Michael Coogan is a Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum. Coogan has taught at Stonehill College since 1985. He is the author of The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction, and is also the editor of The New Oxford Annotated Bible (Third Edition). He is a contributor to such standard reference works as The Encyclopedia of Religion, HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, and The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Coogan has also participated in and directed archaeological excavations in Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, and Egypt.

He has collaborative on projects that he conceived and edited, which include The Oxford Companion to the Bible, The Illustrated Guide to World Religions, and The Oxford History of the Biblical World.

Coogan holds a doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Literature from Harvard University.