Percival Davis

See also Clifford Grey, whose real name was Percival Davis.
Bill Davis
Born
Percival William Davis

United States
TitleFormer professor at Hillsborough Community College[1]

Percival William Davis, also known as Bill Davis,[1] is an American author, young earth creationist, and intelligent design proponent.[2]

Education and career

In 1958, Davis received a bachelor of arts in zoology from DePauw University, in 1961 master of arts in zoology from Columbia University, Master's degrees from Columbia University and the University of South Florida, and completed a PhD in 1993 from the University of South Florida in Instructional Technology.[1] Beginning in 1968, Davis was a professor of Life Science at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida but has since retired.[1][3] Since 2006 he has been a visiting professor of biology at Clearwater Christian College.[1]

Intelligent design

The term "intelligent design" came into general usage following the publishing of a 1989 book called Of Pandas and People co-authored by Davis and Dean H. Kenyon.[4] The pair suggested that Darwinism, more than a century old, had outlived its usefulness, primarily because evolution was unable to explain all the biological complexities, which they argue show evidence of an intelligent designer. Davis additionally co-wrote "Case for Creation," with Wayne Frair, published through Chicago's Moody Bible Institute in 1983.

In a November 1994 Wall Street Journal front-page article concerning why he decided to co-author Of Pandas and People, quoted Davis saying "Of course my motives were religious. There's no question about it."[5][6]

Books

  • Davis PW. and Frair W. A Case for Creation. 3d. rev. ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983).
  • Davis PW., Villee C, Solomon EP. Biology (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1985).
  • Davis PW. and Dean H. Kenyon. Of Pandas and People. (Texas: Foundation for Thought and Ethics, 1989, 1993) ISBN 0-914513-40-0
  • Davis PW. and Solomon EP. Human Anatomy and Physiology. (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1983).
  • Davis PW. and Solomon EP. The World of Biology, 3rd Ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 1986.
  • Understanding Human Anatomy and Physiology (McGraw-Hill)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "P. William Davis". Clearwater Christian College. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-06-21. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  2. ^ "Paul Nelson and John Mark Reynolds are well-known young earth creationists in both the CRSC and the ID movement in general, despite Dembski's public attempts to distance ID from them. And there are others: Percival Davis (co-author of Pandas), Nancy Pearcey, Ray Bohlin (his evasiveness notwithstanding), Charles Thaxton..." in Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross. Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. Oxford University Press, 2004. page 275
  3. ^ Scott, Eugenie C. (1997). "Antievolution and Creationism in the United States". Annual Review of Anthropology. 26: 263–289. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.263. JSTOR 2952523.
  4. ^ Bennett, Gary L (2008). "A Review of Of Pandas and People as a Textbook Supplement". National Center for Science Education. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  5. ^ Erik Larson, "Darwinian struggle: instead of evolution, a textbook proposes "intelligent design'." Wall Street Journal, 14 November 1994.
  6. ^ "About his reasons for writing 'Pandas', Davis told The Wall Street Journal in 1994: 'Of course my motives were religious. There's no question about it'.""By any other name: intelligent design and evolution". St. Louis Journalism Review. December 1, 2005. Retrieved 2008-04-06.