The Bruce R. McConkie Story by Joseph Fielding McConkie

As is usually the case, reading the biography of a Church leader has helped dispel some negative feelings that I had previously held. Specifically, I have always been irked by Elder McConkie's complete disdain for all academic approaches to scripture study. But his biography has helped me put his feelings into perspective: a formative experience for him, and in many ways his introduction to the general leadership of the Church, occured when he commented negatively on the Sunday School manual. But he was right in his critique: the manual represented the worst kind of LDS toadying to secular trends. No wonder he held a life-long disregard for such things. But I'd like to believe that were he alive today, his attitude would be different in some respects.

That said, there's still a lot about this man that I have a hard time with. When his son (the author) approached him with concern that the personal stories he had shared with a class he was teaching hadn't had the desired effect, Elder McConkie replied, "Did it ever occur to you that you don't teach Gospel principles with stories?"

I imagine Jesus of Nazareth, who did little else, might be surprised to hear that.