Thursday, March 15, 2007

Statements of the LDS First Presidency


http://signaturebooks.com/firstpresidency.htm

Just Released:

Statements of the LDS First Presidency
A Topical Compendium
by GARY JAMES BERGERA
DALE C. LECHEMINANT, Foreword
paperback. 544 pages. 156085-195-3 / $34.95

For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the
authority to speak for God rests with the President of the Church and
his counselors. Comprising the First Presidency, these men offer
guidance to bishops and other leaders in official circular letters, to
the general membership in articles and announcements published in the
Ensign magazine and elsewhere, and to the broader public in statements
read from the pulpit and distributed as news releases to the media.

These communications are considered to be authoritative, whether
touching on doctrine, theology, Church administration and practice, or
matters of individual responsibility. The First Presidency maintains
the exclusive prerogative to interpret scripture and doctrine for the
Church at large.

The current volume should therefore be of considerable interest to LDS
Church members and scholars seeking official views on doctrinal
questions and contemporary issues. For readers' convenience, the
quotations are arranged alphabetically by topic and in reverse
chronological order to present the most recent statements first.

While this compilation contains definitive positions of the LDS First
Presidency, it is not itself a publication of the LDS Church. The
statements quoted within are referenced so readers can consult the
original documents or publications.

Gary James BergeraGary James Bergera is director of the Smith-Pettit
Foundation (Salt Lake City), which supports scholarly Mormon studies.
His previous works include The Autobiography of B. H. Roberts
(editor), Brigham Young University: A House of Faith (co-author), and
companion volumes of Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845,
and The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845-1846 (co-editor), jointly
named the Mormon History Association's Best Documentary Book for 2005.

Dale C. LeCheminantDale C. LeCheminant is a former instructor in the
LDS Church Institute program in southern California and Salt Lake
City, where he retired. He has published in the Journal of Mormon
History and elsewhere and contributed to such works as John A.
Widtsoe's recently re-issued Rational Theology as Taught by the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His doctoral dissertation was on
the topic of "rational apologetics." He and his wife, Wanda, are the
parents of five children.


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"If we have the truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not the truth, it ought to be harmed." -J. Reuben Clark, D.

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