The story of Adam and Eve is one of the most famous of the Bible, and is told in both of the creation stories in Genesis (Chapter 1 and 2) to explain the beginning of life on Earth. In the traditional view, Adam and Eve were created by God in about 4,000 BCE, and are the original ancestors to every man, woman, and child on Earth today.

Everyone reading this almost certainly already knows the story, but this event crucial to the idea of the “fall of man” which necessitates the atonement of Christ within Christianity. The story of Adam and Eve is also important for explaining the eventual population of the world, which will be important throughout the Bible as lineage plays a role in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

The Adam and Eve story is considered by all secular scholars and even many biblical scholars to be an etiological myth written to explain the origin of humans, which can be further illustrated by looking at advancements in science, history, and the text of the Bible itself.

Within Mormonism, the Adam and Eve story must be a literal event with a real, historical Adam and Eve due to the extensive use and expansion of Adam and Eve in the Book of Mormon, Book of Abraham, and the Doctrine and Covenants. Not only is the Adam and Eve story well known to the writer of the Book of Mormon, but Joseph Smith cites Adam as the “Ancient of days” spoken of in the Bible in multiple revelations, which almost every biblical scholar believes without hesitation is actually referring to God, not Adam.

Furthermore, Joseph Smith claims to see Adam in a vision (D&C 137:5), Joseph F. Smith claims to see Adam and Eve in another vision (D&C 138:38-39), and Joseph Smith claims to reveal the location of where Adam and Eve lived after expulsion from the Garden of Eden: Adam-ondi-Ahman in Missouri, where the early Saints had settled in 1838. All of these events need a historical Adam to bolster Joseph Smith's claim as a prophet, but if Adam and Eve was indeed a etiological myth, the entire truth claims of Mormonism become mythical along with it.

Problems with Adam and Eve Historicity

As summarized above, the Adam and Eve story cannot be a literal, historical event given what we know today about evolution, genetics, DNA, and biblical scholarship. All secular scholars and many biblical scholars believe that Adam and Eve's account is a mythical story created to explain the origins of humans and to serve as an introduction to the Bible. The traditional view of the Bible dates when the Adam and Eve story would have occurred to about 4,000 BCE, but most biblical scholars now agree that the Pentateuch was not compiled until much later. As the documentary hypothesis has evolved the dates have moved a bit, with many scholars now believing that Genesis was not compiled until the 6th or, more likely, 5th century BCE. (Davies, G.I, "Introduction to the Pentateuch")

But the Adam and Eve story can be shown to not be historical from a few different methods that I would like to quickly summarize here:

Evolution: The study of the evolution of humans (Homo sapiens) shows that modern day humans likely began to evolve in Africa about 315,000 years ago. However, our human evolution likely began alongside of apelike species millions of years ago, which is confirmed through DNA along with looking at the changes in fossils over time. For example, humans today share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees and bonobos. (Science Magazine)

While many like to discount the idea of evolution by calling it a theory, it has been proven through scientific methods over the years, and as technology and our knowledge has increased, the picture has only gotten more detailed – the overreaching conclusions have not changed. (Wikipedia Overview of Evolution Timeline)

Fossil Records: Looking at fossil records, as early as 3.5 million years ago there is evidence that one hominim species, Au. Afarensis, was already walking on two limbs. Since that time, fossils show continuous changes to the skeletons of human beings until we arrive to humans in more modern times.

This is intended to just be a quick overview, but I highly recommend reading overviews on the evolution of humans to understand that there is zero evidence for the idea that a man and women simply began in our current human state with the ability to speak in an Adamic language. In fact, there is an abundance of evidence against this idea, which can be easily understood by anyone interested in learning more by reading some basic overviews on human evolution. While a lot of apologists for the church imply that these issues are too complicated for people who aren’t experts to understand, I assure you that you are more than capable of understanding the implications of evolution and fossils on the Adam and Eve story. (Brittanica Overview of Fossil Records)

DNA: Along with the evidence that humans have evolved over millions of years to the Homo sapiens we are today, we can look at DNA evidence to give us a wealth of information about our pasts. While the Bible’s Adam and Eve story in Genesis is traditionally believed to have happened about 6,000 years ago, a quick DNA test through 23 and Me will show that our ancestors can be traced back tens of thousands of years earlier.

