Canon of Latter-day Saint Scriptures, or "Standard Works"
See also: Other Latter-day Saint "Scriptures" (Non-Canon) and Biblical Supports for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
These are the books considered most authoritative and "official" by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Leaders urge us to study them every day, especially the Book of Mormon. Doing so facilitates communication from God both while reading and throughout the day.
The Holy Bible: King James Version
I read the Holy Bible on my own at age twelve or so, except for a couple chapters in Leviticus that I had to skip because they were just too boring. The Bible is a compilation of several ancient records (from the Greek word biblia, meaning books) that teach many great things but, first and foremost, testify of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Messiah of the New. His dealings with the children of Israel, His instructions through living prophets, His miracles and teachings, and ultimately and most importantly His Atonement and resurrection - these beautiful and essential truths are all contained in the Bible and have been illuminating lives for centuries. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reveres the Bible like any other Christian denomination and uses the King James version, which is the most doctrinally correct. We list it first among what we call our "standard works".
Latter-day Saints do not consider the Bible to be inerrant. We believe that as it was passed down through the ages, going through several transcriptions and translations, errors and deliberate changes were made and many plain and precious truths were lost. All manuscripts ever found are far removed from the originals. Even the King James version was only the third translation into English, and it underwent several changes over a century and a half later. You can see this manifested in the confusion of the thousands of Christian denominations that exist today, and that is why we need the Book of Mormon as well. However, none of this should be taken as a denigration or condemnation of the Bible. It need not be inerrant to be immensely valuable and worthwhile in the affairs of men, as I've described.
Of course it's no secret that the Old Testament is full of bizarre and disturbing stuff. Time and space do not permit me to examine it all here, nor am I an expert, so for anyone who is bothered I recommend the book Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God. (Although we don't believe in biblical inerrancy, and the Old Testament God was in fact Jesus, it's still well-researched and informative.) I will say, however, that the Old Testament has not inspired Christian atrocities. Both the Crusades and the Inquisition were primarily political, in an era when "separation of church and state" was a non-existent concept. A few cherry-picked verses were used to construct a spurious rationale for enslaving and segregating black people, while others today are used by the Westboro Baptist Church and their ilk, but that's not the Bible's fault. People are wicked by nature and have justified things with religion because it's the most convenient excuse when everyone is religious.
Latter-day Saints do not consider the Bible to be inerrant. We believe that as it was passed down through the ages, going through several transcriptions and translations, errors and deliberate changes were made and many plain and precious truths were lost. All manuscripts ever found are far removed from the originals. Even the King James version was only the third translation into English, and it underwent several changes over a century and a half later. You can see this manifested in the confusion of the thousands of Christian denominations that exist today, and that is why we need the Book of Mormon as well. However, none of this should be taken as a denigration or condemnation of the Bible. It need not be inerrant to be immensely valuable and worthwhile in the affairs of men, as I've described.
Of course it's no secret that the Old Testament is full of bizarre and disturbing stuff. Time and space do not permit me to examine it all here, nor am I an expert, so for anyone who is bothered I recommend the book Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God. (Although we don't believe in biblical inerrancy, and the Old Testament God was in fact Jesus, it's still well-researched and informative.) I will say, however, that the Old Testament has not inspired Christian atrocities. Both the Crusades and the Inquisition were primarily political, in an era when "separation of church and state" was a non-existent concept. A few cherry-picked verses were used to construct a spurious rationale for enslaving and segregating black people, while others today are used by the Westboro Baptist Church and their ilk, but that's not the Bible's fault. People are wicked by nature and have justified things with religion because it's the most convenient excuse when everyone is religious.
Bible Miscellanea (Not Canon)
Bible Dictionary: The Bible Dictionary, largely written by Elder Bruce R. McConkie with later revisions based on new information, is included along with the Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Bible. It has entries on biblical people, places, things, doctrinal points and other matters, but does not in itself constitute scripture. Its preface reads in part: "This dictionary is provided to help your study of the scriptures and is not intended as an official statement of church doctrine or an endorsement of the historical and cultural views set forth."
