John T. Willis


John Thomas Willis is an Old Testament scholar. He is a retired Professor of Old Testament at Abilene Christian University, where he taught the Hebrew Prophets, Psalms, Pentateuch, OT Exegesis and Biblical Hebrew. He is the author of 30 books and over 100 scholarly articles including commentaries on Genesis, 1–2 Samuel and Isaiah in the Living Word Commentary series. He was also a translator of the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament for Eerdman's.

Life

John Thomas Willis was born November 21, 1933 in Abilene, Texas. He married Evelyn Forrest and they have four children.

Education

Willis earned his B.A. at Abilene Christian University in 1955 and his M.A. in Old Testament in 1956. He earned a PhD. from Vanderbilt University in 1966.

History and career

Willis studied Greek as an undergraduate in the 1950s, but he majored in Old Testament as a graduate student. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee to teach Bible at David Lipscomb College and enrolled at Vanderbilt University. During this time he also preached for a number of churches in Texas and Tennessee.
Willis wrote his doctoral dissertation on "The Structure, Setting and Interrelationships of the Pericopes in Micah." His was an early voice arguing for the unity of the book at a time when redaction critics focused more on the "authentic" fragments. He went on to be a major translator of works in Swedish and German in the field of Old Testament Studies. He authored a number of well-received commentaries on Genesis, 1–2 Samuel and Isaiah in the Living Word Commentary series as well as editing the volume on The World and Literature of the Old Testament in that series. In his retirement he continues to publish scholarly articles and books in the field of Old Testament studies. He also wrote a number of biblical studies for a popular audience.
Willis made a lasting contribution through his teaching particularly within the American Restoration movement. Willis taught at David Lipscomb College in Nashville from 1966 to 1971 when he moved back to Abilene and taught for 46 years until his retirement in 2017, for a total of 61 years of teaching. At his retirement a Festchrift was published in his honor, Worship and the Hebrew Bible: Essays in Honor of John T. Willis ed.by M. Patrick Graham, Rick R. Marrs, and Steven L. McKenzie, Sheffield Academic Press.

Works