For example, in my own 23 and Me DNA results, I have less than 2% of Neanderthal DNA. These Neanderthals are dated to have disappeared 40,000 years ago, meaning that my DNA can be traced back to at least 34,000 years prior to the Adam and Eve story occurring. Not only do I show Neanderthal DNA, but 23 and Me also gives me traits I inherited from that Neanderthal DNA. In my case, I am told that I have:

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• A worse sense of direction

• Difficulty discarding rarely-used possessions.

• Less likely to have a fear of heights.

• A better sprinter than distance runner.

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All four of those traits area absolutely correct - the first two (and strongest matches in variants) have been told to me repeatedly throughout my life. I have a horrible sense of direction and I have always loved to collect things, and have a hard time getting rid of stuff that I haven't touched or looked at in years.

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I highly recommend anyone interested in DNA and genealogy to check out a DNA service such as 23 and Me because the results are fascinating and you learn so much about your ancestry along with the uses of DNA to explain your heritage. As you can see above, eve the Neanderthal traits are incredible to learn, and again are great proof of the power of DNA to understand our history and what makes us who we are.

Looking at DNA in more general terms, scientists can now date us closer to a genetic “Adam and Eve,” but even that creates more problems for the Adam and Eve story. First, the "genetic Adam and Eve" still dates to about 135,000 years ago. The bigger problem, however, is that the “ancient "Adam" and ancient "Eve" probably didn't even live near each other, let alone mate.” (Live Science)

Along with fossil evidence showing that humans likely evolved from Africa, DNA from human fossils also confirms that the earliest humans likely left Africa at least 200,000 years ago. (Live Science) What is really cool about these studies is that DNA is confirming the results found from studies in archaeology, which an indicator that the two methods are on the right track.

Just like with evolution, while many seek to downplay the importance and accuracy of DNA (and we’ll get to that in more detail with the Book of Mormon and DNA), the bottom line is that it has been proven more conclusive every day. As geneticist Jamie Hanis Handy noted in a great podcast on the church’s DNA and the Book of Mormon essay (Mormon Stories Podcast), the advances in DNA are only making the picture sharper as if going from a 1 megapixel camera twenty years ago to today’s 100 megapixel cameras. The DNA evidence is a problem for Adam and Eve historicity that is only getting stronger with time – it is a field that has strong enough consensus that it is used every day in courts, science, and research to understand both who we are and where we came from.

Ancient Origin Myths: The Epic of Gilgamesh has many parallels to the Bible, most notably the global flood myth which will be covered in the next section. But it should be noted that there are also parallels to the Adam and Eve story. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, there is the story of Enkidu and Shamhat. “In both, a man is created from the soil by a god, and lives in a natural setting amongst the animals. He is introduced to a woman who tempts him. In both stories the man accepts food from the woman, covers his nakedness, and must leave his former realm, unable to return. The presence of a snake that steals a plant of immortality from the hero later in the epic is another point of similarity.” (Epic of Gilgamesh Parallels to the Bible)

Biblical scholarship: One of the clearest ways to understand that the Adam and Eve story is not historical and is a late addition to the Bible is by looking at the Bible itself. The creation story that details the Garden of Eden is the Jahwish/Yahwist source (J source) in Genesis 2, which was originally believed to have been written in the 7th century BCE, but is now understood to have been written between the 6th and 5th century BCE due to reasons we will state below. (Baden, Joel S. J, E, and the redaction of the Pentateuch) There are two ways this is important to understanding how the Adam and Eve story was understood as an origin myth to the writers of Genesis.

The first is to note that the Adam and Eve account includes many elements of a fable including a talking snake, a man that is created out of dust, a woman created by putting the man in a deep sleep to take a rib, living to the age of 930 (Genesis 5:5), and the name Adam simply meaning “man” in Hebrew. This is a more simplistic way to look at the story of Adam and Eve, but you can see these elements of a fable throughout the story, which would indicate that the story was not meant to be taken anciently as literal history, but as an origin story to help explain where we came from.

The second, and more important, reason that we can tell the Adam and Eve story is not an ancient, historical event is by looking at how early prophets spoke of Adam and Eve. Historian John Hamer noted that if you look at the Bible you can see where the story of Adam and Eve becomes known to the ancient prophets and writers. This is crucial not just for understanding the dating of the Adam and Eve story, but how people in Old Testament times understood the Adam and Eve story.