Joseph Smith Translation: The Joseph Smith Translation is the result of Joseph Smith's efforts, at God's command, to restore some lost truth to the Bible. It was cut short by his death and no one knows how much more he would have done, but apparently he did as much as was necessary at the time. The footnotes and appendix of JST passages were not added to Latter-day Saint Bibles until relatively recently, in 1978, because the Community of Christ holds the original manuscripts but now kindly allows us print some excerpts without copyright charges. (This led certain critics to declare it an embarrassment to the Church, but as usual they didn't know what they were talking about.) For these reasons the JST is not canonized scripture except for the passages featured in the Pearl of Great Price (see below).
Though Joseph Smith sometimes restored text to the way it was before it was distorted by careless or malicious transcribers, it seems that his edits are often different than the passages were ever originally written, but more beneficial and meaningful to us in this day and age. Perhaps it should be more accurately considered an inspired revision. Besides correcting erroneous statements that just make no sense - Pharaoh hardened his own heart, not God; God didn't repent of creating mankind; Jesus didn't go into the wilderness so that the devil could tempt him, etc. - much valuable doctrine is added and clarified.
The Latter-day Saint View of the Apocrypha: While working on his translation of the Old Testament, Joseph Smith came upon the Apocrypha and asked the Lord if he should translate that as well. He received an answer that became Doctrine and Covenants (see below) section 91. It's brief so I'll repeat the whole thing here. "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha - there are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly; there are many things contained therein that are not true, which are interpolations by the hands of men. Verily, I say unto you, that it is not needful that the Apocrypha should be translated. Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth; and whoso is enlightened by the Spirit shall obtain benefit therefrom; and whoso receiveth not the Spirit, cannot be benefited. Therefore it is not needful that it should be translated. Amen."
The Latter-day Saint View of the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Dead Sea Scrolls are not canon but are fascinating to our scholars (as to anyone else's, I suppose) and have offer many intriguing insights into the ancient world that support our beliefs, such as doctrinal similarities and parallels to the Book of Mormon. LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, written by several authors, is a good source although it must be outdated by now. They don't include the "plain and precious truths" that were removed from the Bible, because they're still centuries apart from the original manuscripts.
Bible Dictionary: The Bible Dictionary, largely written by Elder Bruce R. McConkie with later revisions based on new information, is included along with the Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Bible. It has entries on biblical people, places, things, doctrinal points and other matters, but does not in itself constitute scripture. Its preface reads in part: "This dictionary is provided to help your study of the scriptures and is not intended as an official statement of church doctrine or an endorsement of the historical and cultural views set forth."
Joseph Smith Translation: The Joseph Smith Translation is the result of Joseph Smith's efforts, at God's command, to restore some lost truth to the Bible. It was cut short by his death and no one knows how much more he would have done, but apparently he did as much as was necessary at the time. The footnotes and appendix of JST passages were not added to Latter-day Saint Bibles until relatively recently, in 1978, because the Community of Christ holds the original manuscripts but now kindly allows us print some excerpts without copyright charges. (This led certain critics to declare it an embarrassment to the Church, but as usual they didn't know what they were talking about.) For these reasons the JST is not canonized scripture except for the passages featured in the Pearl of Great Price (see below).
Though Joseph Smith sometimes restored text to the way it was before it was distorted by careless or malicious transcribers, it seems that his edits are often different than the passages were ever originally written, but more beneficial and meaningful to us in this day and age. Perhaps it should be more accurately considered an inspired revision. Besides correcting erroneous statements that just make no sense - Pharaoh hardened his own heart, not God; God didn't repent of creating mankind; Jesus didn't go into the wilderness so that the devil could tempt him, etc. - much valuable doctrine is added and clarified.
The Latter-day Saint View of the Apocrypha: While working on his translation of the Old Testament, Joseph Smith came upon the Apocrypha and asked the Lord if he should translate that as well. He received an answer that became Doctrine and Covenants (see below) section 91. It's brief so I'll repeat the whole thing here. "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha - there are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly; there are many things contained therein that are not true, which are interpolations by the hands of men. Verily, I say unto you, that it is not needful that the Apocrypha should be translated. Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth; and whoso is enlightened by the Spirit shall obtain benefit therefrom; and whoso receiveth not the Spirit, cannot be benefited. Therefore it is not needful that it should be translated. Amen."
