Smith, Godfrey, and Grow “Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith’s Life and Character ” (Reviewed by John Engler)

Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith's Life & Character:  Various, R. Eric Smith, Matthew C. Godfrey, Matthew J. Grow: 9781629728742:  Amazon.com: Books

Review

Title: Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith’s Life and Character
Editors: R. Eric Smith, Matthew C. Godfrey, and Matthew J. Grow
Publisher: Deseret Book
Genre: Biographical Essays
Year Published: 2021
Number of Pages: 272
Binding: Cloth
ISBN: 978-1629728742
Price: 24.99

Reviewed by John Engler for the Association of Mormon Letters

Yes, it’s another book about Joseph Smith. Number 734, I suspect. Actually, there are probably far more than that, not counting the 27 volumes of historical source documents anticipated from the Joseph Smith Papers Project. Add this book to the list. But you probably should add Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith’s Life and Character up near the top of your list because it’s likely you haven’t seen a book like it before.

The unique feature of this book: 43 authors, all experts on the man his followers consider to be the prophet of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. The book is a collection of forty-three short essays (500 words each) about the prophet. Each essay in it is written by a scholar, historian, or researcher who offers some new succinct perspective on unique topics about Joseph’s life and. In sum, the collection spans the full life of the prophet.

Know Brother Joseph is a specialized treatment and comprehensive all at once. It goes deep into certain attributes and experiences of the prophet and simultaneously and spans the breadth of his 38-year life, so no matter your interest in Joseph, there’s almost certainly going to be something of interest here for you.

The book is a pleasant and not difficult read. Although each of these experts could probably have written a scholarly treatise (and some have) on the topic of their essay, these essays are written for the everyday reader. The book is probably even accessible for someone who knows nothing of Joseph, although having some understanding of his history will help contextualize the content.

Helpfully, the essays are grouped into three historical periods: 1) Pre-1830 when Joseph lived in New England, 2) 1831-1839 during the Ohio and Missouri years, and 3) the final five years of his life in Nauvoo. The first section has the fewest essays (9) and the final section the most (17). Even though the essays themselves are not necessarily organized in any specific historical sequence, the chronological sections provide a subtle impression for readers that they’re moving along through time with Joseph. It’s a biography of sorts, and yet it’s unlike any biography I’ve read. The feeling is that it’s not so much the expected biography of dates, people, or events but instead a rare biography of Joseph’s personality and character.

That being said, this is not a strictly rose-colored-glasses view of the prophet but rather a careful, close examination of very specific aspects of his life. For example, I am intrigued by the way that Anthony Sweat dials in on the fraught relationship between Joseph and his brother William. Sweat recounts an 1835 disagreement between the brothers and states that Joseph probably should’ve “walked away” but didn’t. This kind of objective consideration of the prophet’s character is valuable in not blindly praising the man, but coming to know the warts-and-all version of him. That said, no essay in the collection paints Joseph in a negative light, and in this case, the essay goes on to highlight Joseph’s oft-reported inclination to quickly and freely repent and forgive others.

I am also interested in Steve C. Harper’s essay about the dilemma Joseph faced at the time of the First Vision. It’s rare to see new insights about an experience already so thoroughly examined, but Harper details how Joseph was torn between the intellectual possibility that all religions might be wrong and the desires of his heart to find a true religion that could teach him the way to forgiveness, a dilemma we’re informed that B.H. Roberts, when compiling the history, edited it out. It’s a way of thinking in a new way for me about Joseph and his profound but simple question in the grove.

The book also reveals something about each of the essayists and their individual interests. For example, since I’ve known Patrick Q. Mason, I’ve appreciated his interest in respecting differing points of view, including those outside of mainstream LDS culture. True to form, Mason, addresses the “religious pluralism” of Joseph, highlighting how despite his absolute commitment to the gospel truths restored through him, Joseph honored the views and privileges of all religions, even ratifying this big-tent perspective with a Nauvoo City ordinance. It’s true that we come to know an admirable trait of Joseph in this recounting, but we also come to know something of Mason in the rendering, as well.

The book reads much more quickly than most 242-page books because each of the essays reads so quickly. On the page, each essay is only about four and a half pages long. They’re over almost as soon as you’ve started them, which makes this book move right along. It can be hard to put down— “just one more essay,” you find yourself saying. A diligent reader could easily finish the book in a day or two. But because each essay is self-contained, with a one-a-day approach, the read could be stretched to a full six weeks. Readers get their money’s worth either way.

If there’s a shortcoming to the book, it’s that the breadth of topics necessitates a certain brevity. Each of these essays could easily be twice the length, and in some cases ten times the length, and still not cover the topic adequately. Additionally, there are wide gaps where significant historical moments are leap-frogged, like the day the church was organized or the dedication of the Kirtland temple.

My reading, I confess, experienced fits and starts—it was almost too easy to stop, put down the book, and leave it alone for a time. Despite the subtle chronology, there’s not the continuity of content or narrative or voice to carry readers through or to draw them compulsively back. But the three editors certainly knew it would be impossible to tackle these new ideas and provide a comprehensive narrative history, so it’s difficult to fault them for making what they intentionally set out to make.

For me, a strictly amateur historian and scholar of Joseph and church history, this book functions in three specific ways:

  1. A springboard. Reading each of these essays makes me want to dig deeper. In some ways, this book could set up my reading and research about Joseph for months or years to come. A mere month of reading on each of these topics would take me all the way to within a decade of my retirement. And nearly all of these topics deserve way more than a month of further reading.
  2. An index of Joseph’s life. I can see myself referring back to this book over and over again when I want to refresh on some particular component of Joseph’s life. When preparing Sacrament meeting talks, Family Home Evening lessons, or simply scratching the occasional intellectual itch, I expect to return to this book repeatedly.
  3. An introduction to some of the foremost Joseph scholars. Some of these people I’ve met, some I’ve read previously, and some I’d never heard of. Not only is this a lovely introduction to each of their specialties, it’s an introduction to their thinking, voice, and understanding of the man who continues to defy all simple categorization and continues to carry the mystique rivaled by few in world history and certainly no one else in Latter-day Saint restoration history.

There will be books upon books, scores of them, yet written about the prophet of God named Joseph Smith. Know Brother Joseph does what few, if any, have done—gives place to insights about Joseph in a single volume from a broad array of experts and researchers who study the source documents. If there are future books that adopt a similar format, we all will be well served. For now, this book will certainly be appreciated by a wide range of readers for a wide range of reasons, but it all will tie back to the if-on-the-nose title and help readers better Know Brother Joseph.