Davis, James Calvin 1970- (James Davis)

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Davis, James Calvin 1970- (James Davis)

PERSONAL:

Born November 6, 1970. Education: Dickinson College, B.S.; Union Theological Seminary, M.Div.; University of Virginia, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Middlebury College, Munroe Hall 103, Middlebury, VT 05753. E-mail—jcdavis@middlebury.edu.

CAREER:

Writer, biographer, educator, and historian. Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 2001—, currently associate professor of religion.

WRITINGS:

The Moral Theology of Roger Williams: Christian Conviction and Public Ethics, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 2004.

(Editor and author of introduction) On Religious Liberty: Selections from the Works of Roger Williams, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Author, educator, and historian James Calvin Davis is a professor of religion at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. His academic specialty is Puritan moral thought, with additional scholarly interest in topics such as the history of Christian theology and ethics, the morality of war, religion in American politics, and contemporary bioethics, noted a biographer on the Middlebury College Web site. He holds an M.Div. degree from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Davis has been at Middlebury College since 2001.

In The Moral Theology of Roger Williams: Christian Conviction and Public Ethics, Davis examines the life and theology of a prominent early American. Williams, "erstwhile Puritan, refugee from Massachusetts, founder of Rhode Island, and defender of religious liberty, is surely one of the more interesting figures of colonial American history," commented David VanDrunen, writing in the Westminster Theological Journal. In his combination of biography and cultural examination, Davis "offers a lucid and much overdue exposition on the historical-theological beliefs of Roger Williams and the implications for ethical discourse in a pluralistic milieu," noted Autumn Alcott Ridenour in the Journal of Church and State.

Williams has been characterized as one America's earliest advocates of religious liberty and freedom. He is also known for having served as a negotiator between Native Americans and English settlers in New England of the seventeenth century. Davis concentrates on a different aspect of Williams's religious character, and in the process "does a great service to Williams's scholarship by focusing on him as a Reformed theologian," remarked Daryl Sasser, writing in Interpretation. Williams's theology, Davis notes, was that of a Reformed Calvinist; his religious notions had much in common with the theology of the Puritans. Yet Williams was not "predominately a pragmatist or democratic liberal in ways that overlooked his Puritan religious heritage," Ridenour commented. Rather, his Puritan beliefs were an important underpinning for his ideas related to religious freedom. Davis aims to "rebuff the notion that Williams took his stance on religious liberty simply on pragmatic grounds or as a consequence of moral relativism," VanDrunen stated. "Davis argues, on the contrary, that Williams's moral and political thought was based on principle and grew out of deep theological conviction."

Davis finds that "Williams believed that common religious beliefs are not necessary for the kind of common moral beliefs that are necessary to undergird the common good and social order," VanDrunen reported. Williams's theology addresses important aspects of how Christians can interact in general civil society, and those ideas are as relevant now as they were in Williams's own time. "Davis examines Williams's conviction that finding public agreement on moral issues was a genuine possibility, and yet that a natural morality could be based on Christian conceptions and thus without any compromise of theological convictions," VanDrunen remarked. These moral assumptions served as the framework of civil society, Williams believed, and this form of civility, critical to the basic function of society, was not derived from Christian faith. Instead, he found that intellectual reasoning, natural laws, and the commonality of human experience led people to seek out, construct, and accept ideas of civility that foster practical and harmonious functions of society.

Davis characterizes Williams as a "thoughtful and expressive theologian," Sasser commented. Perhaps most importantly, Davis relates, Williams was able to come to terms with his orthodox and Puritanical approach to religion while still accepting a pluralistic society, and recognizing his own and others' place within it.

"Davis is to be commended for bringing Roger Williams back to our attention to challenge us in this way," VanDrunen concluded. "Davis' theological arguments and constructions of Williams' theology, tradition, and modern applicability are well done," commented Sasser. Theological Studies reviewer John Kelsay called The Moral Theology of Roger Williams "a major scholarly contribution."