The Latter-day Saint View of the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Dead Sea Scrolls are not canon but are fascinating to our scholars (as to anyone else's, I suppose) and have offer many intriguing insights into the ancient world that support our beliefs, such as doctrinal similarities and parallels to the Book of Mormon. LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, written by several authors, is a good source although it must be outdated by now. They don't include the "plain and precious truths" that were removed from the Bible, because they're still centuries apart from the original manuscripts.
The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
The Book of Mormon is a record of ancient inhabitants of the Americas from about 600 BC to AD 421. It starts with the story of a Jewish family who left Jerusalem to escape its destruction and traveled across the ocean to the Promised Land (different from the Promised Land of Canaan in the Bible). Then it follows their descendants, the Nephites and Lamanites, for eight hundred years and includes a record they discovered from a civilization of people called the Jaredites who left the Tower of Babel fiasco and came to the same land centuries earlier. The highlight of the book is Jesus Christ's visit and ministry to the Nephites, some of His "other sheep", after His resurrection. Throughout the book they follow a cycle of righteousness-prosperity-wickedness-devastation-repentance-repeat and eventually are destroyed.
The records that make up the Book of Mormon were compiled, and many of them abridged, by a Nephite prophet/historian/war hero named Mormon (hence the name - get it?). He wrote them onto a set of golden plates (most likely a gold/copper alloy such as tumbaga) and gave them to his son Moroni, who added his own writings and hid them under a rock on a hill in what is now western New York (which was named for and conflated with the Hill Cumorah where Moroni's people were exterminated).
Centuries later, on September 23, 1823, Moroni appeared as a resurrected being to young Joseph Smith and told him of the book and the work he would have to do with it. After several more visits the plates were entrusted to Joseph, who translated them with seer stones by the gift and power of God and worked hard to keep them from the hands of gold-hungry treasure seekers, some of them his former colleagues. When he was done, Moroni was sent to collect the plates - which has caused a lot of eye-rolling among the Church's critics but was actually a wise decision. For my own opinion on why you can't look at the plates, see here. The Book of Mormon was published in 1830 amid no small controversy. Since then it's undergone changes to clarify the text and correct errors that came about between transcribing and printing it.
Most people, including many Latter-day Saints, are unaware of the large amount of evidence that supports the Book of Mormon's veracity. Notice I'm saying "evidence", not "proof", so any reasonable person should be able to accept this. Evidence can and usually does exist even for false things. Evidence within the book's content itself includes wordprint analysis of the text which has practically proven that it was written by several different people as it claims, and that their number did not include Joseph Smith or any of his associates (anyone who's read ten pages of the book could tell you that last part). The book also contains many Hebraic and Mesoamerican literary and cultural elements such as chiasmus that were unknown or mostly unknown to Western civilization when it was published.
True, archaeologists in the Americas haven't discovered anything saying "The Nephites [or Lamanites or Jaredites] Were Here", and probably never will, as that would practically remove the need for faith. They have, however, found many things mentioned in the Book of Mormon that had been scoffed at for years (and still are by ignorant critics), such as pre-Columbian horses, barley, "silk" and "linen", cement, and gardens, to name a few. It has been discovered that Jews did write in Egyptian sometimes, that ancient peoples did keep records on metal plates, and that there is a fertile coastal region on the Arabian peninsula. Detractors of the book always end up sooner or later with their feet in their mouths. Remaining things be found at any time and even if not, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Still, all of that could be coincidence and the book a work of nineteenth-century fiction. It takes more faith to believe that than the angel story, and no one has ever equaled such an achievement, but still the only way to get a sure knowledge of the Book of Mormon is to read at least part of it and pray as Moroni invites near the end, in Moroni 10:4, "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." If you do this you will know that the Book of Mormon is true; and then you will know that Joseph Smith translated it by the gift and power of God; and then you will know that he was a prophet called to re-establish Christ's church in the last days before the Second Coming.
