Saints

This week The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the first volume of its four-volume history project, which can be bought as a nice paper book or read for free here. As I mentioned almost a year ago, I was invited with several others to give feedback on a sample chapter, so while school will prohibit me from reading the completed book for some time I feel good about it nonetheless. I feel these volumes will be worthwhile to believers and non-believers alike, whether as a promotion of faith or mere historical interest, because everything in them is documented with primary sources. They eschew the myths and misconceptions that Latter-day Saints have been repeating as gospel (no pun intended) for generations.

Elder Quentin L. Cook gave a devotional tonight with a couple of the Church's historians in honor of the book's release. Kate Holbrook hit the nail on the head with the first question about part of what these volumes are intended to accomplish in getting the "controversial" stuff more out there. She struck a reasonable balance that most people can't seem to be bothered with: no, the Church didn't try to hide its history, but no, it isn't helpful at all for believers to condemn you for being shocked to learn something that was mentioned in a church magazine decades ago. Also, it's President Russell M. Nelson's birthday. He's 94. My last surviving great-grandparent died a couple years ago at age 94. That makes me wary, but President Nelson seems to be in much better health. Then again, so did Elder Perry... anyway, happy birthday to our beloved prophet.