I’ve been hunting down resources to use in studying the Doctrine and Covenants, and one of the books I wanted to highlight in that regard is the Commentary on the Community of Christ Doctrine & Covenants Volume 1: The Joseph Smith Jr. Era, by Dale E. Luffman. It is a fascinating glimpse into both the Doctrine and Covenants itself and how it is viewed and used in a sister organization in the Restoration movement. The book goes through each individual document in the Doctrine and Covenants, offering information about the historical and theological context of the document, commentary and exegesis, how it was understood at the time it was written, and some interpretation and thoughts about how the document is significant to members of the church today. Throughout, it offers many important and interesting insights about this important volume of scripture.
Now, one note for Latter-day Saints who are interested in reading this commentary is that the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants both use a different numbering system and different versification in Community of Christ. Hence, it is useful to use it in conjunction with an actual Community of Christ Doctrine and Covenants. That being said, despite these differences in referencing, the documents are largely the same for sections added up through the 1844 edition (so, most of the sections through Section 107 in our edition of the Doctrine and Covenants and a few other sections as well). Hence, it’s a very useful companion to the Latter-day Saint version of the Doctrine and Covenants as well as the Community of Christ one, as long as you know how to figure out which section is being discussed.
The historical and theological context offered is extremely informative. It is, of course, historical information that doesn’t change based on your church, so there is some significant overlap between that part of Luffman’s commentary and the commentary offered by Latter-day Saint scholars. For example, the notes that are found on the Joseph Smith Papers Project site and in its publications have some overlap. The perspectives of Community of Christ members are different than Latter-day Saints, though, which does provide some insights that I would have otherwise missed. For example, in discussing the Articles and Covenants (our Section 20), Luffman points out that the statement of belief (found in our D&C 20:17–28) seems to be textually dependent on the Apostles’ Creed (an ancient Roman Christian statement of belief commonly used in Western Christian churches). I’ve never heard that in our church before, but once he pointed it out, I can’t unsee it now and I find it fascinating.
One of the greatest contributions that Luffman makes in this commentary is his thoughts on how the text of the Doctrine and Covenants can be used or applied today, in both his exegesis of the scriptures and in the “significance of this text for today’s readers” sections for each document. This is a more pastoral turn and often very is insightful. Latter-day Saints preparing Sacrament meeting talks or lessons, for example, will likely find these sections of the commentary quite helpful.
For those who are wanting to dig deeper into the Doctrine and Covenants, I recommend picking up a copy of the Commentary on the Community of Christ Doctrine & Covenants Volume 1: The Joseph Smith Jr. Era, by Dale E. Luffman. It’s worthwhile for study and for use in preparing for Church when the Doctrine and Covenants is the subject of study (e.g., next year).