The records that make up the Book of Mormon were compiled, and many of them abridged, by a Nephite prophet/historian/war hero named Mormon (hence the name - get it?). He wrote them onto a set of golden plates (most likely a gold/copper alloy such as tumbaga) and gave them to his son Moroni, who added his own writings and hid them under a rock on a hill in what is now western New York (which was named for and conflated with the Hill Cumorah where Moroni's people were exterminated).
Centuries later, on September 23, 1823, Moroni appeared as a resurrected being to young Joseph Smith and told him of the book and the work he would have to do with it. After several more visits the plates were entrusted to Joseph, who translated them with seer stones by the gift and power of God and worked hard to keep them from the hands of gold-hungry treasure seekers, some of them his former colleagues. When he was done, Moroni was sent to collect the plates - which has caused a lot of eye-rolling among the Church's critics but was actually a wise decision. For my own opinion on why you can't look at the plates, see here. The Book of Mormon was published in 1830 amid no small controversy. Since then it's undergone changes to clarify the text and correct errors that came about between transcribing and printing it.
Most people, including many Latter-day Saints, are unaware of the large amount of evidence that supports the Book of Mormon's veracity. Notice I'm saying "evidence", not "proof", so any reasonable person should be able to accept this. Evidence can and usually does exist even for false things. Evidence within the book's content itself includes wordprint analysis of the text which has practically proven that it was written by several different people as it claims, and that their number did not include Joseph Smith or any of his associates (anyone who's read ten pages of the book could tell you that last part). The book also contains many Hebraic and Mesoamerican literary and cultural elements such as chiasmus that were unknown or mostly unknown to Western civilization when it was published.
True, archaeologists in the Americas haven't discovered anything saying "The Nephites [or Lamanites or Jaredites] Were Here", and probably never will, as that would practically remove the need for faith. They have, however, found many things mentioned in the Book of Mormon that had been scoffed at for years (and still are by ignorant critics), such as pre-Columbian horses, barley, "silk" and "linen", cement, and gardens, to name a few. It has been discovered that Jews did write in Egyptian sometimes, that ancient peoples did keep records on metal plates, and that there is a fertile coastal region on the Arabian peninsula. Detractors of the book always end up sooner or later with their feet in their mouths. Remaining things be found at any time and even if not, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Still, all of that could be coincidence and the book a work of nineteenth-century fiction. It takes more faith to believe that than the angel story, and no one has ever equaled such an achievement, but still the only way to get a sure knowledge of the Book of Mormon is to read at least part of it and pray as Moroni invites near the end, in Moroni 10:4, "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." If you do this you will know that the Book of Mormon is true; and then you will know that Joseph Smith translated it by the gift and power of God; and then you will know that he was a prophet called to re-establish Christ's church in the last days before the Second Coming.
Doctrine and Covenants
The Doctrine and Covenants is a compilation of revelations received by Joseph Smith and a couple other prophets regarding doctrine and how to run the Church, and a few other odds and ends such as a heart-wrenching account of the Prophet's martyrdom. It includes an official declaration ending the practice of polygamy and another extending the priesthood to worthy men of all races, ending the ban for black men. The guidelines in the Doctrine and Covenants are still the foundation of the Church's organization and functioning, though it has been expanded and adapted dramatically as the Church has grown. Some have asked, if the Book of Mormon contains "the fulness of the everlasting gospel", why do we need all this other stuff in the Doctrine and Covenants? A valid question with a simple answer. The gospel is extremely simple, as described in the fourth Article of Faith (see Pearl of Great Price, below): "first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." Everything else are merely appendages to this core. They are great and important stuff but not strictly necessary for eternal salvation. They make the journey a lot easier and more enjoyable though.
