John J. Collins

This article is about Irish biblical studies scholar. For the Jamaican Roman Catholic bishop, see John J. Collins (bishop). For other uses, see John Collins.

John J. Collins
Born	1946
Education	BA (1967), MA (1969), PhD (1972)
Alma mater	University College Dublin Harvard University
Employer	Yale Divinity School.
Known for	Second Temple Judaism, Hellenistic Era, Dead Sea Scrolls.
Spouse(s)	Adela Yarbro Collins

John J. Collins (born 1946) is the Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism & Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. He is noted for his research in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the apocryphal works of the Second Temple period including the sectarian works found in Dead Sea Scrolls and their relation to Christian origins. Collins has published and edited over 300 scholarly works, and a number of popular level articles and books. Among his best known works are the Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora (New York: Crossroad, 1983); Daniel in the Hermeneia commentary series (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993); The Scepter and the Star. The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature (New York: Doubleday, 1995); and The Bible after Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2005).

A native of Ireland, Collins was educated at University College Dublin (B.A., M.A.) and Harvard University (Ph.D.). He has held academic positions at a number of institutions including the University of Notre Dame (1985–91), Harvard University and the University of Chicago (1991-2000). He served as president of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research in 1995-1996, as president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2002, and as regional president for the New England and Eastern Canada region of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2008. He has also served as editor in chief of Dead Sea Discoveries, Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism and the Journal of Biblical Literature. He has recently become the General Editor for the acclaimed Anchor Yale Bible.

Collins is married to Prof. Adela Yarbro Collins, Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School since 2000, with whom he has co-authored King and Messiah as Son of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008).

Selected bibliography

• Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora (New York: Crossroad, 1983)
• The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (New York: Crossroad, 1984; 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998)
• The Scepter and the Star. The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature (New York: Doubleday, 1995; 2nd ed. 2010)
• Beyond the Qumran Community. The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009).
• The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography, (Princeton: Princeton University Press: 2012)

External links

• Faculty Page at Yale Divinity School
• The CV of John J. Collins hosted by Yale