John J. Davis (theologian)
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John James Davis (born 1936) is an American theologian, archaeologist, and Christian educator. He was the President and Professor Emeritus at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana.
Davis was born in 1936 to Cathryn Ann and John James Davis.[1] He was raised in southern New Jersey and attended Audubon High School.[2][3] He studied at the Philadelphia Bible Institute in 1955, and in 1959 obtained a B.A. from Trinity College of Florida.[1][4] Davis was ordained in the Grace Brethren Church in 1962.[5] He received a B.D. in 1962, Th.M. in 1964, and Th.D. in 1967 from Grace Theological Seminary.[4] His doctoral degree was in Old Testament and Hebrew.[6][7] He did post-graduate work at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Near East School of Archaeology in Jerusalem.[5] In 1968 he received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College of Florida.[8]
Career
Davis taught at Grace Theological Seminary from 1963 to 2003,[5] offering courses in Old Testament, Hebrew and Archaeology.[citation needed] He was an executive vice president for six years and president for seven for both Grace College and GTS.[9]
Davis has served as a pastor of two churches since his ordination. He worked as a senior supervisor on 13 archaeological digs in Israel and Jordan between 1963 and 2003.[3] His major archaeological interest is tombs and human remains.[2][3] He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Near East Archaeological Society;[5] as of 1973, he was also a member of the American Schools of Oriental Research, the National Association of Professors of Hebrew, and the Christian fundamentalist Creation Research Society.[10] According to David L. Baker, Davis is a proponent of "literal-day" creationism.[11] He was a signatory to the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.[12]
Davis was a student of Hobart Freeman at Grace Theological Seminary until Freeman's firing in 1963. Freeman established his own congregation, the Faith Assembly, and became known as a proponent of faith healing who forbade his followers to receive medical treatment. Although he refused all media interviews, he agreed to speak informally with Davis in 1983. Davis published his account of visiting with Freeman and his congregation as a four-part series in the Warsaw Times-Union.[6][7] He told the Associated Press that, in his view, Freeman was a "good theologian" who knew the Bible well, but his uncompromising stance on faith healing and the seclusion of his congregation had "resulted in personal tragedy for several people".[6]
Davis was also a student of the creationist theologian John C. Whitcomb. He and Whitcomb were friends and colleagues at Grace Theological Seminary;[13] they co-authored the 1980 work A History of Israel: From Conquest to Exile.[14][15] GTS removed Whitcomb from his teaching position in 1990; Davis, then president of the seminary, said that Whitcomb had been a "source of division" at GTS, while Whitcomb attributed the falling out to doctrinal differences.[13]
In 2010, a Festschrift was published in his honor. Interpreting the Psalms for Teaching and Preaching included contributions from Walter Kaiser and Eugene Merrill.