If you look at the early writers of the Old Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah, etc) and look for references to Adam and Eve, there are zero mentions of the story in their writings. By contrast, there are 116 mentions of Moses and 100 mentions of David, showing that these writers were aware of many early stories of the Bible yet had no knowledge of the Adam and Eve story.

Outside of Genesis, there is just one mention of Adam and Eve in Deuteronomy (part of the Pentateuch that was compiled around the same time), and then one mention in the later books of Job (6th century BCE) and Chronicles (4th century BCE). That no earlier prophets mention such a vital event is a clear indicator that the Adam and Eve story appears late and was unknown to the Old Testament writers, and the fact that is barely gets mentioned once it is known would highlight that early writers did not believe it was literal history, but mythical.

 In other words, the story of Adam and Eve today is considered one of the most important events in our history as it necessitates the atonement and is central to the Book of Mormon, yet it was unknown to early prophets. (Infants on Thrones podcast: Seven Deadly Heresies - The Adam and Eve conversation is about 56 minutes in) As John Hamer notes in his conclusion, “not only does it not work with this robust theory of evolution, all of the entire fossil record and everything else (genetics, DNA, and all the things that completely track with [those theories]), but the story itself within the Bible itself doesn’t portray itself as the most ancient thing even though as the Bible is now edited it comes first.”

The story of Adam and Eve cannot be reconciled with the vast evidence we have whether it’s genetics, DNA, archaeology, or biblical scholarship to be a literal, historical event. Many religions have found ways to work with the Adam and Eve story being an etiological myth, but as we will see, this becomes much trickier within Mormonism because of the extensive use and expansion of the story as a literal, historical event.

Problems with the Book of Mormon and Adam and Eve

As we mentioned in the summary, the Adam and Eve story is only mentioned in the OId Testament twice beyond the first five books – in the books of Job and Chronicles. The problem is that the Adam and Eve story was not known to the earlier writers such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc, and as such was not included in their writings even as mentions of David and Moses numbered over 100. Put another way, if the Adam and Eve story was historical, why would such a monumental event effectively disappear after it happened while other figures from the Old Testament are mentioned repeatedly throughout?

In the New Testament, mentions of Adam and Eve become more numerous which makes sense given that the Pentateuch was well known by this time. Skipping references to Adam that establish lineage, which is the case in Luke and Jude, we want to note that most of the references to Adam in the New Testament are establishing some early Christian theology which is evident from Paul’s epistles.

A few of Paul’s references to Adam are as follows:
 

Romans 5:19  For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

1 Corinthians 11:8 Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from man.

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
 

However in the Book of Mormon, there are 26 mentions/references of Adam along with 28 mentions in the Doctrine and Covenants. This is problematic in that the teachings of the church not only insist on a literal Adam and Eve, but Joseph Smith even expands on the story in the Book of Mormon which is then written back into Joseph Smith’s revision of Genesis which later becomes the Book of Moses.
The Book of Mormon states that Nephi killed Laban for the brass plates around 600-592 BC, which puts it around the time that the Pentateuch was likely compiled according to the documentary hypothesis. While it is entirely anachronistic to have brass plates with the Bible engraved on it that were written in Egyptian, the timing makes it possible that they could have heard of Adam and Eve by this point even if it is impossible that those books would have been on metal plates by that time.

But the bigger problem is that the Book of Ether, which would have originated around 2200 BCE, speaks of Adam. From Ether 1:
 

3 And as I suppose that the first part of this record, which speaks concerning the creation of the world, and also of Adam, and an account from that time even to the great tower, and whatsoever things transpired among the children of men until that time, is had among the Jews—

4 Therefore I do not write those things which transpired from the days of Adam until that time; but they are had upon the plates; and whoso findeth them, the same will have power that he may get the full account.
 

As we will note throughout these sections on biblical scholarship and the Book of Mormon, the writers of the Book of Mormon are aware of ideas that would never have been known in the time the events would have taken place. While we often hear of the anachronistic items/animals in the Book of Mormon such as horses, steel, chariots, etc, the more problematic anachronisms come from the writer of the Book of Mormon having a 19th century worldview of the Bible before some of the material was even written or any form of Christianity had actually developed yet.

