:''See also

Clifford Grey Clifford Grey (5 January 1887 – 25 September 1941) was an English songwriter, librettist, actor and screenwriter. His birth name was Percival Davis, and he was also known as Clifford Gray. Grey contributed prolifically to West End and Br ...

, 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 approximately 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. In its most widespr ...

, 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, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

proponent.

Education and career

In 1958, Davis received a bachelor of arts in

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

from

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

, in 1961 master of arts in zoology from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, Master's degrees from Columbia University and the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

, 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 Hillsborough Community College (HCC) is a public community college in Hillsborough County, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. History HCC was one of the last community colleges to be created in Florida, founded in 1968. Only Pa ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city'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 ...

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

Clearwater Christian College Clearwater Christian College (CCC) was a non-denominational Christian college in Clearwater, Florida on Tampa Bay from 1966 until 2015. Student life Clearwater Christian College students were composed of roughly 80% residence hall students an ...

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 Texa ...

'' co-authored by Davis and

Dean H. Kenyon Dean H. Kenyon (born c. 1939) is Professor Emeritus of Biology at San Francisco State University, a young Earth creationism, young Earth creationist, and one of the instigators of the intelligent design movement. He is the author of ''Biochemical ...

. The pair suggested that

Darwinism Darwinism is a scientific theory, theory of Biology, biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of smal ...

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

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

was unable to explain all the biological complexities, which they argue show evidence of an

intelligent designer An intelligent designer, also referred to as an intelligent agent, is the hypothetical willed and self-aware entity that the intelligent design movement argues had some role in the origin and/or development of life. The term "intelligent cause" ...

. Davis additionally co-wrote "Case for Creation," with

Wayne Frair Wayne may refer to: People with the given name and surname * Wayne (given name) * Wayne (surname) Geographical Places with name ''Wayne'' may take their name from a person with that surname; the most famous such person was Gen. "Mad" Anthon ...

, published through Chicago's

Moody Bible Institute Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college founded in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, US by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have i ...

in 1983. In a November 1994 ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' 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

. ''

''. (Texas:

Foundation for Thought and Ethics The Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE) was a Christian non-profit organization based in Richardson, Texas, which represented itself as a “ Christian think tank”. It published textbooks and articles promoting pseudoscientific creation scienc ...

, 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

{{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)