Mormon Doctrine

I think this is a great reference for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but everyone must remember it's not official doctrine. While it was compiled/written by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles and is probably dead-on concerning most things, it is very possible certain elements of opinion have crept in. Elder McConkie stated he alone was responsible for the work - while scripture is accepted by all church leaders and the general body of Saints. In other words, it should be read as a quality resource, not as scripture.

It's also certainly dead wrong on a lot of things. After it was published without the permission of the First Presidency, David O. McKay had N. Eldon Tanner oversee a review of the book which flagged over 1,700 errors. Outside of specifically mandating that he change a handful of items, they stopped short of requiring a retraction or a corrected version of the book because they did not want to publicly embarrass him or deny him his right to an opinion on a lot of issues. To this day, however, no general authority is allowed to publish a book without first getting it cleared by the First Presidency. If you want to read more about it, see David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism.

I have read this book, in its three forms (original 1958 version, 1966 version with a few hundred changes, and 1979 version with a few more changes).

It doesn't represent Mormon Doctrine now very well, and as the earlier poster mentioned, it had difficulties even when compared to the Mormon view of the 1950s.

Though some church members still regard the book as authoritative in some aspects, I think of it as only good for the historical value of showing what one very conservative, very influential, very obnoxious leader felt was Mormon doctrine.

I would look 1st at the scriptures, then Conference reports, manuals etc. Then I would look at apologetic sites like FARMS and FAIR, which, while not any more authoritative than Mormon Doctrine, are certainly more cautious. I would also look at the Encyclopedia of Mormonism