Journal of Discourses

The Adam-God doctrine in the Journal of Discourses

What Brigham Young actually said, in which sermons, and how he qualified it five years later.

In April 1852 Brigham Young told a general conference in Salt Lake City that Adam is God the Father. The sermon was printed two years later in the first volume of the Journal of Discourses, and it is the reason this series is still argued over. This page lists every discourse in the twenty-six volumes that states the identity, qualifies it, or supplies the reasoning behind it — eight in all, quoted and linked.

The sermon it comes from

The claim is made in one paragraph, and it is not ambiguous. It comes in the middle of a discourse otherwise about self-government, tithing, and whether dancing is sinful.

Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! 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.

Brigham Young, Self-Government—Mysteries—Recreation and Amusements, Not in Themselves Sinful—Tithing—Adam, Our Father and Our God, Journal of Discourses, Volume 1

Two years later he restated the part of it that concerns the creation, this time against the account in Genesis.

Though we have it in history that our father Adam was made of the dust of this earth, and that he knew nothing about his God previous to being made here, yet it is not so; and when we learn the truth we shall see and understand that he helped to make this world, and was the chief manager in that operation.

Brigham Young, Disinclination of Men to Learn Through the Teachings and Experience of Others—Latter-Day Saints Compared With Those of Former Days—Sacrifice—Sheep and Goats—Customs and Traditions, Journal of Discourses, Volume 3

How he qualified it

This is the passage least often quoted on either side of the argument, and it is the most revealing. Speaking in 1857 — five years after the conference sermon — Brigham Young calls the question a mystery and says he does not care how it is answered.

But when we arrive at that point, a veil is dropped, and our knowledge is cut off. Were it not so, you could trace back your history to the Father of our spirits in the eternal world. He is a being of the same species as ourselves; He lives as we do, except the difference that we are earthly, and He is heavenly. He has been earthly, and is of precisely the same species of being that we are. 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.

Brigham Young, To Know God is Eternal Life—God the Father of Our Spirits and Bodies—Things Created Spiritually First—Atonement By the Shedding of Blood, Journal of Discourses, Volume 4

Adam as Michael and the Ancient of Days

The identity rests on an older and far less contested teaching: that Adam is the archangel Michael, and the Ancient of Days of Daniel 7. That part was taught by Joseph Smith, is in the Doctrine and Covenants, and is still held today — which is why the Journal contains a good deal more of it than of the Adam-God identity itself. It is included here because the sermons are routinely quoted as though they support the larger claim.

The Priesthood was first given to Adam. He obtained the First Presidency, and held the keys of it from generation to generation. He obtained it in the creation, before the world was formed, as in Gen. i. 20, 26, 28. He had dominion given him over every living creature. He is Michael the Archangel, spoken of in the Scriptures. Then to Noah, who is Gabriel: he stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood. He was called of God to this office, and was the Father of all living in his day, and to him was given the dominion. These men held keys first on earth, and then in heaven.

Joseph Smith, The Priesthood—The Second Advent—The Gathering—Spiritual Ministrations and Manifestations, Journal of Discourses, Volume 6

We have been taught that our Father and God, from whom we sprang, called and appointed his servants to go and organize an earth, and, among the rest, he said to Adam, "You go along also and help all you can; you are going to inhabit it when it is organized, therefore go and assist in the good work." It reads in the Scriptures that the Lord did it, but the true rendering is, that the Almighty sent Jehovah and Michael to do the work. They were also instructed to plant every kind of vegetable, likewise the forest and the fruit trees, and they actually brought from heaven every variety of fruit, of the seeds of vegetables, the seeds of flowers, and planted them in this earth on which we dwell.

Heber C. Kimball, Advancement of the Saints—Unity of the Temporal and Spiritual Interests of the People—Faith and Works Inseparably Connected, Etc, Journal of Discourses, Volume 10

Some of these angels have received their exaltation, and still are called angels. For instance Michael has received his exaltation. He is not without his kingdom and crown, wife or wives and posterity, because he lived faithful to the end. Who is he? Our first, great progenitor, Adam, is called Michael, the Prince. I am mentioning now things that the Latter-day Saints are acquainted with. Many of these things I have just been quoting are revelations given to us, as those who are readers will recollect. Some of these angels have received their exaltation. They are kings, they are priests, they have entered into their glory and sit upon thrones—they hold the scepter over their posterity.

Orson Pratt, Different Degrees of Reward and of Punishment—Marriage for Eternity Necessary to a Fullness of Celestial Glory, Journal of Discourses, Volume 15

This explains the reason why our father Adam comes as the Ancient of days with all these numerous hosts, and organizes them according to the records of the book, every man in his place, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man to receive the kingdom. Then every family that is in the order of the Priesthood, and every man and every woman, and every son or daughter whatever their kindred, descent or Priesthood, will know their place.

Orson Pratt, All Men to Be Judged Out of the Books—Adam the Ancient of Days—In the Days of Enoch the Righteous Gathered Together From the Ends of the Earth to One Place—The Great Prophet Joseph Smith Raised Up By God to Reveal Hidden Mysteries, Journal of Discourses, Volume 17

"Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing. And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel.

Brigham Young, Necessity of Continued and Faithful Labor—Kingly Nature of the Priesthood—Power Attainable Through It—Condition of the Nations Contrasted With that of the Saints—Future Glory and Greatness of the Kingdom of God, Journal of Discourses, Volume 10

Where it stands

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not teach the Adam-God doctrine and has not for a long time. In an October 1976 general conference address, President Spencer W. Kimball named it as false, saying the church denounced "the Adam-God theory" and that members should not teach it. That statement is the church's own, and it is unambiguous.

What remains contested is not whether the church teaches it now, but what Brigham Young meant and how firmly he held it. The Journal is the primary evidence on both sides of that question, which is why the sermons are listed here whole rather than excerpted to an argument.

The sermons