Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Richard Doland Ouellette on the Status of the Adam-God Theory

  

On at least three occasions, Young attributed the Adam-God doctrine to Joseph Smith. But though the rudiments of the doctrine derived from Smith’s Nauvoo teachings of preexistence, eternal procreation, and generations of gods, we have no record that Smith ever equated Adam/Michael with God the Father. Nonetheless, most of the LDS hierarchy went along with Young and offered at least tacit support to his theory. But Apostle Orson Pratt, unable to square the doctrine with Scripture, persistently objected. Cognizant of its controversial nature, Young didn’t push the doctrine much after the 1850s, though he certainly never abandoned it. As a result, the LDS Church never sustained the Adam-God doctrine as formal doctrine; the Adam-God theory hovered in theological limbo for the duration of Young’s presidency. After his death, LDS leaders gradually abandoned the doctrine. In time they denied it was ever taught. (Richard Doland Ouellette, “The Mormon Temple Lot Case: Space, Memory, and Identity in a Divided New Religion” [PhD Dissertation; The University of Texas at Austin, May, 2012], 255-56)

 

 

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