Adam–God doctrine
The Adam–God doctrine was a theological idea taught in mid-19th century Mormonism by Brigham Young, a president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although the doctrine is rejected by the LDS Church today, it is still an accepted part of the modern theology of some Mormon fundamentalists.
According to Young, he was taught by Joseph Smith that Adam is "our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do."
According to the doctrine, Adam was once a mortal man who became resurrected and exalted. From another planet, he then came as Michael to form Earth. Adam then was given a physical body and a spouse, Eve, where they became mortal by eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. After bearing mortal children and establishing the human race, Adam and Eve returned to their heavenly thrones, where Adam serves as God and is the Heavenly Father of humankind. Later, Adam returned to the Earth to the ancient prophets and to become the literal biological father of Jesus.
During the 19th century and the early 20th century, the Adam–God doctrine was featured as part of the church's endowment ceremony. However, the notion was startling to many people when it was introduced and remained controversial, even within the Church. Many Latter Day Saints and some breakoff groups, the most notable being apostle Orson Pratt, rejected the doctrine in favor of more traditional understanding of Adam and Eve. Both he and other members, such as the Bunker family, would face the prospect of ecclesiastical punishment for their public opposition. Despite the objection of many, the doctrine persisted even after the administration of Brigham Young. His successor, John Taylor, privately affirmed his belief in the idea prior to his death in 1887. It wasn’t until about 1905 that the Adam-God doctrine was fully removed from the endowment ceremony. By this time, the doctrine fell out of favor within the LDS Church and was replaced by a theology more similar to Orson Pratt's, as expounded by turn-of-the century Latter Day Saint theologians James E. Talmage, B. H. Roberts, and John A. Widtsoe. In 1976, church president Spencer W. Kimball stated the LDS Church does not support the doctrine. Most Latter Day Saints accept Adam as "the Ancient of Days," "father of all," and Michael the Archangel but do not recognize him as being God the Father.
In contrast, many Mormon Fundamentalists have retained this doctrine as a chief principle of their faith. Several Fundamentalist authors, such as Ogden Kraut and Joseph W. Musser have written books on the subject highlighting the prominent role of Adam continues to play.
It is debated whether or not Brigham Young did actually teach this theory as doctrine. There are some instances where it was written that he taught it during a sermon, but it could have been the result of misinterpretations or clerical errors. In Wilford Woodruff’s May 14, 1876 journal entry he recorded Brigham teaching “Adam was Michael the archangel, and was the father of Jesus Christ in the flesh.”
Background
Though Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, never used the term "Adam–God" in any of his recorded public statements, he provided several teachings from which the doctrine's adherents draw support. For example, Smith taught in an 1839 sermon that Adam was actually the archangel Michael, who held the First Presidency in the premortal life. In the same sermon, Smith taught that Adam holds "the keys of the universe," and so it is through his authority that all priesthood "keys," the abilities to unlock particular priesthood powers, are revealed from heaven. In 1840, Smith taught that Adam is the one "through whom Christ has been revealed from heaven, and will continue to be revealed from henceforth." Finally, Smith taught in his 1844 King Follett discourse that God was once a man "like one of us."Young and other adherents of the doctrine claim that Smith was its originator and that Smith privately taught it to them before his death, in 1844. However, the prevailing academic view is that the doctrine taught by Young and others was an elaboration of Smith's vague references to Adam's unique role in Latter Day Saint doctrine. Although Young is generally credited with originating the doctrine, the original source may also have been Young's counselor in the First Presidency, Heber C. Kimball.
Description
The Adam–God doctrine teaches that Adam is the father of both the spirits and physical bodies of all humans born on Earth, including Jesus.Under the doctrine, Adam had a number of roles. First, he was a creator god. He and his wife, Eve, had become gods by living a mortal life, becoming resurrected, and receiving their exaltation. As a god before the creation of the Earth, he was known as Michael, or the "Ancient of Days." Michael was not the only creator god, however, as he was a member of a council of Earth's creator gods, which also included the gods "Elohim" and "Jehovah." In Smith's original endowment ceremony, the gods involved in the creation were called "Elohim, Jehovah, and Michael," but unlike in modern Latter Day Saint theology, "Jehovah" was not identified as Jesus. Rather, it was explained by Joseph F. Smith that "Elohim, Jehovah and Michael are Father, Son, and Grandson. They made this Earth and Michael became Adam." Within the council, Jehovah and Michael were subordinate to Elohim and created the Earth, under the direction of Elohim. Michael was selected by the heads of this council of gods to be the Father of this Earth.
