abstract:James Luther Adams (November 12, 1901 – July 26, 1994), an American professor at Harvard Divinity School, Andover Newton Theological School, and Meadville Lombard Theological School, and a Unitarian parish minister, was the most influential theologian among American Unitarian Universalists in the 20th century.was born in Ritzville, Washington], the son of James Carey Adams, a farmer and itinerant Plymouth Brethren preacher.