John Barton read Theology at Keble, where he also took his doctorate. After a year as a Junior Research Fellow at Merton, he became University Lecturer in Theology (Old Testament). From 1991 to 2014 he was Oriel & Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, and a Fellow of Oriel, Oxford. is research interests and extensive publications have been in the areas of the Old Testament prophets and theology, the biblical canon, biblical interpretation, and biblical ethics, as well as issues in hermeneutics. He is currently working on A History of the Bible for Penguin.  He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Corresponding Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the holder of the degrees of Doctor of Letters from Oxford and Honorary Doctor of Theology from Bonn.