William Asbury Williams D.D. (May 30, 1854 – May 6, 1938) was an American Presbyterian clergyman and creationist writer.
Biography
Williams was born in Beallsville, Ohio.Coyle, William. (1962). Ohio Authors and Their Books. Cleveland: World Pub Co. pp. 692-693 He was the son of Elam Williams and Elizabeth Sarah McKitrick.McKitrick, Fred L. (1979). The McKitricks and Roots of Ulster Scots. Gateway Press. pp. 118-120 He graduated from Franklin College in 1876 and Western Theological Seminary in 1880. He obtained his A. M. in 1879 and a Doctor of Divinity degree from Scio College in 1888.Leonard, John W. (1899). Who's Who in America, 1889-1900. Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 799
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). He was a pastor at Powhatan Point, Ohio (1885–1896), Moundsville, West Virginia (1896–1901) and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1908)."William Asbury Williams 1854–1938". Hymntime.com. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
From 1908 he resided in Philadelphia and after 1920 in Camden. Williams married Mary Elizabeth Lanning in 1877, they had three children. His son Frank Harry Mead Williams (1896–1972) was a math professor at Drexel University."Frank Harry Mead Williams papers". Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
Creationism
Williams was a Christian young earth creationist who claimed to have mathematically disproven evolution.Creationism Intellectual Origins, Cultural Context, and Theoretical Diversity. Thomas Allen McIver, 1989. 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. The book was dismissed by mathematicians as a fundamentalist tract. Williams relied heavily on the Bible for his arguments.How Anti-Evolutionists Abuse Mathematics. Jason Rosenhouse, 2001.
Williams' book gave the first presentation of the creationist probability argument against evolution which influenced the pseudoscientific creation science movement."Can Probability Theory Be Used to Refute Evolution? (Part One)". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 7 February 2021. Glenn Branch deputy director of the National Center for Science Education has described Williams' arguments against evolution as "pseudomathematics"."A Justly Neglected Argument Redivivus". National Center for Science Education. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
Selected publications
Early American Families (1916) The Evolution of Man Scientifically Disproved: In 50 Arguments (1925, 1928)
References