Lanta Davis is Professor of Humanities and Literature at IWU's John Wesley Honors College. She is the author of Becoming by Beholding, and studies the role of art and literature in spiritual and character formation.

Lanta Davis teaches Rhetoric and the Sacramental Imagination, What Is Beauty?, and Great Texts for the JWHC. She believes education is learning—over and over—the gift of wonder. Both outside and inside the classroom, she aims to help others see the world for the wild, wonderful, strange thing that it is.

Researching the role of the imagination means I get to continually enter new worlds, see with new eyes, and discover new ways of thinking. I love learning not only about literature, but about art, architecture, and ancient history; about virtues and vices; about myths and medieval monks.

As an educator who values the tradition of classical Christian thought, I appreciated Davis’s emphasis on uniting Christian doctrine and practice with rightly formed imaginations. Her book takes an integrated approach to the arts, considering their visual, architectural, and literary expressions, among others.

2024年7月30日 · Lanta Davis (PhD, Baylor University) is professor of humanities and literature in the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. She was named the IWU Outstanding Scholar of the Year for 2020 and was a Fulbright Scholar at Queen's University, Belfast.

In this book, Lanta Davis offers a way of escape—not from reality, but to it. With the wisdom of a master guide, she takes us on a pilgrimage, excavating the riches of the Christian imaginative tradition.

‪Indiana Wesleyan University‬ - ‪‪Cited by 24‬‬ - ‪religion and literature‬ - ‪art and formation‬

Professor of Humanities and Literature, John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University · Experience: Indiana Wesleyan University · Education: Baylor University · Location: Marion · 176...

Inspired by ancient and medieval Christian reading practices, I have developed formative assessments that emulate traditional Christian responses to texts, including memorization, anthologies, commentaries, and creative projects.

Dr. Lanta Davis’ book Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation is a rich exploration of the relationship between Christians and the imagination, as well as the pivotal role it plays in our spiritual formation.