John Collins, who came to the Divinity School as the Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation, is a leading scholar of apocalypticism, the Dead Sea scrolls and Hellenistic Judaism.
He is also known worldwide for his studies of the biblical book of Daniel, and his commentary on Daniel in the Hermeneia series has become the standard work on the subject.
Collins joined the faculty of the Divinity School this fall along with his wife, Adela Yarbro Collins, a noted scholar of the New Testament. (See related story, this page.) The pair's Yale appointments were announced last spring.
John Collins' research and teaching has covered a wide range of topics. He has written a dozen academic books, including "Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age," "Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls," "The Scepter and the Star: The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature," "Daniel, with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature," "The Apocalyptic Imagination" and "Families in Ancient Israel" (coauthored with others). He has also written or edited seven popular church-oriented publications, including "Signs in the Heavens," "Isaiah" and "The Catholic Study Bible." In addition, he has edited or coedited numerous academic books, such as the three-volume Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, "Death, Ecstasy and Otherworldly Journeys," "Studies in Creation" and "Religion in the Dead Sea Scrolls." Since 1993, he has participated in the editing of the Dead Sea scrolls.
A native of Ireland, Collins earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from University College, Dublin, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He taught at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary (Illinois), DePaul University and the University of Notre Dame before joining the University of Chicago faculty in 1991. He has held visiting appointments at the Iliff School of Theology and Georgetown, Gonzaga and Northwestern universities, and has been an invited lecturer at schools and other venues throughout the United States and abroad.
The vice-president elect of the Society of Biblical Literature, Collins has served as president of the Catholic Biblical Association and the Chicago Society for Biblical Research. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal for the Study of Judaism, New Interpreter's Bible, the Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Encyclopedia of Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World. His honors include fellowships from the Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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