Parker T. Williamson

Parker T. Williamson is editor emeritus of the Presbyterian Layman newspaper. He earned the Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA (where he studied under John H. Leith). While there, he joined two classmates in marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to Selma, AL in order to encourage Civil Rights legislation. Upon graduation from seminary, he matriculated at Yale Divinity School, where he earned a Master of Philosophy in Christian Ethics.

A minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Williamson has advocated against liberation theology and accommodation of the church to post-modern cultural mores. The Committee on Ministry (COM) of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina voted on December 9, 2003 to withdraw its validation of the ministry of the Rev. Parker T. Williamson, prompted by Williamson's writings against what he considered to be unorthodox practices and policies of the denomination. That decision was subsequently overturned by the Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) at the synod level.