[Bishop Bill walks to the podium in sacrament meeting.]
Good morning brothers and sisters. When the phone rang last week and I saw it was the Bishop, I contemplated not picking it up. [Courtesy laugh from the congregation] I made a mistake and answered, and thus here I am speaking in sacrament meeting today. [more light laughter]
[Boilerplate sacrament talk begins]
The dictionary defines the word “school” as an institution where instruction is given. The word “instruction” means that knowledge or information is imparted. So Sunday school would be a class like Gospel Doctrine where one goes to be instructed and gain knowledge and learn.
My parody of the typical sacrament meeting talk leads to a discussion of how gospel doctrine classes have strayed from a place of learning. For those that attend church, when was the last time you actually learned something in class? When I last taught GD as a substitute, we were covering the New Testament. I would read the entire lesson in several different Bible translations (all are available online), and make note of where they differed from the KJV, and if they made a difference in the understanding, I would share that with the class. I tried to make sure the “school” in Sunday school was realized. The same when I teach Elders Quorum. Somebody is going to learn something new whether they like it or not!
Several times over the years I’ve had members go to the Bishop to complain about my teaching. The one that stands out the most was when the subject of evolution came up, and I told the class the church does not have a doctrine on evolution, and people can believe what they want. About a week later I was called into the bishop’s office for teaching false doctrine on evolution. I came prepared with the First Presidency statement that says the church takes no official stand on evolution. It was a very short meeting. I showed the Bishop the statement, he read it, and said I was fine, keep up the good work and I left.
So what is Gospel Doctrine class if we are not learning? John Dehlin, in a recent Mormon Stories podcast [1], said that Richard Bushman told him in a conversation that Gospel Doctrine is more ritual than learning. In other word, we go there to affirm each other’s orthodox beliefs, not to actually learn anything.
What do you think about Bushman’s statement?
What do you think the purpose of Gospel Doctrine class is?
Is it more ritual than learning?
Has it always been that way, and if not when did it change?
[1] Mormon Stories #1581, 39 min mark.
Wheat & Tares 
I had a Facebook conversation about this a few months ago, when we were studying D&C 108 (a very boring section containing a revelation given to a man with a fascinating life–a life which the manual entirely ignores).
One Facebook friend: “I see it as having 2 hours in a month to strengthen people’s testimonies of Christ.”
Another Facebook friend who’s left the church, confirming the first friend (but not in a good way): “Sunday school isn’t for learning. It’s for reaffirming the faith.”
Me: “Sunday School needs to be more than just strengthening testimonies. I think, at least equally important, it should prompt people to do better. Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable….[unfortunately] around these parts it’s often just reaffirmation with a bit of GOP talking points and patting ourselves on the back sprinkled in.”
My style is definitely that of comforting the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, which probably explains why I got released as soon as the new bishop was called.
My best gospel doctrine teachers have been ones who have connected the text to ways we can actually be good people. And not in the sense of connecting the text to a Church rule or dogma, but to how we can be better Christians. Also appreciate people who ask thoughtful questions and are good at managing a discussion.
The worst ones have been the ones that seemed to just want everyone to know how smart or righteous they were and ask stupid questions or none at all.
I confess – I always loved it when I had a calling that kept me out of gospel doctrine class. When I was a GD teacher back in the ’80s, I thought the lessons and the teacher’s manual really did have a lot more “doctrine” in them than they do now and were much more challenging as a teacher.
Before I stopped going to Sunday School, I would read the teacher’s manual and the footnotes in advance. If you dig in at that level at least you can review something interest inside your head when the milk toast was brought out.
My suggestion – if you want to walk on the wild side – go to the gospel essentials class. There are rarely any actual new members or investigators and there are far fewer attendees. Those who don’t sync with the Gospel Doctrine class tend to migrate there. It can turn into a close-knit group who feel more comfortable speaking out and pushing the envelop a bit.
Sunday School’s purpose is to have regularity of meeting and form. Religion is hugely about ritual and Sunday School is a ritual experience, much like sacrament meeting and temple attendance. It gives people a chance to talk about their spirituality and experiences among peers, friends, and acquaintances in the form of making comments. It is about reaffirming an already accepted narrative about absolute truth and the Mormon belief system. It serves as a reminder to members of what the church’s teachings actually are (to some degree). It reaffirms the church’s interpretation of the Bible and its past.
