Abstract: The three great monotheistic religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) all claim Abraham as father and prototypical monotheist. Though Adam is the putative first father in all of these traditions, he is seldom remembered in Judeo-Christian scriptural, apocryphal, or pseudepigraphic texts as an exemplary monotheist. This essay briefly reviews why Abraham retains the lofty title “Father of Monotheism” while exploring how Latter-day restoration scripture adds to and challenges this ancient tradition vis-à-vis enhanced understanding of Adam’s covenantal and monotheistic fidelity to God.

Was Adam a monotheist? Though he was the first to know God, Adam is seldom even an afterthought in the topic of monotheism. Why is this so? When we think of the great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, it is not Father Adam whom we turn to but rather Father Abraham. Abraham retains the lofty title “Father of Monotheism.”1 This article briefly addresses (1) several reasons why Abraham, not Adam, is considered the first monotheist, (2) how Latter-day Saint restoration scripture affects this conversation, and (3) the implications that this tradition has for our understanding of the historical development of monotheistic faith.

What is Monotheism?

The term “monotheism” does not appear in or originate from Biblical texts. In fact, as a categorical term, “monotheism” is an invention of the English Enlightenment, coined by Cambridge Platonist Henry More in [Page 246]the 1660s in a treatise attempting to establish a typology of religions,2 where monotheism was set up as an antonym to atheism.3 However, I think monotheism is better defined by what it is than by what it is not.

I define monotheism as the belief in, the reverence of, and the faithful commitment to one God, with reciprocal promises or covenants from God offered as rewards to the faithful. We might consider this “covenantal monotheism,” the monotheism at the heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Popular and Scholarly Treatmentsof the Origins of Monotheism

What is being said about the origins of monotheism? Popular works on monotheism assume and perpetuate the idea that Abraham was the first monotheist. Consider the work by Jonathan Kirsch, God Against the Gods, where he claims,

The first person to recognize and worship the single all- powerful deity variously known as “Yahweh” or “Lord” or “Allah” was Abraham, whose encounter with the God of Israel in the land of Canaan is memorably depicted in the Book of Genesis.4

Or consider the book The Discovery of God: Abraham and The Birth of Monotheism.5 This book chronicles the life of Abraham but in the process [Page 247]assumes as correct and perpetuates the tradition that Abraham was the first monotheist.

On the scholarly side, treatments of monotheism may pay lip service to the possibility of Adam as the first monotheist, but no pause is taken to explore the idea and its implications.6 Typical of this approach is the book Three Faiths, One God: The Formative Faith and Practice of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.7 In this book, the authors describe how Muslims explain Islam’s relationship to Judaism and Christianity:

[Page 248]Islam … is held to be identical with the true monotheism to which humankind was called again and agai...