John Joseph Collins (born 2 February 1946) is an Irish-born American scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism, Holmes Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. His research centers on Jewish apocalyptic literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls. He served as general editor of the Anchor Yale Bible Series from 2008 to 2025, then was succeeded by Candida R. Moss. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.
Collins studied at Rockwell College in Cashel, County Tipperary, then entered the Spiritans, spending nine years in the order. He earned a BA in 1967 and an MA in 1969 in Semitics and Classics at University College Dublin. He completed the PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at Harvard University in 1972.
Collins began teaching at University College Dublin as an assistant lecturer in the early 1970s. He was Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame from 1985 to 1991 and Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago Divinity School from 1991 to 2000. He joined Yale Divinity School in 2000 as Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation. Yale lists him as Holmes Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation.
His research and teaching focus on apocalyptic literature, wisdom literature, Hellenistic Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Editorial leadership includes Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Biblical Literature 1989âÂÂ1994, Editor-in-Chief of Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 1994âÂÂ2008, Editor-in-Chief of Dead Sea Discoveries 2003âÂÂ2008, and General Editor of the Anchor Yale Bible Series beginning in 2008, with the series transition in 2025 to a new general editor.
Professional service includes the presidency of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2002, the presidency of the Catholic Biblical Association of America in 1996âÂÂ1997, and the presidency of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research in 1995âÂÂ1996. Honors include an honorary D.Litt. from University College Dublin in 2009 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich in 2015, and the Gutenberg Research Award in 2018 awarded jointly with Adela Yarbro Collins. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.
Collins is married to Adela Yarbro Collins, Buckingham Professor Emerita of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale, with whom he coauthored King and Messiah as Son of God.