I haven’t attended Sunday School regularly since 2015. When I visited by brother in California in 2018, I attended Sunday School for the first time in years. I was blown away by what people said and taught. It was a foreign experience, almost. I won’t make comments if I attend. My comments would be too secular, too non-believer, too scientific.
I have taught college classes and I “taught” Elders’ Quorum for 3 years 2010-2013. In college classes I could present information matter-of-factly. I could drive my arguments about history and back them up with evidence. I could expound on points at length. I could build my own curriculum, have reading assignments, ask students about what they learned, ask them to formulate opinions and arguments and back them up with evidence. I could correct students if they were wrong about something. I could test the students, grade their papers, give them feedback, challenge their arguments. In Elders’ Quorum, I sensed I had to be careful. Too many delicate “testimonies” (whatever that word even means), too many people wanted me to confirm what they already believed. I remember once I told the class that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young drank alcohol. One attendee got offended, raised his hand and passive-aggressively asked me if we were going to “move on.” Others told me that I had to stick to the manual. I couldn’t actually teach at Elders’ Quorum. I couldn’t disagree with comments without facing backlash. I had no freedom there. It wasn’t real teaching.
Yes I agree Sunday School is no school. No one comes prepared for a meaningful discussion, and there are just enough people there hell-bent on keeping it from being interesting.
I was GD teacher from 2013-2016. I was a bit of a hack and most of my lesson material came straight from Julie Smith’s “Search Ponder and Pray: A Guide to the Gospels” and from James Faulconer’s “The Book of Mormon Made Harder: Scripture Study Questions.” I would briefly set the stage, ask unusual questions from these books, and get out of the way while the class answered them. I followed the Socratic method mostly. The class ate this material up. I got so many compliments on these lessons. My Bishop told me his wife made it very clear to him that he was not to release me under any circumstances. It really seemed like everyone in my little corner of Mormonism was cool with this approach. And I did my best to genuinely validate every viewpoint. They say imitation is the ultimate flattery and my teaching partner started teaching this way too. I’m not aware of any complaints and I was called into a Bishopric after this teaching stint. It truly felt like my Golden Age of Mormonism.
I really miss Julie Smith and the old Times and Seasons gang (I’m related through marriage to Nathan Oman which should make everyone jealous). That website is not the same. But neither am I. There would be no going back now.
I serve with the Deacons and that’s about all the Mormonism I can handle so I don’t usually attend church on Sunday School weeks much. When I do, I normally regret it.
If you think Sunday School is more ritual than learning, how would you describe the temple experience? It’s almost 100% ritual and 0% learning, yet we are told that the temple is what it’s all about. I’m not saying there is NO value in rituals, but the learning/ritual ratios in the Church are way off.
Chadwick, I too miss the old Times and Seasons. I remember Julie Smith’s post right after PoX was announced. Truly it was one of the best posts I’ve read on the bloggernacle. The current posts are like Sunday School. And you have to be careful of what you write there, otherwise Jonathan Green will hound you. I think Jonathan Green essentially bullied all the thinkers out.
Our ward has two gospel doctrine classes at the moment and we can attend the class we prefer.
The first class has had the same teacher for several years now and is so refreshing. It really is a class where people are learning, and approaches difficult topics head on. The teacher feels very strongly that this is stuff we all need to know, and that being dogmatic about “pseudo-doctrine” (global flood, anti evolution etc) is only going to create problems and drive away the younger generations. References in lessons come from general authority statements, Nibley, Ben Spackman, Peter Enns, Robert Alter etc. Possibly still a little too dogmatic and prescriptive for my taste ( we clashed over whether or not Neanderthals had to be classed as pre-adamites for example, and why it was okay to say pre-flood ages were exaggerated but Abraham really was that old when Isaac was born, when him marrying again and having more children only chapters later wasn’t at all amazing for example), but it’s way way better than anything that went before.
Some people didn’t like it though, and complained a lot apparently, so a second class has been made available for those who want the touchy feely stuff and don’t care about context..
I’m glad we have both classes. I’d have been gutted if they aced the first.
*axed the first
Good morning class !
As a youth I was an avid reader. I had read my parents entire book shelf of Deseret Book type literature. I thought I had learned all the history and the facts of LDS church history, even before a mission. I then attended SS for the next 25 years and basically learned nothing. I would find reasons not to attend SS and volunteer to drive a family member to another building during that hour. I even attended a sign language class or a Spanish class, Bishop approved, that was offered during SS as a member outreach, for something different and to learn.
