James Calvin Davis
George Adams Ellis Prof of Liberal Arts; Professor of Religion
- Office
- Munroe Hall 201
- Tel
- (802) 443-3221
- jcdavis@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- Fall Term: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2-3:30 p.m., and by appointment.
Professor Davis began teaching at Middlebury College in 2001. In 2019 he was appointed to the George Adams Ellis Chair of Liberal Arts. Previously, he served the College as Assistant Provost and then Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, in addition to other administrative and faculty governance roles.
Davis teaches courses in Ethics and Christian Studies, with particular interest in religion, ethics, and politics in the United States. He also writes widely in theology and public ethics, with a priority on linking classical Christian texts, thinkers, and traditions to current political discourse. His latest book, American Liturgy: Finding Theological Meaning in the Holy Days of US Culture, models a liberal Reformed Christian ethics by relating theological tradition to a range of contemporary public issues like racism, patriotism, the health of the labor movement, and the state of American electoral politics. His next project looks at Revolutionary leader John Witherspoon and the Calvinist invocation of virtue as justification for political dissent in the run-up to American independence.
Davis also studies and teaches the history of higher education in the United States, specifically the historic relationship between Christianity, the liberal arts (especially the humanities), and interpretations of civic responsibility. He explores the intersection of theological ethics and higher education in a recent article, “Privilege as Moral Vice: A Christian Ethical Perspective on Socio-Economic Inequality and Higher Education in the US,” Journal for Peace and Justice Studies 29:2 (2020).
Courses Taught
FYSE 1044
Current
Ethics in the MCU
Course Description
Ethics in the MCU
The movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are fun entertainment, but they also deal with a range of important ethical issues. Using Marvel films and streaming series as springboards, we will discuss topics like artificial intelligence, bodily enhancement, racial justice, gender equality in the workplace, the obligations of power, and the relationship between intention and culpability. In the process of analyzing the MCU, we will learn the fundamentals of ethical theory and develop skills necessary to make and respond constructively to moral arguments, contributing to our maturation as moviegoers and ethical citizens.
Terms Taught
Requirements
FYSE 1322
Ethics in Literature and Music
Course Description
The Moral of the Story: Exploring Ethics through Literature and Music
Ethics is the study of how we ought to live, as individuals and in society. For millennia theologians and philosophers have constructed ethical arguments, but for much longer people have shared songs and stories to convey and contest moral values. In this course we will study selected English-language novels, poems, and music as moral expressions. We will explore the ethical issues they raise, including considerations of what it means to be human, what justice demands, and how we should balance individual freedom and social duty. Works we will examine include Shelley’s Frankenstein, Asimov’s I, Robot, and the African-American spiritual tradition. 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
IGST 0708
Current
Global Security Stds SnrThesis
Course Description
Global Security Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Only)
Terms Taught
INTD 0204
Current
Experiential Learning Capstone
Course Description
Community Connected Experiential Learning Capstone
In this course students who have completed Middlebury-sponsored experiential learning opportunities will reflect on their experiences, identify key learning outcomes, and integrate that learning into their ongoing academic inquiry. They will identify the civic competencies developed through their experience, as well as the ways in which they have strengthened civic identity, cultivated their civic knowledge, and built their civic skills. In a project-based cohort, students will complete a summative public product that illustrates their evidence of learning. (This is a half credit course.)
