Pearl of Great Price (Latter Day Saints)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of a series on the
Latter Day Saint Movement

The Latter Day Saint movement
Mormonism · Latter Day Saint Mormonism and Christianity Latter Day Saint Denominations
History of the movement
Church of Christ · Succession crisis History of the LDS Church Community of Christ history
Sacred texts of the movement
Bible · Book of Mormon Book of Commandments Doctrine & Covenants Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible Book of Moses · Book of Abraham
Founders and early sect leaders
Joseph Smith, Jr. · Oliver Cowdery Sidney Rigdon · Brigham Young Joseph Smith III · James Strang
Beliefs
Views on Godhead · Views on Jesus Priesthood · Articles of Faith · Restoration Mormonism and Judaism · Temples
Controversies
Anti-Mormonism · Criticism This box: view • talk • edit

For other uses of Pearl of Great Price, see the Pearl of Great Price page.

The Pearl of Great Price is part of the standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church; see also Mormonism) and some other Latter Day Saint denominations.

The first paragraph of the Introductory Note in the LDS edition of the Pearl of Great Price reads:

The Pearl of Great Price is a selection of choice materials touching many significant aspects of the faith and doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These items were produced by the Prophet Joseph Smith and were published in the Church periodicals of his day.

Pearl of Great Price, 1888 Edition

The Pearl of Great Price contains five sections: Selections from the Book of Moses, The Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith-Matthew, Joseph Smith-History and The Articles of Faith. The Book of Moses and Joseph Smith Matthew are portions of the Book of Genesis and the Book of Matthew (respectively) from the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Joseph Smith-History is a first-person narrative of Joseph Smith, Jr.'s life before the founding of the church. The Articles of Faith are a concise listing of thirteen fundamental doctrines of Mormonism composed by Joseph Smith, Jr. as part of a 1842 letter sent to "Long" John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat.

The Book of Abraham results from papyri which were bought by Smith, which he claims to have translated. This translation became a book dealing with Abraham's journeys in Egypt, containing many distinctive Mormon doctrines such as exaltation. Considerable controversy surrounds the surviving papyri claimed as the source for the translation of the Book of Abraham.

The Book of Moses and Book of Abraham accounts have been compared to Life of Adam and Eve and other Jewish Pseudepigrapha due to some similarities, including accounts of Adam and Eve's temptation and life after leaving the Garden of Eden^{[citation needed]}. The Book of Moses also contains teachings and prophecies of Enoch, including his testimony of the Only Begotten, Jesus Christ.

The original contents of the book were slightly different, reproducing material found in the Doctrine and Covenants and a poem entitled "Oh Say What is Truth?" (which is now found in the LDS hymnal). In 1878 some material from the Book of Moses was added. The Pearl of Great Price was canonized in 1888. In 1902 the material reproduced in the Doctrine and Covenants was removed. Two other documents, now found as Doctrine and Covenants 137 and 138, were added to the Pearl of Great Price in 1976 and moved to their current location in 1979.