Not until I stopped attending correlated SS, did I start to learn; but on my own. I find it remarkable, how critics of the “Under of Banner of Heaven” series states it is full of half truths and falsehoods in the narrative. I found the Mormon Bloggernacle and especially Mormon Stories and I was finally learning again. But now for the rest of the story, and outside of the correlated 1/2 truths. It is said that LDS church curriculum is designed for the lowest denominator in the class and that always “milk before meat”. Well that is what they got…..boring !! Some of the ward/stake decision makers do not realize how bad it is since, they are busy doing private meeting during that hour block. Some to do not care and act like the Gestapo roaming the halls to get members to attend a class, that they themselves, do not attend.
As RFM recently stated, going to LDS church is like a banquet advertised but then all you get for nutrition is air and zero substance. It is Primary for a lifetime. Once you get a real meal and realize the lack of nutritional substance in a correlated LDS setting, how can you continue the charade in SS ? LDS SS is a spiritual/doctrinal famine. The quote from SWK (if the service is a failure to you, you have failed) is a thought stopping technique used to have members blame themselves, instead of the institution.
My 80+ year old father, even had a faith transition only a few years ago, when as a HP instructor he was told not to teach “controversial” subject matter. He still goes to SS, but now uses the bloggernacle/podcasts to learn.
If one of the purposes of life on earth and the eternities, is to learn; the LDS church is failing. The truth is the LDS church does not want its’ members to learn, in the current model the members are dependent on the church for a lifetime.
Since I stopped attending church I earned my doctoral degree. I also, as many of us here, would be a strong candidate for a doctorate in Mormon Studies. I think we have earned at least an honorary Mormon doctorate.
Once one can loose the emotional attachment to Mormon history, it is fascinating. However, most of us were lied to since our youth and only told 1/2 truths. The whole entire history of the church makes much more sense, when you learn the whole truth. I only stay in the conversation, waiting for more family members to have a spiritual awakening and welcome them to the 2nd half of life.
GD is catechism class, no learning just acquiescence required.
Our Sunday School class consists of the teacher’s congratulating everyone for staying in the boat (because we all know what kinds of people leave the boat), spouting Republican Party ideals (because we all know what Democrats are like), and reiterating the evils of the internet, “the world”, Dr. Fauci, and the feminist and LGBTQ agendas. After distracting myself for years with crossword puzzles, I finally stopped going. No regrets. I loved Sunday School for its potential to study the scriptures in real depth; it took me a long, long time to realize that was never going to happen. If that ever was the goal, it certainly isn’t now.
In our semi-ascetic order rote & boredom are ingrained, the loop loops ad infinitum, with no beauty (much less incense) to make it bearable or give it meaning. The art, such as it is, is boilerplate. This is the vapid right-wing soul of our church, and the reason youth flee. Our ancient Politburo, not the most exciting group, don’t see a problem. Maybe it’s Satan stirring things up? Jesus Jesus Jesus, it’s all you really need, look no further! Hopeless. My solution is make sacrament a zen meditation, and shoot off my big mouth in SS. It’s worked so far.
I taught Sunday school for years while living in my favorite ward several years back. My source material was the bloggernaccle, Ben Spackman, Bible commentary (generally non-LDS), and my own personal experiences. The classes were wildly popular, with engaging conversation, inclusion of differing viewpoints, and strong attendance. Several people told me they only attended church to go to my classes.
Moved to new ward, taught youth Sunday school for a while until I gave a lesson on the black priesthood and temple ban that offended some parents. Pretty much got blacklisted. They’ve only recently invited me to teach things again, probably because I’m a ward project after 2+ years of corona inactivity.
So at least it seemed to me thet people valued challenging classes as a shared experience in most cases.
Great post!! Sunday school doesn’t feel like a school to me at all, it feels like a ritual.
I am a high school teacher and absolutely love pushing my students to look at things from different perspectives. I really enjoy teaching and learning from my students. They often bring ideas to class that help me learn and alter my own way of thinking. We debated during my last class if we should lower the voting age to 16. Several were for the idea, as 16 year olds pay taxes. Others were against it as the 18 year olds felt their opinions had changed a lot in the last two years. It was very engaging and enlightening.
