Gain Powerful Insight from New Study Companion for the Doctrine and Covenants

The Joseph Smith Papers recently released a historical study aid for the Doctrine and Covenants. Available as an e-book only, Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers is a compilation of most of the earliest versions of Joseph Smith’s revelations now found in the Doctrine and Covenants. Helpful to both scholar and Latter-day Saint alike, this study companion provides valuable insight into Joseph Smith’s role as a revelator and into many of the texts that form the bedrock of Latter-day Saint history.

The e-book was compiled from previous publications of the Joseph Smith Papers and is designed to help individuals better understand the original text and historical background of these revelations. Currently, the e-book includes 124 of the 153 revelations contained in the Doctrine and Covenants’ 138 sections. More of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants will be added to the e-book after they are published in future volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers. After these revelations have been added, a free update will be available to owners of the e-book.

The e-book is particularly useful for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are teaching or studying the Doctrine and Covenants. Because the content is based on rigorous scholarship from the Joseph Smith Papers, the book is also beneficial for historians, religious studies specialists, and other scholars seeking information on the Doctrine and Covenants.

The volume includes transcripts of the revelations, supplemented with annotation that provides the historical context of the revelations. The introduction to each revelation gives details such as when and where the revelation was given, the circumstances that led to the revelation, how it was originally recorded and disseminated, and how early church members responded to the revelation. Readers will also learn about the relationship between each revelation and contemporary events and documents, as well as cultural and religious movements of the time. In addition, footnotes indicate how and to what degree a revelation changed in the early years of the church. Two appendixes explain how Joseph Smith’s revelations were first recorded, circulated, and published.

This volume also includes tools that help readers use the volume as a study aid, such as versification corresponding with the 2013 Latter-day Saint edition of the Doctrine and Covenants and a chart that lists in chronological order all of the revelations and other texts that compose the Doctrine and Covenants.

With this e-book, much of the information on the revelations previously published by the Joseph Smith Papers is conveniently accessible in one location. Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers is available for purchase at deseretbook.com and on Amazon.