One of the distinguishing features of the Church (though
few of its members readily recognize it as such) is its evident distaste for formal
creeds or official statements of accepted, binding doctrine. Theology in the Church
-- the exacting delineation and systematic study of authoritative belief-is virtually
non-existent, and deliberately so. Indeed, as Joseph Smith forcefully asserted,
"the most prominent difference in sentiment between the Latter-day Saints
and sectarians was that the latter were all circumscribed by some peculiar
creed, which deprived its members of believing anything not contained therein,
whereas the Latter-day Saints have no creed, but are ready to believe all true principles
that exist" (History of the Church 5:215). This attitude has
prompted at least one student of Mormonism to label our theology
"do-it-yourself."
This is not to suggest, however, that the Church
possesses no institutional mechanism for the canonization of scripture and
doctrine. In 1976 and again in 1978, members at general conference witnessed an
established procedure of guaranteeing official dogma that clearly separates
opinion from canon. Such a process attests to the fact that common consent
occupies a central cog in the Church's ecclesiastical machinery (see, for example,
D&C 28: 3, 26:2).
Thus, a distinction exists between scripture and
doctrine, revelation and canon. Despite statements coming from Church authorities
at all levels that would equate scripture (i.e., individual utterances inspired
by the Holy Ghost [see D&C 68:2-4]) with doctrine (i.e., the end result of
canonization), there is no automatic correspondence between the two. Revelation
and canon are not synonymous terms. If they were, it would have been a redundant
unnecessary procedure when, for example, The Doctrine and Covenants was first
presented to a general assembly of the Church on 17 August 1835, when The
Pearl of Great Price was formally accepted in general conference on 10
October 1880, when the Manifesto was supported on 6 October 1890, or when the 8
June 1978 announcement on the priesthood was accepted as the "word and
will of the Lord" on 30 September 1978. The canonization of some teachings
necessarily relegates others, however equally profitable, to places of lesser
authority. Thus, the writings and sermons of any general authority, unless canonized,
are secondary in terms of their being binding upon all members to the standard
works. (Gary James Bergera, “What is Official Doctrine,” Seventh
East Press 1, no. 1 [October 6, 1981]: 6)
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