William Benjamin Smith

Born in Kentucky in 1850, William Benjamin Smith taught mathematics and worked in higher education at Central Methodist College, the University of Missouri, and later Tulane University. Alongside his academic work in mathematics, he also wrote on religion, biblical criticism, and classical literature.

He is best remembered for books such as Ecce Deus and The Silence of Josephus and Tacitus, in which he argued for a highly unorthodox view of Christian origins and became an early advocate of what is now called the Christ myth theory. That mix of technical scholarship and controversial religious argument made him a distinctive, and often disputed, figure in American intellectual life.

Smith also left behind a translation of Homer's Iliad that was completed after his death in 1934. Some parts of his legacy are deeply troubling as well: he published openly racist writing, including The Color Line, and that history is an important part of understanding his work and reputation.