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Intellect

Doctrine and Covenants topic for Annual BYU Sperry Symposium Oct. 26-27

Elder Gary J. Coleman, emeritus General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be the keynote speaker at Brigham Young University’s 41st Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium on the Scriptures, titled “You Shall Have My Word: Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants,” Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26-27.

Admission is free, and no registration is required. For a complete schedule of events, visit religion.byu.edu.

The keynote address by Elder Coleman, titled “The Personal Ministry of Jesus Christ in the Restoration of the Gospel,” will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, in the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium.

Beginning at 7:30 p.m. and ending at 9:30 p.m., additional lectures will continue in the JSB Auditorium and in the Martin Building , with five concurrent sessions held each hour.

On Saturday, Oct. 27, concurrent sessions will continue at 9, 10 and 11 a.m., also in the JSB Auditorium and the Martin Building. At noon, a closing address will feature Matthew J. Grow from the Church History Department in Salt Lake City. His remarks are titled, “Insights into the Doctrine and Covenants from ‘The Joseph Smith Papers.’”

Other presenters include faculty from BYU’s Departments of Ancient Scripture and Church History and Doctrine, BYU­-Hawaii historians from the Church History Department in Salt Lake City and instructors from seminaries, institutes and other Church scholars.

The general objectives of the symposium are to increase gospel knowledge and strengthen individual testimonies. Organizers hope that the material presented will be an important aid to the 2013 Gospel Doctrine curriculum.

A collection of papers from the symposium has been published in a book, “You Shall Have My Word: Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants,”released by Deseret Book and the Religious Studies Center at BYU.

For more information, contact Patty Smith at (801) 422-3611 or visit religion.byu.edu.

Writer: Preston Wittwer

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