The Doctrine and Covenants as used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contains 138 sections plus the two declarations, but the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claims to still be receiving new sections and now has 164. Curious readers will have to judge for themselves whether those new sections are inspired scripture. The LDS prophet and apostles continue to receive revelation on a regular basis, but most of these have to do with the day-to-day administration of the Church (as opposed to new doctrine) and are not made public. When someone sarcastically asked when the Church received its last revelation, Elder John A. Widtsoe replied, "Well, this is Sunday, the last one came last Thursday." (Thursday is when the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve hold sacrament meeting in the Salt Lake Temple.)
The Doctrine and Covenants as used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contains 138 sections plus the two declarations, but the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claims to still be receiving new sections and now has 164. Curious readers will have to judge for themselves whether those new sections are inspired scripture. The LDS prophet and apostles continue to receive revelation on a regular basis, but most of these have to do with the day-to-day administration of the Church (as opposed to new doctrine) and are not made public. When someone sarcastically asked when the Church received its last revelation, Elder John A. Widtsoe replied, "Well, this is Sunday, the last one came last Thursday." (Thursday is when the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve hold sacrament meeting in the Salt Lake Temple.)
The Pearl of Great Price
The Pearl of Great Price is the smallest of the standard works. It doesn't have a year of Seminary or Sunday School devoted to it, although it is used in conjunction with the Old Testament. It includes the book of Moses, from the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis; the book of Abraham, from an Egyptian papyrus that came into Joseph Smith's possession; the Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 23:29 and 24; Chapters 1 through 5 of History of the Church Volume 1, which tell part of Joseph Smith's story; and the thirteen Articles of Faith, our basic beliefs as explained by Joseph Smith to a curious newspaper editor.
The Book of Abraham was translated by Joseph Smith after purchasing some Egyptian papyri, and includes some facsimiles from them, the only pictures in the scriptures. In 1912, Episcopal Reverend Spalding in Utah solicited the opinions of several respected Egyptologists who said that the facsimiles had nothing to do with Abraham. It is possible, however, that Joseph Smith was restoring their original meaning or was inspired with a revealed interpretation other than the original. In 1966, fragments of the papyri owned by Joseph Smith was found after having been thought destroyed in a fire, and turned out to be part of a funerary text known as the Book of Breathings. These fragments contained the facsimiles, but because they were only a small portion of the original complete papyri, their relation to the Book of Abraham is up for debate. For more information, see Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham.
The Book of Abraham is also the source of some of the "weird" Latter-day Saint teachings. In a couple of chapters God tells Abraham some interesting and vague things about astronomy and His universe, such as His location near a star called Kolob. Critics blow these things out of proportion as if they're core doctrines, but in fact we don't talk about them much even among ourselves. This is not because they're secret - they're right there in the shortest book of scripture we have, and in one of our most beautiful hymns - but because they appear to have little to do with our eternal salvation. There really isn't much information about this stuff at all, and discussion usually becomes idle speculation. The major takeaway is that God's creations are endless and that He is located in a tangible location in space.
The Book of Abraham was translated by Joseph Smith after purchasing some Egyptian papyri, and includes some facsimiles from them, the only pictures in the scriptures. In 1912, Episcopal Reverend Spalding in Utah solicited the opinions of several respected Egyptologists who said that the facsimiles had nothing to do with Abraham. It is possible, however, that Joseph Smith was restoring their original meaning or was inspired with a revealed interpretation other than the original. In 1966, fragments of the papyri owned by Joseph Smith was found after having been thought destroyed in a fire, and turned out to be part of a funerary text known as the Book of Breathings. These fragments contained the facsimiles, but because they were only a small portion of the original complete papyri, their relation to the Book of Abraham is up for debate. For more information, see Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham.
The Book of Abraham is also the source of some of the "weird" Latter-day Saint teachings. In a couple of chapters God tells Abraham some interesting and vague things about astronomy and His universe, such as His location near a star called Kolob. Critics blow these things out of proportion as if they're core doctrines, but in fact we don't talk about them much even among ourselves. This is not because they're secret - they're right there in the shortest book of scripture we have, and in one of our most beautiful hymns - but because they appear to have little to do with our eternal salvation. There really isn't much information about this stuff at all, and discussion usually becomes idle speculation. The major takeaway is that God's creations are endless and that He is located in a tangible location in space.
