Review
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Title: Bruce R. McConkie – Apostle and Polemicist
Author: Devery S. Anderson
Year Published: 2024
Publisher: Signature Books
Genre: Biography
Format: Paperback
ISDN: 9781560854760
Price: $16.72
Pages: 212
Reviewed by Kevin Folkman for the Association for Mormon Letters
Bruce R. McConkie was one of the most consequential general authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 20th century. Taking after his father-in-law Joseph Fielding Smith, McConkie became arguably the church’s leading scriptorian and a favorite speaker at general conference sessions. A prolific writer, McConkie may best be remembered as the author of Mormon Doctrine, which alarmed some of his fellow general authorities. He also endeared him to many in the church who looked up to his authoritative pronouncements on all things Mormon. His three-volume Doctrinal New Testament Commentary and six-volume Messiah series, along with other books, also found their way onto the bookshelves of many church members.
Author Devery Anderson points out in his short biography Bruce R. McConkie: Apostle and Polemicist that McConkie was not without detractors. He was often at the center of controversies with Latter-day Saint intellectuals and scholars who took issue with his doctrinal interpretations. His writings also caused concerns with the First Presidency and other general authorities of the Church. Anderson shows how McConkie’s sense of certainty about his views created these conflicts. From an early age, his self-assuredness about his faith sometimes rankled those whose opinions differed from his strict view of the scriptures. Lowell Bennion, instructor at the University of Utah’s LDS Institute of Religion when McConkie was a student there, said of him “…I don’t think I taught him anything…I think he already had his mind made up on a lot of things and was not very amenable to my ideas” (p38).
When Mormon Doctrine first appeared in 1958, Church President David O. McKay and other general authorities were concerned about McConkie’s statements on race, the Catholic Church, and other doctrinal positions. While McConkie always maintained that Mormon Doctrine was not an official church publication, it nevertheless took on an aura of authority that he never disavowed. What is interesting is that only a few years earlier, McConkie had researched and written a multiple-volume compilation of the Journal of Discourses, titled Sound Doctrine: The Journal of Discourse Series. First Presidency counselor J. Reuben Clark got wind of the project and had concerns about outdated ideas in those sermons that Clark thought best remained buried. Clark persuaded McConkie to share some 150 pages of the proofs of the first volume in the series in a meeting with the entire First Presidency in 1955. Later, after reviewing the entire text of that volume, the First Presidency asked McConkie not to publish the series. In a letter to McConkie in 1956, the Presidency wrote that the pioneer-era sermons would cause church members to seek out the entire Journal of Discourses. “Sometimes the Brethren in earlier days advanced ideas for which there is little or no direct support in the scriptures,” they wrote. Calling them “largely speculative,” the Presidency felt that the topics would cause members to delve into “…mysteries concerning which the Lord has not yet revealed the truth” (p. 65). The publication of the series was canceled, and a policy was established that all publications by general authorities were to be submitted to the First Presidency before they went to print. McKay noted in his diary that even if an author made it clear that they were not writing authoritatively for the Church, “In the minds of the people the General Authorities in their individual capacities cannot be separated from their official capacities” (p. 71). McConkie, in writing and arranging for the printing of Mormon Doctrine, appears to have ignored this edict. While some changes were made for a second edition of Mormon Doctrine, some of the entries deemed errors by the First Presidency continued to remain in print until the early years of the 21st century.
Polemicist is a good word to describe McConkie. On walks to and from his work, he often composed sermons on scriptural passages in his head. He read the scriptures voraciously and made extensive notes on all things scriptural. McConkie was not shy in confronting those who challenged his teachings. When one of his daughters reported that an instructor at the University of Utah had disagreed with one of her father’s positions on a doctrinal topic, McConkie wrote a stern letter to the instructor, saying “…your course has been unwise and injudicious…the effect on some of your students has been such as to weaken their faith and lessen their respect for church officers” (p. 94). Similar exchanges continued throughout McConkie’s tenure in church leadership, including with BYU Professor Eugene England and others who took exception to McConkie’s stricter views.
Much has been written of McConkie’s reversal of his position on upholding the temple/priesthood ban. Church President Spencer W. Kimball asked McConkie to review the scriptures pertaining to the supposed evidence for the ban. McConkie, despite his long-standing support for the ban, became one of the first members of the Quorum of the Twelve to agree that there was no scriptural basis for it, and that should Kimball decide to repeal the ban, McConkie would support him. Anderson digs a little deeper and writes about the maneuvering and persuasion that Kimball went through to prepare the Church’s highest leaders to support the change. He also introduces readers to the controversy over embellishments attributed to McConkie and fellow Apostle Boyd K. Packer concerning details of the revelation. While much of the embellishment came from McConkie’s extended family, McConkie was somewhat reticent about correcting the accounts given by those family members [pps135-142]. There is evidence also that while McConkie supported the revelation ending the discriminatory policies surrounding Blacks and priesthood and temple activity, McConkie continued to believe in some of his earlier controversial statements regarding the nature and cause of the ban.
Perhaps the best summary of Anderson’s short biography of McConkie is contained in the last two sentences in his epilogue:
There is every reason to debate [McConkie’s] speculations and to reject the most dangerous among them. At the same time, there is sufficient reason to hold a charitable view towards a man who devoted the entirety of his life to a cause that he loved so deeply. [p197]
Overall, Devery Anderson has written a succinct and easily accessible account of the life of Bruce R. McConkie. It easily balances the seemingly miraculous events in McConkie’s life with the personal, frank, and all too human aspects of this highly influential Apostle. In short, Bruce R. McConkie: Apostle and Polemicist is a good overview of the remarkable life of a man devoted to his religion, firm in his opinions, beloved by many church members, and yet also, like most of us, always trying to find sure answers to the biggest of life’s questions.