Casual readers may want to skip this post. (WARNING: These first two sentences are a cheap excuse to generate FOMO in the reader’s mind, thus spurring engagement.)
This post is primarily intended as a resource to readers of my McConkie erasure poems. The sources below are recommended for deeper dives into the life and ministry of Bruce R. McConkie, apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Whether you come to this as a regular Wheat & Tares readers, or as a Sunstone Symposium 2024 attendee, here are resources for further exploration. I have organized this post alphabetically by source:
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, “Deconstructing Religion Through Art: A Conversation with Charlotte Condie”
This Pride Month podcast episode does with visual art what I’m doing via erasure poetry—deconstruction, celebration, protest, even catharsis, using published Mormon texts for creative exercise. Art Editor Margaret Olsen Hemming hosts a conversation exploring Charlotte’s process, highlighting her communal effort to collect and repurpose physical texts; Jun 17, 2024
From the Desk, “Bruce R. McConkie 101”
Kurt Manwaring provides a Latter-day-Saint-friendly framing and summary of Elder McConkie’s life and career as a general authority. This includes discussion of the problematic history of Elder McConkie’s reference work Mormon Doctrine; his changing viewpoint and rhetoric on black members and the priesthood; lastly, his contentious relationship with scholar Eugene England; March 29, 2024
From the Desk, “The Story of Bruce R. McConkie’s Final Testimony”
Kurt Manwaring provides a faith-affirming rendering of Elder McConkie’s final general conference address and testimony. This is useful in summing up the essential dynamics of his call and and his health condition at the time of the final address. For me, and many others likely, this post is probably a disappointment in terms of addressing, but never clearly explaining, exactly what is meant by Elder McConkie’s “special witness” rhetoric; March 13, 2024
Mormon Land (Salt Lake Tribune), “How Spencer Kimball won over apostle Bruce McConkie, other LDS titans to end Black priesthood ban”
This is a Matt Harris interview with Managing Editor David Noyce and religion writer Peggy Fletcher Stack, spotlighting Harris’ new book Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Oxford University Press, 2024); As a regular listener to this podcast, I find Noyce and Stack’s journalistic interview approach balanced, well-prepared, while also being conversational in style; June 5, 2024
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2024/06/05/mormon-land-what-you-didnt-know/
Salt Lake Tribune, “Landmark ‘Mormon Doctrine’ goes out of print”
Peggy Fletcher Stack provides a succinct journalistic rundown of the significance of Mormon Doctrine in its time, recounting how McConkie managed to get subsequent editions published despite the concerns of the Church’s then-President David O. McKay. Likely behind a paywall, this piece sums up the passing and legacy of a profoundly influential book; May 21, 2010
https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/ci_15137409
Signature Books, Bruce R. McConkie: Apostle and Polemicist, 1915–1985
Devery S. Anderson brings a new biography on McConkie. From the dust jacket material: “McConkie the man was far more complex than the serious and focused general authority most church members saw and heard at the pulpit. Those who knew him best…”; July 8, 2024
https://www.signaturebooks.com/books/p/bruce-r-mcconkie
Sunstone Mormon History Podcast, “Second-Class Saints: The Interview with Dr. Matt Harris”
This video podcast interview with Bryan Buchanan of Benchmark Books covers much the same ground as the SLTrib Mormon Land interview, but does so via a one-on-one historian conversation; June 26, 2024
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Come, Listen to a Prophet’s Voice”
Elder McConkie provides the lyrics to the fourth verse of Hymn 21 in the Green Hymnal; his verse functions as a call to action for the contemporary Church, in contrast to the preceding three verses which are offer a reflection on the Restoration; accessed July, 2024
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Library > General Conference > Speakers > Bruce R. McConkie”
The Church’s library includes McConkie’s conference addresses from 1971 (as a member of the First Council of the Seventy) through his final address as an apostle in 1985. This platform is free and easy to navigate; accessed July 2024
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/speakers/bruce-r-mcconkie?lang=eng
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Looking Back: Elder Bruce R. McConkie Enjoyed Humor and Doctrine”
Contributed By Gerry Avant, Church News senior contributing editor, this is a personalized remembrance which humanizes a man who often appeared stodgy even to those who loved and venerated him; accessed July, 2024
Notes and Questions for Discussion
Here is a link to a list of my McConkie Erasure Poems. The Sunstone Symposium 2024 takes place August 1-3 at University of Utah in Salt Lake City. My workshop session is entitled “Wrest in Peace: McConkie Erasure Poetry.” Registration for the symposium is required to attend and is available online.
So, W&T readers, are you familiar with any of the above sources for studying Bruce R. McConkie? What are you impressions of them? What other sources have you utilized? What did you learn about McConkie? Have you attended a Sunstone Symposium, and if you have, what was your experience?
Wheat & Tares 
Another recent From the Desk post:
https://www.fromthedesk.org/reevaluating-elder-mcconkie-joseph-spencer-theology/
This one is frustrating. How many times can Joseph Spencer say something like ‘I haven’t studied this enough to know about it, but let me tell you about it’ and still be taken seriously?
I do not understand the apparent push to rehabilitate McConkie’s reputation.
Here’s an interesting OP by Nate Oman:
http://archive.timesandseasons.org/2004/06/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-elder-mcconkie/index.html
Thank you for the relevant links! Jack, while the Times and Seasons piece is interesting, it would be helpful if you framed it more, explaining briefly what you feel it brings to the discussion. Though I disagree with the author’s general McConkie-praising tack, he does say some interesting things, like this:
McConkie “created a culture in which members of the Church felt they ought to get to the bottom of scriptural meaning.
“That culture is receding today, in my experience—whether that’s due to encroaching secularism, information overload, prioritizing of piety over knowledge, or something else.”
It begs the question, what would McConkie think of the Church’s current program of fixating on general conference talks, rereading them week after week in lieu of a dedicated program of comprehensive scripture study? Would he be bothered?
PWS, for me, it’s not about rehabilitating McConkie’s reputation. Rather, it’s about keeping him relevant, in the hot seat, as a key figure of late-20th-century Mormonism. His writings need to remain prominent and accessible, not as a tribute, but as a means to demonstrate how bigoted and unyielding the Church often was (and still is). To study McConkie is to study how any person can become the champion of harmful policies and doctrines.