Douglas Davies

Douglas James Davies, (born 11 February 1947) is a Welsh Anglican theologian, anthropologist, religious leader and academic, specialising in the history, theology, and sociology of death. He is Professor in the Study of Religion at the University of Durham. His fields of expertise also include anthropology, the study of religion, the rituals and beliefs surrounding funerary rites and cremation around the globe, Mormonism and Mormon studies. His research interests cover identity and belief, and Anglican leadership.

Early life and education Davies was born on 11 February 1947 in Llwynypia, the Rhondda Valley, but was brought up in Bedlinog, Wales. He was educated at Lewis School, Pengam, an old Grammar school in South Wales. In 1971, he joined Cranmer Hall, an Anglican theological college attached to St John's College, Durham, to train for ordained ministry. In 2004, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) degree by the University of Oxford; this is a higher doctorate awarded for research. From 1975 to 1997, he served a number of honorary curacies in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham: St Mary's Church, Attenborough (1975 to 1983); St Mary's Church, East Leake (1983 to 1985); and St Paul's Church, Daybrook (1991 to 1997). In July 2017, Davies was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.

In 1998, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Theology (DTheol) degree by the Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University, Sweden.

His book, Reusing Old Graves: A Report on Popular British Attitudes, co-written with Alastair Shaw, won the 1995 Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year.

Selected works

His list of books include: Mors Britannica: Lifestyle and Death-style in Britain Today, 2015. Emotions and Religious Dynamics, with Nathaniel Warne, 2013. Natural Burial; Traditional-Secular Spiritualities and Funeral Innovation, with Hannah Rumble, 2012. Emotion, Identity and Death: Mortality across Disciplines, with Chang-Won Park, 2012. Emotion, Identity, and Religion: Hope, Reciprocity, and Otherness, 2011. Joseph Smith, Jesus, and satanic Opposition: Atonement, Evil and the Mormon Vision, 2010. The Theology of Death, 2008. Bishops, Wives and Children: Spiritual capital across the Generations, with Mathew Guest, 2007. A Brief History of Death, 2005. Encyclopedia of Cremation, editor, 2005. An Introduction to Mormonism, 2003. Anthropology and Theology, 2002. Death, Ritual and Belief, 2002, 1997, 2017. Modern Christianity: Reviewing its Place in Britain Today, 2000. The Mormon Culture of Salvation: Force, Grace and Glory, 2000. Private Passions: Betraying Discipleship on the Journey to Jerusalem, 2000. Themes and Issues in Christianity, 1997. Mormon Identities in Transition, editor, 1996. British Crematoria in Public Profile, 1995. Reusing Old Graves: A Report on Popular British Attitudes, 1995. Church and Religion in Rural England, 1991. Frank Byron Jevons: An Evolutionary Realist, 1991. Cremation Today and Tomorrow, 1990. Studies in Pastoral Theology and Social Anthropology, 1990. A Study of the Deployment and Work of the Rural Clergy in Five English Dioceses, 1990. Mormon Spirituality, 1987. Meaning and Salvation in Religious Studies, 1984.