I’m not looking forward to studying the D&C this year – and what I’m doing about it

Is anyone else feeling a little bit of dread as we move into studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year for Sunday School?  

I’m not looking forward to studying the D&C at all. My latest faith crisis happened in 2021 partly because I was so annoyed at the lack of depth in the curriculum about the D&C. I didn’t like the way history was polished. The way the church was shown to be so perfect. The way it felt like we were encouraged to idolize Joseph Smith and the early pioneers. 

I didn’t like the grumpy and vindictive tone of the God of the D&C. I kept looking for a loving Jesus and could barely find him. Everything felt about the past and nothing felt relevant to my life. I spiritually starved that year. 

I solved the problem by joining a Ladies Bible Study with a local non-denominational church. I was able to get the spiritual nourishment I needed while we studied Titus. I spent the rest of the year ignoring the Doctrine and Covenants.

Four years later, I’m in a much better place spiritually, but I still don’t think I can handle following along with the Come Follow Me manual’s study of the Doctrine and Covenants. 

Usually my complaint about the Come Follow Me curriculum is that we go too fast. I’ve compared the pacing to a pogo stick, rock skipping, and a food tour. I’ve wished for a curriculum schedule that allowed us the time to go slow and deep into a few books of scripture rather than rocket through everything in a year. 

That’s not my complaint this year. 

This year I feel like we are going to spend too much time in the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History. Specifically we are spending too much time on a very small window of history. The curriculum focuses on revelations given during Joseph Smith’s life. The revelations spanned something like 25 years. Sure, official declarations 1 and 2 and the Proclamation to the Family are thrown in there at the end, but the vast majority of our year will be spent in a small period of time.  

I wish we had a curriculum that didn’t start in the year 1820. Our church is actually woefully uninformed about the history of Christianity. I once talked with a soon to be missionary who had no idea that Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr were two separate people. 

I wish we started with First Century Christianity. I wish we learned about the people who kept Christianity going for the first thousand years. I wish we could talk about the way the Catholic Church shaped our views of the Bible and who Jesus was. I want to look at the second thousand years of Christianity with all its nuance. Could we please talk about the Protestant Revolution? While we are at it, could we take a clear eyed look at many of the religions of the world? Not in a “look how dumb they are because they aren’t the True Church” kind of way, but in a respectful way that honors the role religion plays in people’s lives. 

I also wished we moved past the 1850’s in our study of the history of the church. We often have an attitude of “and they all lived happily ever after” when we talk about the pioneers making it to Utah. It’s like we just handwave over more than 150 years of history. Could we please talk about more? It would be great if we learned about the controversial stuff like the Mountain Meadow Massacre or the efforts to lift the Temple/Priesthood Ban. But I’d settle for the benign stuff like the beginnings of the Church Welfare Program or the reinstitution of the Relief Society. 

Obviously, these are just wishes at this point. The lesson schedule is set. I’m not able to change anything about that. But I can control what I’m studying and where I’m focusing. I’m going to share some of my plans for the year with you. You can adopt these plans for yourself or you can use these as ideas for your own custom study. 

Ladies Scripture Study Group

I host a scripture study group for LDS women in my area. It’s based off what I’ve observed from the non-denominational ladies study I’ve been attending since 2021. Last year we spent the whole year in Mosiah and it was wonderful. This year I couldn’t think of anything in the Doctrine and Covenants that I wanted to spend a year studying. So instead we are going to function kind of like a Book Club. 

We will read four books that are related to living in the restored church. 

In the Winter we’ll read Restoration: God’s Call to the 21st-Century World by Patrick Mason.

In the Spring we’ll read The Mother Tree: Discovering the Love and Wisdom of Our Divine Mother by Kathryn Knight Sonntag.

In the Summer we’ll read Crossings: A Bald Asian American Latter-day Saint Woman Scholar’s Ventures Through Life, Death, Cancer, and Motherhood by Melissa Inouye.

And in the Fall we’ll read Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It by Brian McLaren.

I even made a cute graphic to help everyone keep track.

Listen to a Podcast

I’m also going to listen to the “Year of Polygamy” Podcast put together by Lindsay Hansen Park. The podcast starts with episodes about each of Joseph Smith’s polygamist wives. I’m very interested to hear about these women who are often dismissed or ignored. I read Mormon Enigma about Emma Hale Smith a few months ago and this podcast feels like a good follow up to that book. 

Read Scripture 

I want to make sure that I’m incorporating actual scripture into my life this year. So I’m going to be spending some time in the Old Testament getting ready for what my study group will study in 2026. Yes, I already know what we are doing in 2026.

I want my study group to spend that year studying the 12 minor prophets AKA the Book of the Twelve. It will be perfect because there are 12 months in the year and 12 prophets. But as of right now I feel woefully unprepared for that study. I can’t even name all 12 minor prophets let alone tell you the specifics of something like the book of Micah. So I’m going to be spending this year studying those books to prepare for next year. My husband bought me a commentary for Christmas and I’m so excited about it. (Which just goes to show you how NOT excited I am about studying the D&C.)

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Having a plan for the year helps me feel better about not wanting to engage with the Doctrine and Covenants this year. Yes, I’ll probably still have to sit through some discussions when I’m in Sunday School, but I’ll have other things to think about it if don’t want to pay attention to the lesson.

How about you? Are you dreading studying the Doctrine and Covenants? Or are you looking forward to it this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts as well as any of your study ideas.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash