Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Contents
Title Page
Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual
Doctrine and Covenants Lessons
- The Restoration Proclamation
- Doctrine and Covenants 1
- Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 2; Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65
- Doctrine and Covenants 3–5
- Doctrine and Covenants 6–9
- Doctrine and Covenants 10–11
- Doctrine and Covenants 12–17; Joseph Smith—History 1:66–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 18
- Doctrine and Covenants 19
- Doctrine and Covenants 20–22
- Doctrine and Covenants 23–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 27–28
- Doctrine and Covenants 29
- Doctrine and Covenants 30–36
- Doctrine and Covenants 37–40
- Doctrine and Covenants 41–44
- Doctrine and Covenants 45
- Doctrine and Covenants 46–48
- Doctrine and Covenants 49–50
- Doctrine and Covenants 51–57
- Doctrine and Covenants 58–59
- Doctrine and Covenants 60–63
- Doctrine and Covenants 64–66
- Doctrine and Covenants 67–70
- Doctrine and Covenants 71–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 76
- Doctrine and Covenants 77–80
- Doctrine and Covenants 81–83
- Doctrine and Covenants 84
- Doctrine and Covenants 85–87
- Doctrine and Covenants 88
- Doctrine and Covenants 89–92
- Doctrine and Covenants 93
- Doctrine and Covenants 94–97
- Doctrine and Covenants 98–101
- Doctrine and Covenants 102–105
- Doctrine and Covenants 106–108
- Doctrine and Covenants 109–110
- Doctrine and Covenants 111–114
- Doctrine and Covenants 115–120
- Doctrine and Covenants 121–123
- Doctrine and Covenants 124
- Doctrine and Covenants 125–128
- Doctrine and Covenants 129–132
- Doctrine and Covenants 133–134
- Doctrine and Covenants 135–136
- Doctrine and Covenants 137–138
- The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2
- The Family: A Proclamation to the World
- The Living Christ
Life Preparation Lessons
- Doctrinal Mastery: Finding Answers to My Questions
- Scripture Study Skills
- For the Strength of Youth: Making Choices
- Building Self-Reliance
- Physical and Emotional Health
- Preparing for Future Education and Employment
- Succeeding in School
- Missionary Preparation
- Temple Preparation
- Teachings of Church Leaders
Appendix

Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities: Ideas for Reviewing the Principles of Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge

“Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities: Ideas for Reviewing the Principles of Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual (2025)

“Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Appendix

Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities

Ideas for Reviewing the Principles of Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge

During each Doctrinal Mastery Practice lesson, it can be helpful to give the students an opportunity to review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. This will help them better prepare to apply these principles in both in-class scenarios and real-life situations.

The following are some examples of ways you could help your students review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge:

Recite principles from memory. Ask the students if they can repeat the three principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge from memory. Students could individually write the principles in their study journals, or various members of the class could recite the principles aloud. If students need help, they could refer to paragraph 4 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023). You could also provide clues, such as a fill-in-the-blank activity or providing the first letter of each word in the different principles.

Match sentences with the correct principle. List the three principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge on the board. Then read or display various sentences or phrases from paragraphs 5–12 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document. Invite the students to share which of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge the sentence best relates to.

Explain the meaning. Invite various students to explain the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in their own words. This could be done by asking various students about the different principles, or you could divide the students into groups of three and assign one of the principles to each student. If needed, they could review these principles in paragraphs 5–12 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document before being asked to explain.

Summarize in 10 words or less. Invite the students to create a summary for each of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge that is 10 words or less. Invite various students to share their summaries and explain why they chose the words they did.

Create an image or icon. Invite students to create a symbol, picture, or icon for each of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. Their creation should represent what is taught by the principles. When students have finished, invite them to show their creation to others and explain why they included what they did.

Review while discussing scenario. After sharing a realistic scenario, invite students to study paragraphs 5–12 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document. Students could look for and share teachings from these paragraphs that could help the person from the scenario (1) act in faith, (2) examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective, and (3) seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources.

Share experiences. Students could be asked to share experiences they have had using the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. They could explain how those principles helped them with their own questions or situations or how they were able to use the principles to help others.

Choose one phrase. Assign each student to focus on one of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. Give them time to choose one phrase out of each paragraph in their assigned section that they feel best represents what is taught in that paragraph. Then invite students to move around the room and find someone who was assigned the same principle as them and compare the phrases they chose. Students could then find students who were assigned the other two principles and share the phrases they chose.

Ideas for Reviewing Doctrinal Mastery Passages

Take time throughout the year to regularly review the doctrinal mastery passages students are studying. This can help increase your students’ ability to remember the scripture references and key scripture phrases. It can also help them better understand, explain, and apply the doctrine taught in the doctrinal mastery passages. A list of the doctrinal mastery passages and key scripture phrases can be found in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document.

Below are some activities that could be used or adapted to help your students review the doctrinal mastery passages in a variety of ways.