Terms Taught
RELI 0130
The Global Christian Tradition
Course Description
The Global Christian Tradition
In this course we will study the historical development and current presence of Christianity in various regions of the world. Beginning with its origins in the Middle East, we will trace the growth and evolution of this complex tradition in the Mediterranean, Africa, western Europe, the Americas, and East Asia. Along the way, we will encounter important Christian thinkers, discover different schools of belief and practice, and focus on foundational theological themes, like the divinity of Christ, the function and authority of the church, Christian-Jewish relations, and religious perspectives on gender, race, politics, and modernity. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
RELI 0230
Christian Ethics
Course Description
Christian Ethics
In this course we will encounter a range of moral perspectives that adherents to the Christian tradition may hold on issues such as human rights, social justice, politics, violence, sex, the environment, and the beginning and end of life. Through readings by contemporary Christian thinkers, we will explore the diversity within this religious tradition, as well as consider the impact that theological moral reasoning has on public discourse in the United States. In the process of studying Christian ethics, students also will develop skills in moral reasoning from the perspective of their own worldviews. 3 hrs lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
RELI 0293
Upcoming
Health Care Ethics
Course Description
Ethics in Health Care
This course is an introduction to the principles, virtues, and other moral norms that guide decision-making in health care. We will focus on moral values accepted by Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and humanistic traditions, and embedded in a liberal, pluralistic society. Popular films and numerous case studies will provide students an opportunity to develop skills in moral reasoning, in conversation with these intellectual traditions. The health care issues we will consider include expectations for patient-physician relationships, research on human subjects, euthanasia and assisted suicide, abortion, assisted reproduction, genetic information, and access to health care resources. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
RELI 0298
Upcoming
Privilege and Poverty
Course Description
Privilege and Poverty: The Ethics of Economic Inequality
In this course we will study the ethical implications of domestic and global economic inequality. Drawing from history, economics, sociology, philosophy, theology, and other disciplines, we will examine the causes and consequences of inequality, critically evaluate our usage of the terms “privilege” and “poverty,” and consider the range of moral responses individuals and society might have to inequality. We will ask whether it is unfair, unfortunate, or necessary that some citizens live with significantly less material wealth than others, and whether those who experience “privilege” have any moral responsibility to those who exist in “poverty.” 3 hrs. lect./1 hr. disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
RELI 0338
Christian Theology in Lib Arts
Course Description
Christian Theology in the Liberal Arts
Christian theology is the religion’s sustained discourse about God and the human experience of God. After exploring Christianity’s role in the historical development of western liberal arts, we will ask what place, if any, theological study has in modern secular liberal arts education. Reading primarily modern theologians, we will ask what intellectual value theological study holds for people who do not identify with Christianity. We will consider the impact of critical thinking, cultivated by the liberal arts, on adherents’ examination of their theological tradition. And we will examine the relationship between theological studies and other intellectual disciplines, including other approaches to the academic study of religion. (RELI 130, RELI 230, RELI 231, or RELI 236) 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
RELI 0375
Church and State
Course Description
Church and State
In this course we will consider the meaning and implications of the religion clauses of the First Amendment. We will begin with historical foundations in the thought of Roger Williams, William Penn, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. We then will trace the history of interpretation through Supreme Court jurisprudence on issues like school vouchers, the Pledge of Allegiance, displays of the Ten Commandments, and pandemic restrictions on religious gatherings. Finally, we will consider broader questions regarding the appropriateness of religious expression in democratic participation, primarily through the work of philosophers like John Rawls and Michael Sandel. 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
RELI 0398
Current
Christianity & Social Justice
Course Description
Christianity and Social Justice in the U.S.
Religious communities and organizations have contributed significantly to moral and social reform movements throughout U.S. history. In this course we will study Christianity’s involvement in these social justice movements, critically examining the theologies that inspired both reform and resistance to social change. From the colonial period to the present, Christianity has helped shape the discourse around issues like economic justice, racial equality, women’s rights, immigration, environmentalism, and LGBTQ rights. Throughout the course, we will consider the impact Christianity may have had—positive and negative—on struggles for social justice in the United States. (RELI 0130 or RELI 0190, RELI 0230 or RELI 0298) 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
RELI 0500
Current
Upcoming
Independent Research
Course Description
Independent Research
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
RELI 0700
Current
Upcoming
Senior Project in Religion
Course Description
Senior Project
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
RELI 0701
Current
Upcoming
Senior Thesis in Religion
Course Description
Senior Research for Honors Candidates
Approval required
Terms Taught
Areas of Interest
Primary Teaching Interests:
- Christian history, theology, and ethics;
- Practical ethics, both philosophical and theological, around issues like economic justice, medical ethics, and war & peace;
- Religion in American public life;
- American religious history (especially Christianity in the U.S.);
- “Church-State” issues;
- The liberal arts and the common good.