David Stow Adam

{{Short description|Scottish minister and professor}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox academic

|name = David Stow Adam

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1859|2|9|df=yes}}

|birth_place = Langside, Glasgow, Scotland

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1925|1|31|1859|2|9|df=yes}}

|death_place = Canton (now Guangzhou), China

|alma_mater = University of Glasgow

|workplaces = University of Glasgow
Ormond College

}}

David Stow Adam (9 February 1859 – 31 January 1925) was a Scottish minister and professor.

David was born near Langside in Glasgow to George Adam and Jane ({{Nee|Constable}}), both schoolteachers. He matriculated to the University of Glasgow in 1874, receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1881 and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1884.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjA2Wxr9dY0C|title=A Roll of the Graduates of the University of Glasgow from 31st December, 1727 to 31st December, 1897|publisher=University of Glasgow|date=1898|page=2}} He also studied at Erlangen University.{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2036197|title=Professor D. S. Adam|volume=24|number=490|date=3 February 1925|work=The Argus|access-date=21 March 2022}} Between 1881 and 1884, he taught logic and metaphysics at the University of Glasgow, later teaching Hebrew at Free Church Training College between 1885 and 1886.{{Cite web|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/adam-david-stow-4967|title=Adam, David Stow (1859–1925)|first=Don|last=Chambers|date=1979|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7|publisher=Melbourne University Press|access-date=21 March 2022}}

In 1886, Adam was ordained a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. In 1907 he was appointed chair of systematic theology and church history at Ormond College, being inducted on 11 March. Following his appointment, the college adopted a more progressive approach.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0nADgAAQBAJ|title=The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions|volume=III|date=2017|isbn=9780191506673|page=498}} A pioneer in Australian ecumenism, he was elected president of the Council of Churches in Victoria in 1910.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191338142 |title=Labor Problem Sunday |newspaper=The Age |issue=17,271 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 July 1910 |accessdate=21 October 2024 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Glasgow on 25 June 1912.{{Cite web|url=https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH10096&type=P|title=University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of David Stow Adam|date=9 April 2014|website=universitystory.gla.ac.uk|access-date=21 March 2022}}

In 1916, Adam served as a Chaplain 4th Class of the Hospital Transport Corps in the First Australian Imperial Force.{{Cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1937446|title=David Stow Adam|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=21 March 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://heuristplus.sydney.edu.au/heurist/viewers/record/renderRecordData.php?db=ExpertNation&recID=56980|title=Adam D. S.|website=heuristplus.sydney.edu.au|access-date=21 March 2022}} In 1924, he left Australia with his wife in order to see his daughter in China; he also planned to see Christianity in Asia. While in Canton, China, he contracted typhoid fever and pneumonia, dying on 31 January 1925.