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William Collins, the author of Millennialism, Millerites, and Prophecy in Bahá’í Discourse (Routledge, 2025), discusses an underlying theme of his book: the traps of (1) perpetual waiting or expectation; (2) the belief that people can understand the fulfillment of any prophecy in detail before its fulfillment; (3) the perils of date-setting, which is an offshoot of both. Collins considers how perpetual waiting can addict believers to anticipation, both discouraging action in the present and creating a desire to reject any fulfillment; how belief in detailed and literal foreknowledge can blind people to unexpected fulfillments; and, how date-setting is a function of these two and may deprive people of their agency in the present. The trajectory is not from prophecy to fulfillment but rather from fulfillment to an understanding of prophecy.
William P. Collins was Catalog Librarian and then Head Catalog Librarian at the Middlebury College Library, 1973-1976; Catalog Librarian at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1976-1977; Director of the Bahá’í International Library, 1977–90, Chief of the Cataloging Division, United States Copyright Office, 1991–2000, and Planning Officer with the United States Copyright Office 2000-2016. He served for slightly over two decades as faculty for the Wilmette Institute, and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Corinne True Center for Bahá’í History and a faculty member. He is “retired”—meaning he is serving the Bahá’í Faith and the wider community.
He has a B.A. from Middlebury College, two masters degrees from Syracuse University, and additional education at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia), Leningrad State University (now Saint-Petersburg, Russia), and the College of Librarianship (Aberystwyth, Wales).
He is author of Bibliography of English Language Works on the Bábí and Bahá’í Faiths, 1844–1985 (1990), and numerous articles on Bahá’í history and beliefs. He has served in the past in various professional capacities on boards for the Bahá’í Faith, including the United States National Bahá’í Archives Committee, the Bahá’í Publishing Trust advisory board, the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Bahá’í Studies, and the Editorial Board of the Bahá’í Studies Review. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Corinne True Center for Bahá’í History. Routledge published his book on Millennialism, Millerites, and Prophecy in Bahá’í Discourse in September 2025.
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