Here's the most official acknowledgment of the likely late date of the composition of the Pentateuch I've seen ("the book of Genesis...can be dated back to the Jewish exile in the sixth century BC"), but with a funky caveat at the end which is itself complicated by its above take on Book of Moses!

See also:
bsky.app/profile/impr...

And yes, this Scripture Helps volume continues to provide room for the Catalyst Theory of the Book of Abraham text as an orthodox position:

"Another possibility is that the Prophet’s study of the papyrus served as a catalyst that prompted a revelation about Abraham."

And here's the thing: When a worldview is reaching a crisis point, and the wineskin is about to burst, you're often seeing the most desperate attempts by traditionalists to still find a way to keep the old wineskin stitched up. And the stitches become more and more obvious.

I had some conversations with individuals in the know who additionally raised the issue, and told me about some of the inner dynamics going on at the time, before it was all resolved. I was shocked when Elder Stevenson actually called attention to it.

Flashback to when Elder Stevenson acknowledged a VERY BAD AND OUTDATED SECTION in the Book of Mormon CFM manual that I (and I know others) immediately wrote in about as soon as it dropped in its initial online version.
www.deseret.com/utah/2020/1/...

My experience is that the curriculum teams are very willing to receive and consider reasonable correction and adjustment. Sometimes it leads to a major discussion! Sometimes /someone/ vetoes what would be otherwise a good correction! Sometimes it DOES overhaul a complete section!

I definitely hope the SS/Seminary/Institute curriculum can mature! But I do think these separate study/helps currently getting put out (and I know there are plans to update in the future) are the venue that will eventually allow them to. Study materials available in /worldwide translation/ is key!

For D&C, there's some really good study resources for the D&C put out by the Church and available to all! 'Joseph Smith's Revelations' gives earliest text of revelations from the JSPP with scholastic commentary! The resources volume is like an index to where to find detailed info on each section!

I think this will be ultimately a good move, as, honestly, I don't particularly care for the idea of your just-called Sunday School teachers to need to lead discussion on complicated material, while providing an easily-updatable standard resource to address more of the nuance.

They've already started switching over for NT and OT, with the new Seminary and Institute manuals being aligned with CFM, and focusing on basic application, while also releasing complimentary 'Scripture Helps' volumes that work more as commentaries. They are a mixed bag!

While the manual does redirect to other resources (calls out Fanny Alger, Helen Mar Kimball, etc), the Church is currently moving to split manuals between 'study helps' and 'lessons' (easy application). The D&C Historical Resources book is pretty good!
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/histor...

This is likely a reference to the old idea that D&C 20:1 declares the date of Jesus' birth, that even FAIR acknowledges has no basis at all, and wasn't even connected to that idea by anyone until Talmage declared it to be so about a hundred years after it was written.

It's why the data in the Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History series (V1 and 2) is actually a great resource, whereas the Volume 3: Theology volume is ... not good, and in many areas seems woefully uninformed.

Finished this morning. Excellent, excellent, very much needed book.

Still jealous of your sticker!