As I have not been able to keep up with posting my thoughts on Gospel Doctrine lessons for the past few weeks, I would like to direct you to a few very good resources that provide wonderful insights.

For Lesson 20 — Ruth; 1 Sam. 1

Gerald Smith at Joel’s Monastery gives a very in-depth and insightful analysis of the whole block of scripture: http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2010/05/ot-lesson-20-all-city-doth-know-thou.html

Ben Spackman at One Eternal Round shares his great knowledge of the scriptures and background of the original languages and culture. His post consists of a podcast that you can listen to, plus written comments on the lesson: http://www.patheos.com/community/mormonportal/2010/05/28/gospel-doctrine-podcast-lesson-20-ruth/

If you haven’t see it before, “One Eternal Round” is a group blog featured on the Patheos Mormon Portal website.  This site is run by Ben Spackman and is very well put together. I have met Ben and have long admired his great religious scholarship. The site has some excellent contributors, including David Bokovoy, Blair Hodges, Seth Rogers, Robert Boylan, and others. It is directed both to Mormons and also to those curious about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It features both recent news stories regarding the Church and intriguing articles written on different topics regarding Mormon religion and life. I highly recommend taking a look at it.

For Lesson 21 — 1 Sam. 2-3, 8

Gerald Smith has a great analysis of this lesson as well: http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2010/05/ot-lesson-21-god-will-honor-those-who.html

I also recommend very highly looking at Gerald’s material here. He has obviously put in a lot of time to put these ideas together and has one of the most complete and interesting analyses I have seen.

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As far as my own comments on the GD lessons, I hope to get back to doing that soon. I’ll be finishing up this part of my dissertation in the next week or so. Then we’ll be moving to a new house here, after being “in-between” houses for a few weeks in June. I’m not sure what kind of internet access I’ll have during this period, so I apologize in advance if I’m not able to post much.