need for unity in proclaiming the divinity and teachings of Jesus Christ. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Book of Mormon and DNA studies — Brief Excerpt : Nothing is known about the extent of intermarriage and genetic mixing between Book of Mormon peoples or their descendants and other inhabitants of the Americas, though some mixing appears evident, even during the period covered by the book’s text. What seems clear is that the DNA of Book of Mormon peoples likely represented only a fraction of all DNA in ancient America. Finding and clearly identifying their DNA today may be asking more of the science of population genetics than it is capable of providing. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Becoming like God — Brief Excerpt : Since human conceptions of reality are necessarily limited in mortality, religions struggle to adequately articulate their visions of eternal glory. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” These limitations make it easy for images of salvation to become cartoonish when represented in popular culture. For example, scriptural expressions of the deep peace and overwhelming joy of salvation are often reproduced in the well-known image of humans sitting on their own clouds and playing harps after death. Latter-day Saints’ doctrine of exaltation is often similarly reduced in media to a cartoonish image of people receiving their own planets. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints — Brief Excerpt : [E]arly Latter-day Saints did not obtain peace easily. They were persecuted, often violently, for their beliefs. And, tragically, at some points in the 19th century, most notably in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, some Church members participated in deplorable violence against people they perceived to be their enemies. This essay explores both violence committed against the Latter-day Saints and violence committed by them. While historical context can help shed light on these acts of violence, it does not excuse them. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham — Brief Excerpt : We do know some things about the translation process. The word translation typically assumes an expert knowledge of multiple languages. Joseph Smith claimed no expertise in any language. He readily acknowledged that he was one of the “weak things of the world,” called to speak words sent “from heaven.”1 Speaking of the translation of the Book of Mormon, the Lord said, “You cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.”2 The same principle can be applied to the book of Abraham. The Lord did not require Joseph Smith to have knowledge of Egyptian. By the gift and power of God, Joseph received knowledge about the life and teachings of Abraham. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Brief Excerpt : Latter-day Saints believe that the marriage of one man and one woman is the Lord’s standing law of marriage. In biblical times, the Lord commanded some to practice plural marriage—the marriage of one man and more than one woman.1 By revelation, the Lord commanded Joseph Smith to institute the practice of plural marriage among Church members in the early 1840s. For more than half a century, plural marriage was practiced by some Latter-day Saints under the direction of the Church President.2 ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo — Brief Excerpt : After receiving a revelation commanding him to practice plural marriage, Joseph Smith married multiple wives and introduced the practice to close associates. This principle was among the most challenging aspects of the Restoration—for Joseph personally and for other Church members. Plural marriage tested faith and provoked controversy and opposition. Few Latter-day Saints initially welcomed the restoration of a biblical practice entirely foreign to their sensibilities. But many later testified of powerful spiritual experiences that helped them overcome their hesitation and gave them courage to accept this practice. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah — Brief Excerpt : After the Manifesto, monogamy was advocated in the Church both over the pulpit and through the press. On an exceptional basis, some new plural marriages were performed between 1890 and 1904, especially in Mexico and Canada, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. law; a small number of plural marriages were performed within the United States during those years.4 In 1904, the Church strictly prohibited new plural marriages. Today, any person who practices plural marriage cannot become or remain a member of the Church. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage — Brief Excerpt : The end of plural marriage required great faith and sometimes complicated, painful—and intensely personal—decisions on the part of individual members and Church leaders. Like the beginning of plural marriage in the Church, the end of the practice was a process rather than a single event. Revelation came “line upon line, precept upon precept. ( Click here for full article ) ∗       ∗       ∗
• ↑ Elder Steven E. Snow, Church Historian, quoted in "LDS Church enhances web pages on its history, doctrine," Deseret News (9 December 2013) off-site
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