Overview
Ellen F. Davis is Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina.
The author of eight books and many articles, her research interests focus on how biblical interpretation bears on the life of faith communities and their response to urgent public issues, particularly the environmental crisis and interfaith relations. Her most recent book, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible (Cambridge University Press, 2009), integrates biblical studies with a critique of industrial agriculture and food production. Her other publications include Wondrous Depth: Old Testament Preaching (Westminster John Knox, 2005); Who Are You, My Daughter? Reading Ruth through Image and Text (Westminster John Knox, 2003), an annotated translation accompanying woodcuts by Margaret Adams Parker; Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament (Cowley, 2002); and The Art of Reading Scripture (Eerdmans, 2003), co-edited with Richard Hays.
She has long been involved in inter-religious dialogue and is now cooperating with the Episcopal Church of Sudan to develop theological education, community health, and sustainable agriculture.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Dancing as creatures do
Chapter · April 24, 2025 CiteEcology and Postcolonial Biblical Criticism
Chapter · January 1, 2018 This article outlines an eco-agrarian perspective on the Hebrew Bible. Countless passages treat the multifaceted interdependency of arable land, animals, and human communities, as well as the social dynamics of force, which deprived small farmers of land t ... Full text CiteIdentity and Eating: A Christian Reading of Leviticus
Journal Article Studies in Christian Ethics · February 1, 2017 Israelites lived intimately with their livestock, as members of a single household, and this had an effect on their understanding of human identity—as Leviticus expresses it, of God’s call to Israel to be holy. Leviticus treats eating and ritual sacrifice ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
African Biblical Interpretaion course credit
Institutional SupportPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Issachar Fund · 2016 - 20172017 Field Education Academic Year Student Pastors Program
Institutional SupportPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Duke Endowment · 2016 - 20172017 Field Education Summer Assistant Pastors Program
Institutional SupportPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Duke Endowment · 2016 - 2017View All Grants