Book Search

Someone is looking for books on Mormon doctrine. Here was his request from a comment in a previous thread: I am looking for books on Mormon theology (specifically, what Mormons believe about God, Christ, salvation, etc.) -- but I am NOT all that interested in the history of the Mormon church (which seems to be what most of the books out there focus on).

A starting place would be the Church's own publication, available online, True to the Faith, but the treatment is pretty elementary. Anyone else have other suggestions?

Comments

[J. Stapley]

The first place I would go is The Encylcopedia of Mormonism, though it is $350 if you don't have access to it either electronically or at a library.

Next, I would go to Gospel Principles, though it is rather dated.

The difficult thing is that there is such wide disparity in interpretation between folk and analytical that interpretation of these can vary quite extraordinarily.

[Dave]

Gospel Principles (an official LDS publication) is also available online at LDS.org.

[Geoff Johnston]

This very subject came up on the LDS-Phil list a few weeks ago. Most Christian traditions have a very locked-in Theology. By contrast Judaism has no theology per se -- I'm told they focus mostly on practices. Therefore you don't talk about "the" Jewish view on certain on most doctrines but rather "a" Jewish view. I think we as Mormons are somewhere between these two. There are some things that were clearly defined by Joseph and succeeding prophets and there are lots of other details that are not yet clearly defined at all.

Often enemies of the church will pick up "a" mormon doctrinal view and attack the church while calling it "the" mormon view. Then when some apologists argue against the view (often a 19th century nugget of some kind) the church critic assumes the apologist is being disingenuous. Often they are just arguing over a theory that some mormons favor and others don't.

[Dave]

Thanks, Geoff. Further thoughts on the impact of continuing revelation on Mormon doctrine and on the difficulty of nailing down exact LDS theological positions are on display at T&S in Nate's recent post: A Tale of Two Revelations. At T&S, Nate's posts are generally the best of times.

[Stephen M (Ethesis)]

I've been enjoying the pdf version which I downloaded and now have on my desktop.

Anyway, I've enjoyed visiting, but I won't be back.

[Dave]

Uh, pdf version of what document, Stephen M? I missed a connection somewhere.

[Ronan]

Douglas Davies, Introduction to Mormonism: a professional theologian and friendly Mormon watcher places Mormonism in its theological context.

[Kim Siever]

Dave, you forgot the colon in the first link of your post. :)

[Aaron Brown]

An obvious choice would be Robinson's and Blomberg's "How Wide the Divide?" I recommended this volume to that Christian Crydall guy via email when he make his comment at T&S.

By the way, Dave, that IS who you were meaning to link to, wasn't it?

I'm aware of some of the idiosyncratic interpretations that Robinson puts on a couple of things in his book, but I do think it's the best overview of basic Mormon theological topics in print, assuming you're a non-Mormon who has some interest in theology, wants to avoid too much history, and needs things explained cogently and accurately without too much over-simplification.

Aaron B

[Joey]

I asked the same question a few weeks ago. The comments I received may prove helpful.

[lorie]

My favorite book is Sterling McMurrin's The Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion. Despite the fact that Mormon's have no systematic theology, it presents some of our foundational beliefs in a way that, while not uncritical, is intellectually, even spiritually compelling.

[Dave]

Thanks for the tip, Aaron -- link fixed. Thanks for the link you your site, Joey, there are a number of good books noted in the similar discussion there (including my own recommendations).

[mike]

i can't believe no one's suggested mcconkie's mormon doctrine. i would recommend the first edition if you can get your hands on one. ;-)

[Justin]

Mormon Doctrine still has its loyal fans. Lynn Arave's review of Mormonism for Dummies in Saturday's Deseret News included this comment: "While 'Mormon Doctrine' remains one of the best doctrinal reference books in the church, its college-textbook style may be less accessible to some readers. 'Dummies' isn't quite as lofty and makes for an easier read."