Williams, David Salter

Dr. David Salter Williams received his Ph.D. in Hellenistics from Hebrew Union College. He taught at the University of Georgia where he was an Assistant Professor of Judaica.

Stylometric Authorship Studies in Flavius Josephus and Related Literature

1992 0-7734-9518-5
The major contribution of this study to scholarship is its demonstration of the unlikelihood that Josephus wrote 4 Maccabees or De Universo, and it also reveals the basic stylistic uniformity of Josephus' works. While various historical and literary concerns are evaluated, the central scholarly tool employed in this study is stylometry, a statistical method for quantifying stylistic features of a literary composition. An important finding is that if Josephus did use certain sources for portions of his works, he has changed them so much stylistically that it is impossible to discern them. Finally, the book establishes a simple, yet powerful, stylometric method which may be used for many other studies of disputed authorship.