A native of Ireland, Professor Collins was a professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago from 1991 until his arrival at Yale Divinity School 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.

Education B.A, M.A. University College Dublin Ph.D. Harvard University D. LITT (Hon) University College Dublin

Dr. Lance D. Watson is a three-time Summa Cum Laude graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit,Michigan from which he holds the Bachelor of Science in Psychology, the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and the Master of Arts in Guidance and Counseling. He is a Magna Cum Laude Graduate of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University from which he holds a Master of Divinity and a Summa Cum Laude Graduate of the Presbyterian School of Christian Education at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He completed his doctoral studies at United Theological Seminary earning the doctorate of ministry degree.

His achievements and recognitions are noteworthy. He has been honored as an Outstanding Community Leader, Outstanding Contributor to Education, and Minister of the Year by several organizations. He is listed in Who's Who in Religion and a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. For over 30 years, he has served Senior Pastor of the Saint Paul's Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia and chief visionary for its corporate affiliates.

He is host of the telecast “Positive Power” seen globally at www.myspbc.org. Saint Paul’s is a progressive, forward-looking, outreach oriented congregation for “People On the Grow” and serves as the spiritual home for almost 12,000 persons meeting across three locations in three different counties, and it supports mission and ministry causes around the globe. A fierce proponent of spiritual and economic development, Saint Paul's has acquired more than 330 acres of land as part of its plan to construct “The City of Possibility,” a master planned community that will provide more than 120 acres of housing, commercial and retail spaces, a park, an elementary school, a performing arts academy, a retreat and conference center, an urgent care facility, an assisted living and memory care community, an urban farm and community gardens. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he is married to Rosemary Wilder, a noted and world traveled singer, producer and entrepreneur and together they parent three children, and five grandchildren.