Memorize

Memory cards. Invite students to create memory cards with the scripture reference written on one side of a piece of paper and the key scripture phrase written on the other side. Students could create cards for multiple doctrinal mastery passages on a single piece of paper and then cut the memory cards out. They could then work on their own or with a partner to practice memorizing the references and key scripture phrases. These reviews using the memory cards could be done periodically throughout the year.

Doctrinal Mastery app. Use the memorization activities on the Doctrinal Mastery app. If possible, you could connect your mobile device to a projector or a television to display the content of the app so students can complete the memorization activities as a class. You could also invite students who have mobile devices to use the app to spend time doing memorization activities in class or outside of class.

Class recitation. After you say a scripture reference, the class could repeat the key scripture phrase in unison. You could also say a key scripture phrase and invite the class to repeat the corresponding scripture reference in unison.

Related pictures. Find pictures or drawings that relate to the teachings of the doctrinal mastery passages. Show the students these pictures as they practice memorizing the scripture references and key scripture phrases. Students could also be invited to find or create their own pictures that help them memorize the passages. If the same images are used by the entire class when memorizing given passages, you could periodically hold those images up during future class sessions to see if students can still remember the phrases and references.

Unscramble. Display words of the scripture reference and key scripture phrase in a scrambled order and invite students to unscramble them.

First letters. Display only the first letter of each word for the scripture reference and key scripture phrase and invite students to try to correctly state the reference and key phrase. Erase more and more of the first letters as students’ ability to recite the reference and key phrase increases.

Fill in the blank. Display the scripture reference and key scripture phrase with some of the words missing. Invite the students to recite the reference and key phrase while filling in the blanks. Erase more and more of the words as students’ ability to recite the reference and key phrase increases.

Matching. Display multiple scripture references and key scripture phrases in two columns. In the first column, list the scripture references in sequential order. In the second column, list the key scripture phrases in a randomized order. Then invite the students to match the correct scripture references and key scripture phrases.

Understand and explain

Cross-references. Invite students to find multiple cross-references that relate to a doctrinal mastery passage. They could then teach their classmates about what they learned, including how the additional scriptures they studied relate to the doctrinal mastery passage. You might suggest that some of the cross-references they find come from the doctrinal mastery passages in other books of scripture.

Connect to Jesus Christ. Assign students a doctrinal mastery passage to study, and ask them to think about different ways that passage connects to Jesus Christ. They could think about and discuss what their assigned passage helps them better understand about Jesus Christ, His doctrine, or the plan of salvation. They could also look for examples of how the Savior taught or exemplified the truth found in the passage.

Simple explanations. Invite students to prepare to explain the doctrine taught in various doctrinal mastery passages to someone who is unfamiliar with those teachings. They could imagine they are explaining these teachings to a child or to someone who is not a member of the Church. Invite them to write their explanation in their study journal and then share it with a classmate.

Line upon Line. Show students examples of some of the Line upon Line pages from the For the Strength of Youth magazine in which important words or phrases from scripture passages are analyzed. One example of such a page is “Line upon Line: A Watchman” (For the Strength of Youth, Oct. 2022, 32). Invite students to create their own version of a Line upon Line page. Ask them to select a few key words from a doctrinal mastery passage and include related scriptures, statements from Church leaders, and definitions that help deepen understanding about those key words.

Ask questions. Invite students to choose a doctrinal mastery passage they would like to understand better. Invite them to read the passage and list two or three questions they have about that passage. These questions could relate to words or phrases they would like to understand better or why the passage is important to understand. Once students have listed their questions, invite them to use resources such as the Gospel Library app, Guide to the Scriptures, or other study tools to find answers to their questions. Invite students to share what they learned.

Visual representation. Students could create a drawing, a collage, a meme, word art, a word cloud, or another visual representation that helps depict what is being taught in a doctrinal mastery passage. Students could then show their creation to others and explain how it relates to the doctrinal mastery passage they focused on.

Apply

Scenarios. Share various scenarios that relate to situations, challenges, or spiritual questions teenagers might have. Invite students to share one or more doctrinal mastery passages that they feel could apply to the scenario and explain how they think these passages could help.

Share experiences. Students could choose one of the doctrinal mastery passages they have recently applied to their lives or that they would like to apply more fully to their lives. Students could be invited to share how these teachings have impacted them.

Study passages with personal circumstances in mind. Invite students to think of a circumstance, question, or decision they are facing. Invite them to find doctrinal mastery passages that would help with their situations and to share what they found to be helpful.

Help a teenager. Invite students to draw a stick figure of a teenager and write down their name, age, and family situation and any questions, problems, or challenges they are currently experiencing. Students could then identify doctrinal mastery passages that they feel would help this teen. They can explain the doctrine in their chosen passage and make suggestions for possible actions this teen could take.

Prepare a devotional or talk. Give students opportunities to use doctrinal mastery passages to prepare a devotional message or a short talk. You might consider scheduling each student to share their devotional or talk at the beginning of class throughout the semester. Help them prepare to summarize context and explain the truths taught in the passages. Invite students to share meaningful experiences with or examples of applying the truths from the passages they chose and to testify of the truths taught in the passages.