William A. Williams (creationist)

William Asbury Williams D.D. (May 30, 1854 – May 6, 1938) was an American Presbyterian clergyman and creationist writer.

William A. Williams
Born
William Asbury Williams

(1854-05-30)May 30, 1854
Beallsville, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMay 6, 1938(1938-05-06) (aged 83)
Camden, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)Clergyman, writer
Spouse
Mary Elizabeth Lanning
​
​
(m. 1877)​
Children3

Biography

Williams was born in Beallsville, Ohio.[1] He was the son of Elam Williams and Elizabeth Sarah McKitrick.[2] He graduated from Franklin College in 1876 and Western Theological Seminary in 1880.[1] He obtained his A. M. in 1879 and a Doctor of Divinity degree from Scio College in 1888.[3]

In 1885, he was ordained into the Presbyterian ministry. He was Professor of Greek and Hebrew at Franklin College (1880–1887) and served as President (1887–1901).[1][3] He was a pastor at Powhatan Point, Ohio (1885–1896), Moundsville, West Virginia (1896–1901) and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1908).[4]

From 1908 he resided in Philadelphia and after 1920 in Camden.[1] Williams married Mary Elizabeth Lanning in 1877, they had three children.[2] His son Frank Harry Mead Williams (1896–1972) was a math professor at Drexel University.[2][5]

Creationism

Williams was a Christian young earth creationist who claimed to have mathematically disproven evolution.[6][7] In 1925, Williams authored The Evolution of Man Scientifically Disproved: In 50 Arguments. It was revised and republished in an edition of 20, 000 copies in 1928.[8] The book was dismissed by mathematicians as a fundamentalist tract.[9][7] Williams relied heavily on the Bible for his arguments.[10]

Williams' book gave the first presentation of the creationist probability argument against evolution which influenced the pseudoscientific creation science movement.[6][11] Glenn Branch deputy director of the National Center for Science Education has described Williams' arguments against evolution as "pseudomathematics".[12]

Selected publications

References
  1. Coyle, William. (1962). Ohio Authors and Their Books. Cleveland: World Pub Co. pp. 692-693
  2. McKitrick, Fred L. (1979). The McKitricks and Roots of Ulster Scots. Gateway Press. pp. 118-120
  3. Leonard, John W. (1899). Who's Who in America, 1889-1900. Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 799
  4. "William Asbury Williams 1854–1938". Hymntime.com. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  5. "Frank Harry Mead Williams papers". Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  6. Creationism Intellectual Origins, Cultural Context, and Theoretical Diversity. Thomas Allen McIver, 1989.
  7. Rosenhouse, Jason (2016). "On Mathematical Anti-Evolutionism". Science & Education. 25 (1–2): 95–114. doi:10.1007/s11191-015-9801-7. S2CID 124954202.
  8. "Brief Notices". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 3 (3): 427–457. 1928. doi:10.1086/394314. S2CID 222430534.
  9. "Reviewed Work: The Evolution of Man Mathematically Disproved by William A. Williams". The Mathematical Gazette. 13 (191): 460. 1927. doi:10.2307/3602391. JSTOR 3602391. S2CID 189022715.
  10. How Anti-Evolutionists Abuse Mathematics. Jason Rosenhouse, 2001.
  11. "Can Probability Theory Be Used to Refute Evolution? (Part One)". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  12. "A Justly Neglected Argument Redivivus". National Center for Science Education. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
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