Stephen Davis

Stephen Davis is Associate Professor of Religious Studies, specializing in the history of Christianity in late antiquity. He offers courses on the social and theological history of ancient Christianity from its beginnings to the seventh century, with a special focus on the latter half of this period. His areas of teaching and research include the study of women and gender, pilgrimage and the cult of the saints, the history of biblical interpretation and canon formation, Egyptian Christianity, the Arabic Christian theological tradition, early Christian art and material culture, and the application of anthropological, sociological, and literary methods in the study of historical texts. He is author of The Cult of St. Thecla: A Tradition of Women’s Piety in Late Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2001), and co-author of Be Thou There: The Holy Family’s Journey in Egypt (American University in Cairo Press, 2001). His most recent book, The Early Coptic Papacy: The Egyptian Church and Its Leadership in Late Antiquity (American University in Cairo Press, 2004), represents the first volume in a three-volume series he is co-editing on The Popes of Egypt: A History of the Coptic Church and Its Patriarchs from Saint Mark to Pope Shenouda III.