John D. W. Watts (August 9, 1921 – July 21, 2013) was a Baptist theologian and

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

scholar.

Career

Europe

In 1948, Watts was a member of the founding faculty of the International Baptist Theological Seminary,

Rüschlikon Rüschlikon is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Horgen District, Horgen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zürich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. It is located on the west shore of Lake Zürich. Coat of ar ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

where he taught Old Testament. He eventually served as President of the Seminary from 1963 until 1969, and continued teaching there until 1970. After his retirement, he returned to teach for one more year at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in 1995–1996, which had by that time moved to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Asia

Watts then taught at historic

Serampore College Serampore College is located in Serampore, in West Bengal, India. Established in 1818, it is the fourth oldest college in the country after Old Seminary, Kottayam (Established 1815), CMS College, Kottayam and Presidency College in Kolkata, a ...

, a constituent College of the

Senate of Serampore College (University) The Senate of Serampore College (University) is an ecumenical regulatory and affiliating body for Christian theological education, which works in partnership with Bible colleges, seminaries and theological research institutes in the Indian subco ...

Serampore Serampore (also called Serampur, Srirampur, Srirampore, Shreerampur, Shreerampore, Shrirampur or Shrirampore) is a city in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Srirampore subdivision. It is a part ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

which was founded in 1818 by the

Baptist Missions Baptist Missions (BM) is a Baptist Mission (Christian), mission organisation and a department of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland (ABC). It is located in the Baptist Centre and is shared with ABC. The scope of their activities is in ...

led by

Joshua Marshman Joshua Marshman (20 April 1768 – 6 December 1837) was a Baptist missionary in Bengal, India from 1799 until his death. He was a member of the Serampore trio with William Carey (missionary), William Carey and William Ward (missionary), William ...

, William Carey, and William Ward with affiliated seminaries throughout the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. Watts taught ''The Story of Serampore and its College'', Council of Serampore College, Serampore (Fourth Edition), 2005, p.92. Old Testament at Serampore from 1972 onwards in place of K. V. Mathew but was joined by G. Babu Rao. Among the

seminarians A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clerg ...

who studied during that period include, D. K. Sahu,''Convocation Brochure'', February 1, 1975 Serampore College, Serampore. the present Dean of the Theology Department of the

Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), formerly Allahabad Agricultural Institute, is a government-aided university in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. It operates as an autonomous Christian minority instit ...

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

, and others.

North America

Watts joined the

Fuller Theological Seminary Fuller Theological Seminary is an Evangelical seminary in Pasadena, California, with regional campuses in the western United States. It is egalitarian in nature. Fuller has a student body of approximately 2,300 students from 90 countries and ...

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

in the

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in 1976 and taught there for nearly six years up to 1981. While at Fuller Seminary, Watts was recruited to serve as the Old Testament editor of the

Word Biblical Commentary The Word Biblical Commentary (WBC) is a series of commentaries in English on the text of the Bible both Old and New Testament. It is currently published by the Zondervan Publishing Company. Initially published under the "Word Books" imprint, t ...

, which he continued to do until 2011. In 1981, Watts moved to the

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The s ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

where he had earned his Th.D. degree and taught for two years previously (1970–1972). Now he joined the permanent faculty for fifteen years until his retirement in 1995.

Writings

In the first half of his career, Watts provided valuable inputs on the growth of the Old Testament, especially on

Amos Amos or AMOS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Amos'' (album), an album by Michael Ray * Amos (band), an American Christian rock band * ''Amos'' (film), a 1985 American made-for-television drama film * Amos (guitar), a 1958 Gibson Fl ...

. In the 1970s and 1980s, he developed a literary analysis of prophetic literature as drama, which he applied to the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amo ...

in his two-volume commentary. A comprehensive list of his writings was made available in the ''festschrift'' that came out in 1996 in his honor which covers the period between 1948 through 1995. Later in 2008, when a special edition on the Watts' contribution was brought out by the

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

, Pamela J. Scalise of the

compiled a bibliography of his writings. In addition, he continued to publish beyond 2008 even up to 2011.

Honors

In 1996, a ''festschrift'' titled, ''Forming Prophetic Literature: Essays on Isaiah and the Twelve''James W. Watts, Paul R. House (Edited), ''Forming Prophetic Literature: Essays on Isaiah and the Twelve in Honor of John D. W. Watts'', Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, 199

/ref> was brought out by some students and colleagues of Watts edited by James Washington Watts, James W. Watts, Professor of Religion at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

and

Paul R. House Paul R. House (born 1958) is an American Old Testament scholar, author, and seminary professor who served as 2012 president of the Evangelical Theological Society. He was professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, an interdenominational semin ...

, Professor of Old Testament at the

Beeson Divinity School Beeson Divinity School of Samford University is an in-person, interdenominational, evangelicalism, evangelical divinity school located in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The current dean is Douglas A. Sweeney. The school offers several degre ...

. Again in 2008,''Perspectives in Religious Studies'', Volume 35, Issue 2, Spring 2008
/ref> the

in its ''Perspectives in Religious Studies'' dedicated some essays on the contribution of Watts with essays by Gerald L. Keown of the

Gardner–Webb University Gardner–Webb University (Gardner–Webb, GWU, or GW) is a private Christian university in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. It was founded as Boiling Springs High School in 1905. Gardner–Webb is classified among "Doctoral/Professional Univer ...

, Pamela J. Scalise of the

, ''Faculty'

and Carol Woodfin of the

Hardin–Simmons University Hardin–Simmons University (HSU) is a private Baptist university in Abilene, Texas, United States. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. History Hardin–Simmons University was founded as Abilene Baptist College in 189 ...

, ''Faculty'

with additional bibliography of the writings of Watts compiled by Pamela J. Scalise.