Adela Yarbro Collins (born 1945) is an American author and academic, who served as the Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. Her research focuses on the New Testament, especially the Gospel of Mark and the Book of Revelation. She has also written on the reception of the Pauline epistles, early Christian apocalypticism, and ancient eschatology.
Collins's work has focussed on Apocalypticism, the Book of Revelation, and the Gospel of Mark. Among her many books Mark: A Commentary (Fortress 2007); Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of Apocalypse (Westminster, 1984); and The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation (Harvard Dissertations in Religion 9; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press for the Harvard Theological Review; reprinted Wipf and Stock, 2001) stand out as major contributions to the field. Collins is considered one of the pioneers in understanding apocalyptic literature in Judaism and Christianity and her commentary on Mark has been called a "landmark in Markan scholarship."[2]
She is noted for her mentorship of students in particular her support for women biblical scholars. Her colleague Michal Beth Dinkler said in a tribute to Collins "Adela has helped to pave the way for younger female scholars like myself in a field that continues to be dominated by men."[2] Collins served as dissertation adviser to a number of biblical scholars including Paul Holloway, James Kelhoffer, Stephen Ahearne-Kroll, and Candida Moss.
Adela Yarbro is married to John J. Collins, the Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. The two co-authored King and Messiah as Son of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008).
Select works
Thesis
Collins, Adela Yarbro (1975). The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation (Ph.D.). Harvard University. OCLC2433881.
Books
——— (1976). The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation. Scholars Press. ISBN9781579107161.
——— (1984). Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse. Louisville: Westminster. ISBN9780664245214.
——— (1988). The Gospel and Women: The 1987 Fred O. Francis Memorial Lectures in Religion. Orange Calif.: Chapman College Press.
——— (1990). Is Mark's Gospel a Life of Jesus? The Question of Genre. Madison: Marquette University Press. ISBN9780874625455.
——— (1992). The Beginning of the Gospel: probings of Mark in Context. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN9781579107659.
——— (1996). Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism. Vol. 50. Leiden: Brill. ISBN9789004105874. OCLC34973630.
———; Collins, John J. (2008). King and Messiah as Son of God: divine, human, and angelic Messianic figures in Biblical and related literature. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN9780802807724. OCLC213452267.
Adela Yarbro Collins, ed. (1986). Early Christian Apocalypticism: Genre and Social Setting. Semeia. Atlanta: SBL Press. ISBN9781589832831.
Holloway, Paul A. (2017). Adela Yarbro Collins (ed.). Philippians: A Commentary. Hermeneia - a critical and historical commentary on the Bible. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress. ISBN9780800660963. OCLC1000582553.
Festschrift
Ahearne-Kroll, Stephen P. (2010). Women and Gender in Ancient Religions: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. Vol. 263. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. ISBN9783161505799. OCLC700340556.