Also, the doctrine teaches that Michael was the father of the spirits in heaven who are associated with this Earth. With Eve, and possibly his other wives, Michael had fathered the spirits of spirit offspring in the preexistence.
Next, the doctrine teaches that Michael came to the Earth with one of his wives, where they became known as Adam and Eve, and became the progenitor of the human race and the father of mortal bodies of all his spirit offspring so that they could progress and achieve godhood like themselves. The names "Adam" and "Eve" are titles that reflect their roles as the parents of humanity, Adam meaning man or " of mankind" and Eve meaning the "mother of all living."The privilege of peopling the Earth was part of Adam and Eve's eternal purpose as exalted beings and eternal parents of their spirit children. To bear mortal children, Adam and Eve had to take on mortal bodies. The bodies of Adam and Eve fell to a mortal state when they ate the fruit of tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.
Then, the doctrine teaches that after his mortal existence, Adam returned to his throne and reigned as the immortal God of this Earth. He is thus considered to be the Biblical God of Israel. Smith stated that Adam's ascension to godhood took place at or after a gathering at a holy place of the same name. Smith taught that a similar gathering is to prelude the second coming of Christ.
Finally, the doctrine teaches that Michael/Adam was the literal, biological father of the mortal body of Jesus.
History
Brigham Young's 1852 explanation
Whether or not Smith had taught the doctrine, the first recorded explanation of the doctrine using the term "Adam–God" was by Young, who first taught the doctrine at the church's spring general conference on April 9, 1852. This sermon was recorded stenographically by George D. Watt, Young's private secretary, who was an expert in Pitman shorthand. Watt published the sermon in 1854 in the British periodical Journal of Discourses, which was endorsed by Young and his counselors in the church's First Presidency.In Watt's transcript of the sermon, Young said he intended to discuss "who it was that begat the Son of the Virgin Mary," a subject which he said "has remained a mystery in this kingdom up to this day." The transcript reads:
When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is MICHAEL, the Archangel, the ANCIENT OF DAYS! about whom holy men have written and spoken—He is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must hear it, and will know it sooner or later.
The transcript then reads: "When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family." Young explained that Adam "was begotten by his Father in heaven" in the same way that Adam begat his own sons and daughters, and that there were "three distinct characters, namely, Eloheim, Yahovah, and Michael." Then, reiterating, he said that "Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the Garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven."
Young concluded, "I could tell you much more about this; but were I to tell you the whole truth, blasphemy would be nothing to it, in the estimation of the superstitious and overrighteous mankind. Now, let all who may hear these doctrines, pause before they make light of them, or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation."
Further development by Young
In a special conference on August 28, 1852, Young explained in greater detail the mechanism by which celestial beings like Adam and Eve could give birth to mortal offspring. According to Young, when a couple first become gods and goddesses, they first begin to create spiritual offspring. Then, they begin creating "mortal tabernacles" in which those spirits can dwell, by going to a newly created world, where they: "eat and drink of the fruits of the corporal world, until this grosser matter is diffused sufficiently through their celestial bodies, to enable them according to the established laws to produce mortal tabernacles for their spiritual children." This is what Adam and Eve did, Young said, and "Adam is my Father."On February 19, 1854, Young reiterated the doctrine in a sermon. He also reiterated the doctrine at the October 1854 general conference, in a sermon that was reported to have "held the vast audience as it were spellbound." In the October conference, Young is reported as clarifying that Adam and Eve were "natural father and mother of every spirit that comes to this planet, or that receives tabernacles on this planet, consequently we are brother and sisters, and that Adam was God, our Eternal Father."
When Young discussed the doctrine again in early 1857, he emphasized again that "to become acquainted with our Father and our God" was "one of the first principles of the doctrine of salvation", and that "no man can enjoy or be prepared for eternal life without that knowledge." Nevertheless, he later said:
Whether Adam is the personage that we should consider Our Heavenly Father, or not, is considerable of a mystery to a good many. I do not care for one moment how that is; it is no matter whether we are to consider Him our God, or whether His Father, or his Grandfather, for in either case we are of one species of one family and Jesus Christ is also of our species.