John T. Willis

Willis made a lasting contribution through his teaching particularly within the American Restoration movement (Churches of Christ). 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 (1999).

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.

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.

John Thomas Willis (born November 21, 1933) 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.

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