Ellen Davis Profile

Ellen F. Davis (1984) applied to become an ECF Fellow in 1983 while in her first year of doctoral studies in the Old Testament at Yale University. In her application materials, Davis expressed her desire for a teaching career in graduate theological education. Years later, Davis has accomplished her goal and is presently the Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina.

Davis’ current work focuses on how biblical interpretation bears on the environmental crisis and interfaith relations. Her most recent book Scripture, Culture and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible was published by Cambridge University Press in 2009. Davis was also recently featured on Krista Tippett’s Speaking of Faith in a radio episode called Life, Land and the Poetry of Creatures, in which she states that humans “are part of an intricate web of physical relations, which are at the same time moral relations.” Davis’ work is described by Tippett as “training modern eyes to see the many layers of the recurring theme of land all the way through ancient, yet living, biblical references.”

Ellen Davis’ work relating scripture to agriculture goes beyond an office or classroom and is changing the way people view the relationship they have with their food. She is currently expanding on the topics discussed in her new book by working with the Episcopal Church of Sudan on a range of subjects, including sustainable agriculture.