Merina Smith argues that the secret introduction of plural marriage developed alongside a public religious narrative that made acceptance of the practice intelligible to participants. She examines how teachings about salvation changed together with the practice, rather than treating an already complete theology as its sole cause.
- Merina Smith, Revelation, Resistance, and Mormon Polygamy: The Introduction and Implementation of the Principle, 1830–1853 (Utah State University Press, 2013).