Bruce R. McConkie (1915–1985)

If you're looking for useful, quality Biblical scholarship, avoid this set like the proverbial plague. The late Bruce R. McConkie was a self-proclaimed Mormon apologist of the first rank. His theology is inflexible, divisive, angry and confrontational; in an earlier work, he equated the Apocalypse's "whore of Babylon" with the Roman Catholic Church.
McConkie, sure of his own righteousness, lacks any scholarly qualifications whatsoever. His "commentary" consists of prooftexts showing the show more "truthfulness" of Mormonism, whatever "truthfulness" is. Any discrepancies between the biblical witness and 20th century Mormonism are to be attributed solely to the work of evil men, who intentionally stripped the Bible (at some unspecified time in the past) of its "plain and precious parts." (One assumes each of these missing parts would somehow have corroborated modern Mormonism.)
I could go on, ad nauseum. Devout Mormons will pay my screed no attention; but anyone else looking for a helpful Bible commentary set should certainly look elsewhere. Forewarned is forearmed. show less

For those who love all the details of religion, Mormon Doctrine is both fascinating and confusing. McConkie assiduously details every piece of Mormon Doctrine.

However, should you not have grown up in the Church's Seminary system, you will not have the foundation with which to understand most of the book.

Despite that drawback, Mormon Doctrine is well written and an addicting read for any religious scholar.

I would give this book a much higher rating if it was actually Mormon doctrine and not Bruce R's opinions of Mormon Doctrine. Although he is correct in many instances he is also very far off the actual doctrine in others. His opinion in the end may turn out to be correct but that doesn't make it doctrine currently.

Solid research and information. I feel like the format could be updated for a more modern flow. It would make it easier to follow. Sometimes I was confused about who said what. But the version I borrowed from the library was a first edition. Maybe they've done that already?