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The newly released Church History manual for Institute, “Foundations of the Restoration,” covers early Church history to educate and generate discussion regarding sensitive topics.
The new manual features important excerpts from the Joseph Smith Papers, new Gospel Topic essays and talks given by General Authorities addressing doubts and the importance of asking questions.
Stephen Smoot wrote extensively about the release of the manual on his blog and applauds the Church for its efforts to make information regarding difficult topics more available to the young generation.
“What cannot be debated, however,” Smoot wrote, “Is that claims made about some sort of institutional dread, paralysis, or conspiracy on the part of the Church when it comes to confronting and examining its history are wholly dubious and strongly contradicted by such empirical signs as the existence of this new manual.”
For more information about “Foundations of the Restoration,” go to LDS.org.