Ensign. An official monthly church magazine. The May and November issues contain all the talks given at the semi-annual General Conference gatherings in April and October. Its predecessor before 1971 was the Improvement Era. Members are directed to use the material as a basis for curriculum in Sunday morning talks. Twice a year (May and November) the publication contains reports of General Conference, a semiannual meeting where Mormon prophets and apostle speak to the membership in the capacity of their offices. As a religion that accentuates the theme of “continuing revelation,” “priesthood authority,” and the general primacy and vitality of living latter-day prophets over scripture, publications like Ensign are important institutional outlets of divine guidance for Latter-day Saints. Although not considered “official” in the strictest sense of being a part of the canonical “standard works,” Latter-day Saints functionally treat church publications as quasi-canonical.

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