Featured Voice: John J. Collins

I am a past president of CBA and of SBL, and have taught at Notre Dame, the University of Chicago, and Yale. My work has ranged over the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple literature, focusing especially on the apocalyptic literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In recent years, I have worked on biblical values and their relevance to contemporary issues. I have also served as editor of JBL, the Yale Anchor series, and most recently as co-editor of the Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century.

• What project, publication, or question is most animating your work right now?

Right now, two issues animate my work. One is the continued relevance of apocalyptic literature, which has recently been questioned by people who fail to grasp the concept of genre. My new book on the subject, titled ‘Apocalypticism as a Worldview in Ancient Judaism,’ will be released in June 2026 and available here. I will continue to reflect on these themes in a virtual course this fall on Second Temple Judaism, available on the Paths in Biblical Studies website. The other issue is the Bible and Human Rights, which raises fundamental questions as to how a text written thousands of years ago should be interpreted and applied in the modern world.

• What has your involvement in the CBA meant for your scholarship, teaching, or professional community?

CBA has been important to me as a nurturing community, a place where older and younger scholars can get to know each other in a relaxed environment, and where the modern relevance of the biblical text is always a major concern.

• What is one passion, interest, or practice outside your academic work that you would like others to know about?

Film, including TV series, is probably the artistic medium that reaches people most effectively in our time. I am on the film committee in our retirement community and am always looking for good recommendations, especially of foreign films.