"If something isn't aesthetically pleasing or interesting, doesn't require skills I do not have, and makes a stupid point stupidly, I don't appreciate it as art. That doesn't make me a philistine. It makes me a non-rube."

--Jonah Goldberg

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The One with Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith

107. Title & Author: Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (564 pages)
Genre: Nonfiction--Religion & LDS
Completed: 2 August 2009

Summary & Review:
The life and teachings of Joseph Smith, the first Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are present in this manual organized according to topic. Each chapter is introduced with a short history of the prophet's life and then direct quotes from his sermons and journals, etc. are used to teach the doctrines.

I really appreciated how there was little to no commentary in this manual so that the words of Joseph Smith were presented directly. The student was able to see exactly what he taught about a subject without the buffer of anyone else's opinion. the only thing I thought was missing was that there was no context given, for the most part, to the passages. It would have been interesting and educational to see what situations caused Joseph to teach what he did.

Rating: 8.0
Posted by at 5:57 PM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)