author
William Benjamin Smith
1850–1934
Best known for bringing a mathematician’s rigor to big religious questions, this American scholar wrote boldly and often controversially about the origins of Christianity. He spent much of his career teaching mathematics, while also publishing works that drew lasting interest from readers of biblical criticism and intellectual history.
1 Audiobook
The Color Line: A Brief in Behalf of the Unborn
by William Benjamin Smith
About the author
Born in Kentucky in 1850, William Benjamin Smith was an American mathematician and professor whose academic career included posts at Central College, the University of Missouri, and Tulane University. Although trained in mathematics, he also became widely known for writing on religion and early Christianity.
His best-known books explored what is often called the Christ myth theory, including Ecce Deus: The Pre-Christian Jesus. In these works, he argued that the earliest Christian tradition emphasized a divine Christ more than a historical human figure, a view that made him a notable and controversial voice in religious debate.
Smith died in 1934. Today he is remembered less for classroom mathematics than for the unusual path he took across disciplines, combining scholarly argument, skepticism, and a willingness to challenge accepted ideas.