The Articles of Faith: A Series of Lectures on the Principal Doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1899. First edition. Hardcover. 490 pp. Green cloth with title in gilt on the spine. Heavy rubbing to covers and edges; a few small tears to the cloth at the head and foot of the spine and about halfway down the spine on the rear joint; notes in pencil inside front cover; tape on front hinge inside front cover; title page has a previous owner's name stamped in ink as well as a crush stamp; page vii/viii is torn; front hinge cracked after contents; a few scattered pages with underlining; last few pages are chipped along their edges.
Twenty-nine-year-old geologist and college president James E. Talmage noted in his journal in 1891: ”Today I had an interview with the First Presidency of the Church … another appointment for an interview was set for Monday next.” From these two meetings came a commission to write twenty-four lectures, twenty-two of which were ultimately delivered to college audiences, treating the basic tenets of LDS beliefs. The lectures were then published by the church as The Articles of Faith, the only authorized, book-length explication of Mormon belief. The book proved to be one of several seminal treatises Talmage would write that would dominate the landscape of Mormon beliefs for a century.
Talmage felt honored to write for the church and offered The Articles of Faith as a gift, waiving royalties. The first print run of 10,500 quickly sold out and has sold well to the present day.
Besides articulating well-established points of doctrine, The Articles of Faith also addresses controversies concerning eternal progress, the Holy Ghost, the kingdom of God, rebaptism, and unforgivable sins. Condition: Reading copy. Item #37934
Price: $125.00