Compare that to Sunday school. I haven’t been in a while. The last time I went, maybe last year, I was completely bored and came away with nothing. I would love to learn from an engaging teacher who spent time researching different topics and looking at various sources. I feel we have to stay on the path or make some uneasy, so it’s not really a safe place to express our true thoughts and ask sincere questions. I would be there if it were.
What makes me sad is that for years the lesson materials have included guides for making the experience as a facilitated discussion and not a lectured lesson.
Yet how many facilitated discussions have most of us participated in vs how many lectures we’ve received.
I’m not sure how to change that, though I found that bringing refreshments to high priests group (back when that still existed) really helped.
Have mentioned here before that I teach Gospel Doctrine – last week a mom in the class needed validation for her struggle with her son’s loss of testimony. For the most part, the class rallied around her.
If historicity is an issue for the Bible or Book of Mormon (or instructors like yours truly), then let’s treat those texts like movies or Harry Potter novels but still try to find moral lessons during class time.
For the record, just saw the new Doctor Strange movie and loved the interplay of good versus evil.
p.s. how does JCS feel about Harry Potter novels?
for instructors like yours truly
The manuals have gotten away from the raw directions and attempt to encourage facilitation methods.
Eg
“As part of every class, invite class members to share insights and experiences they had during the previous week as they studied the scriptures as individuals and families and applied what they learned. Help class members see that their personal learning outside of class is important. Their individual conversion to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will come not only through Sunday learning but also through their daily experiences. When class members hear each other’s experiences and testimonies of Jesus Christ and His gospel, they are more likely to seek similar experiences of their own.”
But I feel for people trying to use the materials to make such discussions meaningful and true learning experiences.
I wish I were smart enough to solve it all.
BeenThere, I was under the impression the Church had ended the Gospel Essentials class, choosing rather to focus on Come Follow Me and ensure investigating or semi-active families get taught in the home instead. Maybe that’s just my stake. I do miss it.
I’ll admit I’m sympathetic towards a basic class. As long as the Church is a missionary church it’s hard for me to understand how it should be otherwise. Additionally, the best lessons inspire me to learn on my own, which I get fairly often. No matter how many indoctrination or ritual criticisms the Church gets, it’s still led me to believe my journey in the Gospel is as much or more of a personal journey than an institutional one. I don’t think it’s failed in those regards.
That said, as a SS teacher for the youth, I try to ask questions outside the manual or get the class thinking in other ways (believe it or not, the manual actually has encouraged that a few times over the years). History and context is fine, but there are other interesting questions. I asked my class one question an Institute teacher had once asked me about the mother of Moses. If you only had 3-5 years to teach and make an impression on your child, knowing that teaching too many specifics about your religion might get you killed, what would you teach them? The class basically boiled it down to the two great commandments, even if loving God had to remain somewhat vague. It was an answer that was hard to argue with.
My teaching companion is great. He fully admits to the class that the Old Testament gives him more questions than answers, but he bears humble testimony of what he knows. I think it’s fostered in the youth a trust and a desire to learn more on their own. It’s made me a little more confident in the future of the Church.
From the April Conference:
“This cri de coeur comes from my eight-year-old friend Marin Arnold, written when she was seven. I will translate for you her early reformed Egyptian:
Dear Bishop
generle confrins
was Boring why
Do we half to
Do it? tell me why
Sinserlie, Marin
Arnold.
Well, Marin, the talk I am about to give will undoubtedly disappoint you again. But when you write your bishop to complain, it is important that you tell him my name is “Kearon. Elder Patrick Kearon.””
So it isn’t just Sunday School.
The problem with Mormonism in a nutshell is that we claim to be an expansive religion that grows in knowledge through continuing revelation but our need to validate our prophets’ previous revelations means we spend all our energy doubling down on the debunked ideas of the past. We can’t learn anything new about the BoM, for example, because we’re not allowed to examine it as a 19th century text. We can’t learn anything new about gender and sexuality because we’ve codified cultural gender norms into absolute truths.
As the world around us (full of scientists and researchers and philosophers and journalists motivated by curiosity) comes into a better understanding of reality, we become further divorced from reality. Our church is ossifying, becoming a living fossil of 19th century superstitions wrapped in 1950s packaging. Our reality is a cardboard box and everything interesting and alive is outside of it. When the Brethren say “Stay in the boat,” what they really mean is “Stay in the box.”
@Kirkstall
You said it exactly.
The above comments are correct that Sundays School curriculum has been dumbed-down for younger members. But the comments are incorrect that this is unique to the Church.
