These lectures on
Faith which were published in the first edition and all subsequent editions up
to the year 1921, were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants when that book
was published in the double columns. The question is frequently asked why these
lectures were taken out of the book. It was not because these lectures are
unsound in principle, for they are just as valuable today as they were when
presented before the school of the elders in Kirtland, under the guiding hand
of the Prophet Joseph Smith. They are, in fact, too valuable in the study of
the principle of faith to be lost. (Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History
and Modern Revelation: Being a Course of Study for the Melchizedek Priesthood
Quorums for the year 1949 Third Series [Salt Lake City: The Deseret News
Press, 1946], 65)
As we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants
this year (2021), I thought it might be a good idea to link to some useful
resources on the Lectures on Faith:
The Lectures
on Faith in Historical Perspective – a reproduction of all the lectures
followed by essays on each lecture. See also this
review by Kevin L. Barney
Noel B. Reynolds, The
Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith
FairMormon, Lecture
of Faith 5 teaches the Father is "a personage of spirit"
Richard S. Van Wagoner, Steven C. Walker,
and Allen D. Roberts, The
'Lectures on Faith': A Case Study in Decanonization