John J. Collins

A native of Ireland, Professor Collins was a professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago from 1991 until his arrival at YDS in 2000. He previously taught at the University of Notre Dame. He has published widely on the subjects of apocalypticism, wisdom, Hellenistic Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. His books include The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography; Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview; the commentary on Daniel in the Hermeneia series; The Scepter and the Star: The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature; Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls; Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age; The Apocalyptic Imagination; Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora; Introduction to the Hebrew Bible with CD-ROM; Does the Bible Justify Violence?; Jewish Cult and Hellenistic Culture; Encounters with Biblical Theology; The Bible after Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age; King and Messiah as Son of God (with Adela Yarbro Collins); and Beyond the Qumran Community: The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He is coeditor of the three-volume Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism, and The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and has participated in the editing of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He is general editor of the Yale Anchor Bible series. He has served as editor of the Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplement Series, Dead Sea Discoveries, and Journal of Biblical Literature, and as president of both the Catholic Biblical Association and the Society of Biblical Literature. He holds an honorary D.Litt. from University College Dublin, and an honorary Th. D. from the University of Zurich. Professor Collins is a fellow of Trumbull College.

Read more

• YDS Prof. John Collins wins Burkitt Medal

• John Collins on biblical values and their application to now

• A conversation with John Collins

• John Collins on apocalypse, biblical values, and the academic path

Books

What Are Biblical Values? (New Haven: Yale, 2019)

The Invention of Judaism. Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul. (Oakland, CA: University of California, 2017)

Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy. Essays on Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015)

Scriptures and Sectarianism. Essays on the Dead Sea Scrolls. WUNT 332; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014

The Dead Sea Scrolls. A Biography (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012; paperback edition, 2019) 

Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview, co-editor (Eerdmans, 2012)

Beyond the Qumran Community. The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Eerdmans, 2010)

King and Messiah as Son of God, co-author (Eerdmans, 2008)

A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Fortress, 2007)

The Bible after Babel. Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age (Eerdmans, 2005)

Encounters with Biblical Theology (Fortress, 2005)

Jewish Cult and Hellenistic Culture (JSP Sup 100; Brill, 2005)

Does the Bible Justify Violence? (Facets; Fortress, 2004)

The Hebrew Bible. An Introduction (Fortress, 2004)

Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age (Old Testament Library; Westminster, 1997)

Seers, Sibyls and Sages in Hellenistic-Roman Judaism (Brill, 1997)

Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Routledge, 1997)

Families in Ancient Israel, co-author (Westminster, 1997)

Qumran Cave 4. XVII. Parabiblical Texts, Part 3, co-author (DJD XXII; Clarendon, 1996)

The Scepter and the Star. The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature (Doubleday, 1995)

Daniel (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1993)

Daniel, with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature 20; Eerdmans, 1984)

The Apocalyptic Imagination (Crossroad, 1984)

Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora (Crossroad, 1983)

The Apocalyptic Vision of the Book of Daniel (Harvard Semitic Monographs 16; Scholars Press, 1977)

The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism (Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 13; Scholars Press, 1974)