James Washington Watts

Watts also drew attention to "iconic books"—written texts that are revered primarily as objects of power or influential symbols rather than just as words of instruction, information, or insight. In 2001, he and Dorina Miller Parmenter founded the Iconic Books Project at Syracuse University. In 2010, together with S. Brent Plate, they founded the Society for Comparative Research in Iconic and Performative Texts (SCRIPT).

He taught on the faculty of Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska (1993-1999) and then joined the Department of Religion of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York (1999- ), where he served as Department Chair from 2009–2015.

Watts earned his B.A. in Philosophy from Pomona College (1982) where he studied with Frederick Sontag, briefly with Masao Abe and, during a term at Oxford University, with Stephanie Dalley. He then earned his M.Div. and M.T.S. in New Testament from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky (1985, 1986), and his Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (1990) where he studied with Robert R. Wilson, Brevard S. Childs, and Mark S. Smith.

James W. Watts is a U.S. citizen born in Switzerland where his father, John D. W. Watts, was teaching at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Rüschlikon. He left there with his family in 1970 for Louisville, Kentucky. They spent three years in India where he attended Woodstock School, before finishing High School in South Pasadena, California.

James Washington Watts (born 24 August 1960) is an American professor of religion at Syracuse University. His research focuses on the rhetoric of Leviticus. His publications also compare the Bible with other religious scriptures, especially in their ritual performances, social functions, and material symbolism.