John J.1946 Collins

Since they were first discovered in the caves at Qumran in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have aroused more fascination-- and controversy-- than perhaps any other archaeological find. Collins sheds light on the bitter conflicts that have swirled around the scrolls, and sheds lights on their true significance for Jewish and Christian history.

These books, from what are often called the twelve prophets, continue to recount the story of the return from Babylonian exile. They speak with immediacy and power to the generation that was responsible for writing down and organizing the Hebrew Scriptures and founding Judaism as a religion, not just an ethnic identity. Haggai demonstrates how not to be a prophet, as his wildly optimistic and date-specific predictions don t come true. Zechariah then...

"An illuminating exploration of the Bible and many of our most contentious contemporary issues. Many people today claim that their positions on various issues are grounded in biblical values, and they use scriptural passages to support their claims. But the Bible was written over the course of several hundred years and contains contradictory positions on many issues. The Bible seldom provides simple answers; it more often shows the complexity of moral...

A marvel of conciseness, John J. Collins’ A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible is quickly becoming one of the most popular introductory textbooks in colleges and university classrooms. Here the erudition of Collins’ renowned Introduction to the Hebrew Bible is combined with even more student-friendly features, including charts, maps, photographs, chapter summaries, illuminating vignettes, and bibliographies for further reading. The second...

"In this exploration of Jewish Wisdom during the Hellenistic period, internationally known scholar John J. Collins examines the books of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, the Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides, and the recently discovered Qumran Sapiential A text from the Dead Sea Scrolls - offering one of the first such looks at this text in print. This commentary is a compelling analysis of these four important texts and their continuing traditions."--Jacket....

This book traces the history of the idea that the king and later the messiah is Son of God, from its origins in ancient Near Eastern royal ideology to its Christian appropriation in the New Testament. Both highly regarded scholars, Adela Yarbro Collins and John J. Collins argue that Jesus was called "the Son of God" precisely because he was believed to be the messianic king. This belief and tradition, they contend, led to the identification of Jesus...