D&C 42:61-69

We’ve come to our final post!  A note before I forget–I’m away from home and I’ve cut off my access to email.  So if any of you are trying to send me email, I can’t get it until the 21st.  Let’s do find some other way of getting in touch if it’s urgent, though.

 

D&C 42:53-60

First, I’ll note that these verses have a fairly complicated textual history, for which it is useful to return to Grant Underwood’s textual analysis, pp. 123-126.

Verses 53-56 add an important clarification to the ideas of consecration and stewardship, by making a distinction between the system being revealed here and fully common ownership.  I stumble a bit at the idea of Saints paying each other directly, rather than having all transactions go through the storehouse.  Is there some secondary economy contemplated, in which people could buy and sell laterally? And “pay” introduces some questions–are we talking about a monetary transaction, or system of bartering?  Does it matter?  Ultimately, though, it seems to me that this clarification makes it possible that one should “stand in the place of [her] stewardship”–setting up the requisite confidence in personal ownership to motivate careful and efficient care and husbanding of  resources.

Verse 56 seems like an abrupt interjection of a new and, at first glance, unrelated topic.  The traditional interpretation of these verses asserts that they refer to Joseph’s “translation” of the New Testament that was underway at the time this revelation was received.  This seems historically reasonable, but hermeneutically unsatisfying.  We have to wonder why these verses are included in this important revelation, and whether they are intended to have a wider valance than a strictly historical interpretation of the text can render (which is to say that,  to a lit. crit. wannabe, practically everything looks like an invitation to grandiose speculation on the place of The Text in the large scheme of things).

 

Discussion summary: Verses 40-52

From our abundance of discussion this week, I have chosen to highlight our thoughts on three topics: clothing, death/healing, and Zion.

 

D&C 42:40-52

Verses 40-52 discuss pride, clothing, cleanliness, idleness, and healing. I will begin with a verse-by-verse commentary, with any helpful cross-references I found. Then I will add some theological thoughts and questions, also arranged verse-by-verse.

 

Discussion summary: D&C 42:36-39

Thanks everyone for your great comments on my post.  When exactly are we supposed to do this summary, and how should we do it?

 

D&C 42:36-39

36 That my covenant people may be gathered in one in that day when I shall come to my temple. And this I do for the salvation of my people.

37 And it shall come to pass, that he that sinneth and repenteth not shall be cast out of the church, and shall not receive again that which he has consecrated unto the poor and the needy of my church, or in other words, unto me—

38 For inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, ye do it unto me.

39 For it shall come to pass, that which I spake by the mouths of my prophets shall be fulfilled; for I will consecrate of the riches of those who embrace my gospel among the Gentiles unto the poor of my people who are of the house of Israel.

 

Discussion Summary: D&C 42:33-35

These three verses, much like verses 30-32 before them, have made it clear that there remains a great deal of historical, economic, and philosophical analysis remains to be done before theological questions can be productively engaged. The discussion this week primarily turned on the viability of using the language of capitalism to make sense of D&C 42; on the competing notions of excess, residue, and capital; and on the structural differences between the 1831 and 1835 “systems” implied in the corresponding versions of the revelation. Very few conclusions, however, were reached.

 

D&C 42:33-35

I told myself that this post would be much shorter than the ridiculous post I put up to get the project started a few weeks ago. I think I’ve failed on that point, because working with an 1831 and an 1835 text is quite a chore! I think, however, that I’ve begun to make sense of the material, or at least to make enough sense of it to begin to spell out what I think is going on here. At any rate, I hope I can make sense as I work through verses 33-35.

Because I’m hoping that my post will get most of the exegetical and historical questions out of the way so that our discussion can be primarily about the theological issues, my post will be outlined as follows. After (1) quoting the two versions of the text, I will (2) spell out, more or less without argument, the two “economic” systems I see at work in the two texts. Then I will (3) take up, one by one, the points of textual difference between the two versions of these verses in order (a) to justify my interpretation of the two systems and (b) to begin to work through a basic exposition of the text. Finally, I will (4) wager some theological questions, but without answers, that I find most compelling.

 

Discussion Summary: Verses 30-32

I don’t know what do write here just yet, and I don’t have the time to write anything anyway, but thanks all for the discussion! Hopefully I’ll be able to get back and get some general thoughts written up here, eventually.

 

Verses 30-32: “thou wilt remember the poor”

I have had a difficult time approaching the very narrow slice of “the laws of the Church of Christ” which I have been assigned–namely, verses 30, 31, and 32 in the present section 42 of Doctrine and Covenants.