Updated LDS Scriptures: An Occasional Series

As a group of people that is generally pretty interested in the scriptures, we were pleased to learn of the new edition (2013) of the LDS scriptures announced on Friday.  The link provides a wealth of information about the new edition, including a discussion of the history of the LDS editions, and detailed documents noting every change made to the text and headers.  The transparency of this new change is extremely useful.  New maps and study aids are provided as well.  In early commentary, LDS audiences have welcomed the new edition, even if most of the changes are extremely minor.

One of the primary areas of attention so far is the addition of explanatory headers for the two Official Declarations in the Doctrine and Covenants.  These have largely been received enthusiastically, though there has been some critical assessment on their depiction of the past.  Other important changes to the headers in the Doctrine and Covenants reflect the historical work of the Joseph Smith Papers Project.

Here at FPR, we plan to look more broadly at what was changed, as well as what was kept in the standard works and study aids.  Obviously, they didn’t take all of my advice on this issue!   Stay tuned for some analysis of these changes in the coming weeks!

UPDATE: Posts in this series will be under the category: 2013 Scriptures.