Biblical studies lecture to explore Old Testament truths

head shot of Ellen Smith, smiling in a purple collared shirt. She is an older woman with grey hair pulled back and wire-frame glasses.

Renowned author and biblical scholar Ellen F. Davis will visit Campbell on November 6th to deliver a lecture entitled “Preaching with Imagination and Crossing Boundaries with Ruth.” Campbell Divinity hosts Davis as part of the E.J. and Marietta Prevatte Biblical Studies Lecture Series.

Davis is the Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School. The author of ten 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.

Davis has devoted her life to studies of the Old Testament. Her book, “Biblical Prophecy: Perspectives for Christian Theology, Discipleship and Ministry” (Westminster John Knox, 2014), explores the prophetic role and word across both Testaments of the Christian Bible. “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 most recent book, “Preaching the Luminous Word” (Eerdmans, 2016), is a collection of sermons and essays.

A lay Episcopalian, Davis is active as a theological consultant within the Anglican Communion and has worked with the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan to develop theological education, community health and sustainable agriculture since 2004.

A Ph.D. graduate of Yale University, Davis earned her M.Div. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific, became a Certified Theologian at Oxford University and earned her A.B. from the University of California, Berkley.

Lectures will be held in Butler Chapel at 10:40 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.