:''See also Clifford Grey, whose real name was Percival Davis.'' Percival William Davis, also known as Bill Davis, is an American author,

young earth creationist Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between about 10,000 and 6,000 years ago, contradicting established ...

, and

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

proponent.

Education and career

In 1958, Davis received a bachelor of arts in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

from

DePauw University DePauw University ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1837 as Indiana Asbury College and changed its name to DePauw University in 1884. The college has a Methodist heritage and was ...

, in 1961 master of arts in zoology from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, Master's degrees from Columbia University and the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

, and completed a PhD in 1993 from the

in Instructional Technology. Beginning in 1968, Davis was a professor of Life Science at Hillsborough Community College in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

but has since retired. Since 2006 he has been a visiting professor of biology at Clearwater Christian College.

Intelligent design

The term "

" came into general usage following the publishing of a 1989 book called ''

Of Pandas and People ''Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins'' is a controversial 1989 (2nd edition 1993) school-level supplementary textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon, edited by Charles Thaxton and published by the Te ...

'' co-authored by Davis and Dean H. Kenyon. The pair suggested that

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

, more than a century old, had outlived its usefulness, primarily because

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

was unable to explain all the biological complexities, which they argue show evidence of an intelligent designer. Davis additionally co-wrote ''A Case for Creation'' with Wayne Frair, published by

Moody Bible Institute Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have identified it as ...

in 1983. In a November 1994 ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' 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.""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'."

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. ''

''. (Texas: Foundation for Thought and Ethics, 1989, 1993) *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

External links

P. William Davis
from Clearwater Christian College {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Percival Intelligent design advocates American Christian Young Earth creationists Living people DePauw University alumni Columbia University alumni University of South Florida alumni 20th-century American writers Year of birth missing (living people)