Gotta hand it to them for making them more accessible. The church is apparently answering the criticism that they buried the essays in the original release. From a Deseret News article:
The next item on the app's Church History page is the new Revelations in Context manual that is being released as a companion to the lesson manuals. I haven't looked at it too closely but there is an article called Oliver Cowdery's Gift which reveals that the Gift of Aaron is really a divining rod.What the official Church Historian and Recorder, Elder Steven E. Snow, described as a "soft launch" left room for a small group to question whether the essays were official — each was approved by the First Presidency, the faith's highest governing body — while the majority of Mormons in the pews didn't know they existed.
The soft launch was deliberate. The essays had a practical purpose, leaders said. They intended the essays to help people find official answers to questions they might have when researching a specific topic online. And they were also meant to be widely used over time.
The new materials will now be integrated into everyday church teachings for teenagers, at the faith's colleges and in Sunday classes.
The Deseret News article also says:
The DN article can be found here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8656 ... ar_cache=1Most Mormons haven't read the 11 clear-eyed essays published by their church on 11 complex topics in the faith's history and doctrine, like polygamy and the differing versions of the First Vision.
Many haven't even heard about them, but that's about to change, beginning in January with additions to the Sunday School lessons in 20,000 congregations in North and South America.
Inoculation has arrived. We wish all to partake.
