John Donald Wilkinson

John Donald Wilkinson, (28 March 1929, in Wimbledon, England – 13 January 2018, in London) was an Anglican priest and Bible scholar.

He was a Tutor and then dean of St George's College in Jerusalem. He later became director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (now the Kenyon Institute). and Hilda Mary Wilkinson (née Smyth and herself the daughter of a clergyman). which he subsequently developed into a book.

He was trained for ordination in the Church of England at Rippon College Cuddesdon near Oxford,

In 1984, Wilkinson moved to the Ecumenical Institute for Theological Research at Tantur, near Bethlehem, and then in 1985 to the Center for Byzantine and Mediaeval Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC.

Work in Georgia In 1992, Wilkinson travelled to Georgia to study representation of the aedicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Georgian illuminated manuscripts and Georgian pilgrims to the Holy Land. As a result, an agreement was signed between the British and the Georgian Academy of Sciences to translate Georgian travellers' accounts into English. In collaboration with Mzia Ebanoidze, two books were published.

In 1995, in association with Mzia Ebanoidze, Wilkinson started charity work in support of Georgian scholars, enabling numerous academic projects to see completion and publication. In 2000, Wilkinson funded Friends of Academic Research in Georgia (FaRiG).

Selected publications

Egeria's Travels to the Holy Land. SPCK: London, 1971. Ancient Jerusalem: Its Water Supply and Population. PEQ 106. 1974, issue 1: 33–51. Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Crusades. Aris & Phillips: Warminster, 1977. Jerusalem as Jesus Knew It: Archaeology as Evidence. Thames and Hudson: London, 1978. Column Capitals in al Haram al Sharif (from 138 A.D. to 1118 A.D.). The Administration of Wakfs and Islamic Affairs, Islamic Museum al-Haram al-Sharif: Jerusalem. Art. Jerusalem. IV, 1987. Jerusalem Pilgrimage, 1099–1185. (with Joyce Hill and William Francis Ryan), Hakluyt Society, series 2, vol. 167. 1988, London. Timothy Gabashvili: Pilgrimage to Mount Athos, Constantinople and Jerusalem, 1755–1759. Translated and annotated by Mzia Ebanoidze and John Wilkinson. Curzon, 2001, Richmond. From Synagogue to Church: The Traditional Design: Its Beginning, its Definition, its End. Routledge Curzon, 2002, London. Salisbury Cathedral's Secrets. Laying of Foundations. Capivard Press, 2003, Oxford. Petre Konchoshvili: Travels to Jerusalem and Mount Athos. Translated with Mzia Ebanoidze and John Wilkinson. Gorgias Ottoman Travelers, vol. 3. Gorgias Press, 2014, Piscataway IL.