Public schools have adopted the egalitarian view calling for all students to have the same expectations and achievements. Under this view, no student should be allowed to achieve more than others because the low achievers might feel bad about themselves.
Unfortunately, this view has been transferred to Sunday School. The curriculum has been dumbed-down to the level of the lowest common denominator. Once again, this is done so no one excels and makes others feels bad as a consequence.
Sadly, some Gospel Doctrine teachers have compounded this problem by trying to be hip hop. They try to gain popularity by incorporating abominable popular culture such as Harry Potter movies into lessons. “There is a formality, a dignity, that we are losing–and it is at great cost. There is something to what Paul said about doing things ‘decently and in order.’”
Sunday School should be vigorous and should have a higher level curriculum than it does. We should expect the same of younger members as we expected from prior generations.
Maybe the Church should expand its SS options. One size fits all doesn’t seem to be working for many members. Maybe classes like church history, first aid, advanced first aid, Spanish, ESL, book club (not just LDS), world religions, etc. Subjects that make us better citizens and better Christians.
JCS’s misconception about public education sparked an idea about Sunday School. JCS said this: //Public schools have adopted the egalitarian view calling for all students to have the same expectations and achievements.//
This egalitarian view is prevalent in elementary schools, but by the time children get to middle school and high school, there are plenty of ways to take different paths. Honors classes, accelerated math classes, advanced placement courses, hands-on STEM classes and etc. We live in a Title I school district (meaning lots of households at or below poverty level and poor test scores), and my son got to choose between multiple AP classes, hands-on learning, computer programming, and basically more options than any one child could possibly take advantage of. I was delighted with all the options our school district offers for children from age 12 onward. And that’s just the curriculum! The extra-curricular activities are a smorgasbord of additional opportunities.
Church occasionally has variety in SS classes. Like a temple prep class or a missionary prep class. Perhaps you could have SS classes focusing deeply on Isaiah, or discussing nuances in Church history. The difficulty is in finding skilled teachers. The comments above vary widely – if you have a good teacher, GD is thought-provoking. If you don’t, well, that happens too. The last ward I attended regularly had fabulous GD teachers and good attendance for a couple years. Then they called a GD teacher who was not at all qualified to teach, and attendance plummeted. I don’t know how to fix the problem with teachers who dumb everything down. You can blame the lesson manual to a certain extent, but more depends on the teacher’s mindset than anything else.
Kirkstall also made an excellent point – SS has to validate all the old teachings and that comes at the expense of new learning.
Basically, I support Roger Hansen’s idea. I didn’t see it before I posted.
@Roger Hansen
Agree agree agree!!! The possibilities are endless. People are in the building, time set aside to learn. The good that could spring from this is limitless.
“I’m not sure how to change that, though I found that bringing refreshments to high priests group (back when that still existed) really helped.”
@Stephen R Marsh
When we look there really are numerous scriptural examples validating this approach (not that we need them, but still). Your comment brought to my mind a lot of places in the scriptures where food facilitates discussion, including Jesus, in many places in the New Testament. Thanks for that observation.
“As the world around us (full of scientists and researchers and philosophers and journalists motivated by curiosity) comes into a better understanding of reality, we become further divorced from reality. Our church is ossifying, becoming a living fossil of 19th century superstitions wrapped in 1950s packaging.”
Word up, Kirkstall, in a nutshell – and if your ward happens to be out in the sticks as mine is, the problem is even worse.
“As the world around us (full of scientists and researchers and philosophers and journalists motivated by curiosity) comes into a better understanding of reality, we become further divorced from reality. Our church is ossifying, becoming a living fossil of 19th century superstitions wrapped in 1950s packaging.”
Word up, Kirkstall, in a nutshell – and if your ward happens to be out in the sticks as mine is, the problem is even worse.
Yep. It’s been a while since I’ve learned anything during Sunday School. I feel like for the last while all of my spiritual progression has come outside of church, but what I have learned at church has laid a nice foundation for it. I’ve deep-dived into studying different world religions, and the truths that I’ve learned (and the different ways of looking at things) have added light and understanding to the knowledge I’ve gained at church. If I were going to propose a new Sunday School class, it would be a world religions class. I’d tweak Gordon B. Hickley’s quote “We say to the people, in effect, you bring with you all the good that you have, and then let us see if we can add to it.” To- “Bring with you all the good that you have, and then let us see if we can learn from it.”
