J. C. Davis is a British historian. He has been described as a 'historian of political and religious thought and a brilliant and provocative iconoclast.'

Life

Colin Davis was born in Yorkshire into a fisherman's family. He received his education at the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

 and after a brief period at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...

 he moved to New Zealand to teach at the University of Waikato

University of Waikato

The University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. It has strengths across a broad range of subject areas, particularly its degrees in Computer Science and in Management...

. He worked and studied at a number of different universities around New Zealand before setting up the School of History at the University of East Anglia

University of East Anglia

The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...

, Norwich. He retired in 2004.