When I was headed off to divinity school, I decided it was time that I figured out what I really thought about Joseph Smith. I’d had mixed feelings about him for a long time: on the one hand, he was a prophet and he revealed a lot of my absolute favorite truths, like eternal families, the importance of bodies, and the presence of Heavenly Mother. (For a really excellent book on what Joseph revealed and how it was different, check out The Christ Who Heals, by Fiona and Terryl Givens.) On the other hand, polygamy. Also, it sounds like he was charming, and my mom raised me to distrust charming people.

I read a lot about Joseph Smith in the few months before I went to Boston, mostly in Richard Bushman’s Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. I found that, in addition to believing Joseph was a prophet, which I’d never really struggled with, I actually really liked him. He had faults I could relate to—an ego and temper that I recognized—but also qualities I really looked up to. Hope was high among these qualities. The hope on this guy.