I’m glad to see so many comments talking about good Sunday School teachers. It seems bishop roulette has spilled over to teacher roulette!
@Tim
“I had a Facebook conversation about this a few months ago, when we were studying D&C 108 (a very boring section containing a revelation given to a man with a fascinating life–a life which the manual entirely ignores).”
I looked up your reference – interesting, very interesting:
From DoctrineandCovevtsCentral:
“Joseph Smith was studying his Hebrew lesson on December 26, 1835, when Lyman Sherman, who was serving in the new Quorum of the Seventy, came to his home. “I have been wrought upon to make known to you my feelings and desires,” Lyman told Joseph, “and was promised that I should have a revelation which should make known my duty.” Joseph received section 108 for Lyman THAT DAY
[emphasis is mine].1
“When Lyman said he was “wrought upon,” he meant that he was unsettled, even disturbed. “Let your soul be at rest” the Lord counsels him, and “wait patiently until the solemn assembly . . . of my servants.” Lyman waited patiently for the meetings in the House of the Lord. There he and others received sacred ordinances and blessings in 1836 (D&C 108:2, 4).
“Joseph Smith taught that revelations were universally available to mankind directly, but also that there was order to revelation. Both principles are evident in section 108 … In verse 1, the Lord forgave Lyman because he submissively acknowledged and followed the revealed order. He was a loyal, devoted Saint.”
I hope Elder Renlund is able to study D&C 108 prior to next April’s GC Women’s Session.
Sorry this is a bit of a tangent, but I think the same thing is true of general conference talks. For the GAs who have been giving them for decades, they are often boring because they’re just rehashing things they’ve already said dozens of times (paging Henry B. Eyring). For most Seventies, it’s a chance to show the Q15 how orthodox they are, with lots of quotes of Russell M. Nelson.
It’s kind of shocking to me what a breath of fresh air it is when someone gives a talk that actually makes me think, even if not outright teaching me something new. Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s discussion of sacrifice and consecration this last conference was like that. The previous conference, Camille N. Johnson’s suggestion that we “invite Christ to author our story” was an interesting new framing. These are so few and far between. It’s sad that President Nelson has made so abundantly clear that the people who will advance on his watch are those who are the most deferential.
The SS hour (or less than an hr), is part of a bigger problem: wasting members time. (1) much of missionary work is a waste of time. This is particularly disturbing since it is a critical time in their lives. (2) early morning seminary puts too much strain on a teenager’s time. And the program has questionable value. (3) SS and other dumbed down church educational programs. (4) doctrinal religion classes at the BYU’s which are taught by performers and not educators. (5) meaningless and overly long meetings. The Church wastes way too much of members valuable time.
I am in Primary, so I’m not currently in a GD class. The last few years of classes I attended, though, basically since around 2018, have been really bad. A teacher showing up with a seminary video instead of a lesson? Manuals that literally say the opposite of what the actual scriptures say? Ward leaders who release you if you “stray” outside these terrible manuals? Seen all of these. I have in the past had some great GD teachers who actually dug in to the material and taught things, but it has been many years, and frankly, that’s not what the majority of the “students” seem to want. They are happy with the head-pats for “right” answers that are completely brainless and usually wrong interpretations of the scriptures, but are what the current church teachings are. If you just stick to MAGA talking points, you do just fine in most wards. The world is wicked. Women who get raped were asking for it. Kids should be spanked. Anyone who leaves the church is a terrible person. The gays are taking over. Boys should be boys and girls should be girls. Follow our dear leaders who are not infallible but also do not and cannot make mistakes. Lather, rinse, repeat. I will not go back. Even the Primary lessons are terrible, a deliberate perversion of the gospel (as seen through a GOP filter).
When I discovered critical biblical scholarship about 10 years ago I loved it but I was also upset. On the plus side, here was an approach my mind was starving for. But I was upset because realized I knew next to nothing about the Bible despite being a seminary and institute graduate, and attending Sunday School for years.
Now I read up and study (mostly non-LDS sources) before Gospel Doctrine intending to participate, but I usually end up sitting on my hands with nothing to share because the conversation doesn’t go anywhere near an adult approach to scripture. I would love to be in a class like Hedgehog’s above. That sounds heavenly. I feel starved for conversations around scripture that can bracket questions of historicity and appreciate genre and talk about what that has to say about our walk of faith today.