John S. Holladay, Jr.: An Appreciation

Jack S. Holladay, Jr, was a product of the American Midwest, raised in rural Illinois, yet instilled with strong values of cultural diversity and difference, as the son of Presbyterian missionaries called to serve in Thailand and South Asia.Holladay's grounding in the scientific method occurred early in his education, while at the University of Illinois, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry/Physics and Zoology. Following graduation, he enlisted in the USAF as a radar observer and flew on all-weather fighter interceptors during the Korean War, a posting he held between 1952 and 1956. The war would change many things, most notably his career path. Returning from East Asia, he enrolled at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, earning a Bachelor of Divinity in 1959. It was also at McCormick that Jack first met G. Ernest Wright and was introduced to the exciting developments then taking place in the field of Biblical Archaeology.