Brian Hales on Brigham Young and "Adam-God"

In this discourse [recorded in JOD 1:46-53] and others, Brigham Young taught: “Adam . . . is MICHAEL, the Archangel, the ANCIENT OF DAYS! about who holy men have written and spoken—HE is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do.” However, nowhere does Brigham explain how his teaching correspond to Joseph Smith’s multiple instructions regarding Adam. In 1830, the Prophet taught: “But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent. And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you” (Moses 6:50-52; see also D&C 29:42.) In these verses, God, who “made the world, and men before they were in the flesh” talks to Adam, indicting they could not be the same being and that Adam is not the father of our spirits. Adam is admonished to repent and be baptized in the name of Christ, indicating that Christ is superior. All of Joseph Smith’s teaching, as well as those found in the standard works, are consistent with these statements. Since President Young never attempted to correlate his scattered teachings about Adam to statements made by Joseph Smith (or found in the scriptures), it seems that drawing absolute conclusions regarding his actual meaning, without additional clarification from Brigham Young himself, is unwise and, in reality, impossible. (Brian C. Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, vol. 3: Theology [Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013], pp. 134-35 n. 30; square bracket added for clarification)