But the problem goes beyond the Book of Mormon, as the Book of Abraham references Adam twice in chapter 1 and then retells the Yahwist/Jahwist (J source) version of the Garden of Eden story in chapter 5, implementing Joseph Smith’s change in theology from a single God to a plurality of gods. This again treats Adam and Eve as a literal history, but again the Book of Abraham would have been written before 1650 BCE, which is a thousand years before the Adam and Eve story was known.

Beyond the scriptures, Joseph Smith himself claimed to see Adam in a vision at the Kirtland temple. In D&C 137, Joseph Smith records a vision where he states “I saw father Adam, and Abraham and Michael.” This vision is problematic not just for its use of of a literal Adam, but because Joseph Smith would later declare that Adam and Michael are one and the same, yet he claims to see both.

Following Joseph Smith’s vision, future prophet Joseph F. Smith also claims to see Adam and Eve in another vision (D&C 138:38-39):

“38 Among the great and mighty ones who were assembled in this vast congregation of the righteous were Father Adam, the Ancient of Days and father of all.”

Again, this vision is a problem for biblical scholarship beyond just Adam’s historicity, which we will cover below.

Last, the church refers to a spot in Missouri as Adam-ondi-Ahman, which is where Joseph Smith claimed Adam and Eve went after being expelled from the Garden of Eden. This has a number of problems even if we believe Adam and Eve were a literal event, but if it was not a historical event, how could Joseph Smith receive a revelation that Adam and Eve happened to live in the very spot that the early Saints were settling in Missouri at the time?

Complicating the problems even further is that this revelation, D&C 116, incorrectly labels Adam as the “Ancient of Days,” which is likely where the Adam-God doctrine originated. D&C 116 is a short entry, but states:
 

Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.”
 

The problem is that the “Ancient of Days” referred to in Daniel is God – not Adam. This is pretty clear when reading Daniel 7 in context:
 

9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
 

This is an even bigger problem than the Book of Mormon because Joseph Smith is not only relying on a literal Adam character against the evidence, but he is placing Adam into the Bible via revelation from God that is simply incorrect. Perhaps even more problematic is that Joseph Smith never makes the connection of Adam being the “Ancient of Days” until Sidney Rigdon proclaims it in the May 1834 Evening and Morning Star when he writes:

In the 24 chapter of Isaiah, and 23 verse, the prophet, after having described one of the greatest desolations ever pronounced on the head of any generation of men, says, "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously."We have before seen that this reign was to last a thousand years; and his ancients, before whom he was to reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, gloriously, were all the redeemed from among men, of every tongue, language, kindred, and people.

According to Daniel, he (Jesus) was to come to the ancient of days: here he is said to reign before his ancients, that is, all the saints from our father Adam, down; for who could the ancient of days be but our father Adam? surely none other: he was the first who lived in days, and must be the ancient of days. And to whom would the Savior come, but to the father of all the race, and then receive his kingdom, in which he was to reign before, or with his ancients gloriously? Let it here be remarked, that it is said to be in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, where the Lord is to reign before his ancients gloriously."

This is a misreading of the Bible which is why there is almost no non-LDS scholar that would entertain the idea of Adam being the “Ancient of Days,” as that would put Adam in a higher position than Jesus (in Daniel the Son of God goes to the Ancient of Days, indicating that the Ancient of Days would be above the Son of God), which would indicate that Adam is indeed part of the Godhead as would be taught by Brigham Young in the temple.

Keep in mind that Joseph Smith never made this connection during the production of the Book of Mormon nor did he make this connection when translating the Bible as he revised Daniel. Yet after Sidney Rigdon makes this claim in May 1834, Joseph Smith begins teaching the same idea soon after.

The vision referenced above was in January 1836, but Joseph Smith actually added this concept into a revelation when changing it prior to the Doctrine and Covenants being released in 1835. In D&C 27, Joseph Smith makes vast changes to the original revelation which was about only drinking wine with sacrament that was “made new among you.” In these changes, Joseph Smith seeks to create a line of authority from Adam down to Joseph Smith along with the keys of the priesthood. Within these changes is the following text in the voice of God: “And also with Michael, or Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days.”