Mormon Doctrine

According to the blog Mormon Matters, it has recently been announced that Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine "will no longer be published by the Church, and it will not be sold by Deseret Book." Many members rely on this work and believe it to be the official doctrine as taught by the church. I would venture a guess that there might even be members who refer to it more frequently than the standard works themselves. I have chosen to discuss this topic as my first bloggernacle post and clarify some things as I understand them. As I currently don't own a copy of the book, although I would love to and have referenced it many times, I can't say definitively, but I doubt the church was the publisher of it. More likely, Deseret Book was the publisher and distributor. (Deseret Book, some may not realize, is not the official publisher for the church. That honor belongs to Intellectual Reserve, Inc.) 


Only items printed and published by IRI is considered official doctrine of the church. And they will either have the church's logo on the back or say printed by the church on the first few pages. IRI will definitely be the copyright holder of the work. The church never officially accepted it. In fact, as the story goes, the first edition was written and published without the church's knowledge or sanctioning and when reviewed by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, he was asked to make several changes, which he did and can be found in the second edition and subsequent printings. It is important to understand that, although he was later called to be an Apostle, he had strong opinions about doctrinal matters and Mormon Doctrine must be taken as such. It is an exposition into what he felt was true, regardless as to whether the church officially accepted those views or not. Some feel it is also important to remember that he was only a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy at the time he wrote it and not even an apostle.


Don't get me wrong, he was a very spiritual man and was later called to the Apostleship. I firmly believe that Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when He called Elder McConkie. I love hearing tapes of his conference talks. In his final testimony he says:

And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God—I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.

 I have no doubt that he had seen our Savior and stood as a witness of Him.