James Calvin Davis writes about a course he created which uses the Marvel Cinematic Universe to examine ethics.
James Calvin Davis
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).