Joshua Sears grew up in Southern California and served in the Chile Osorno Mission. He received a BA in ancient Near Eastern studies from BYU, where he taught at the Missionary Training Center and volunteered as an EMT. He received an MA from The Ohio State University and a PhD in Hebrew Bible at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include Israelite prophecy, marriage and families in the ancient world, and the publication history of Latter-day Saint scripture. He has presented at regional and national meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature, BYU Education Week, the Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, and the Leonardo Museum Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls. His wife, Alice, is from Hong Kong and plays in Bells at Temple Square; they live in Lindon, Utah, with their five children.
Josh, his wife Alice, and their five children arrived in Jerusalem in August of 2024 with the other faculty couples in hopes that a peace would come in time for the Winter 2025 semester students to have a program. When the war continued, the students did not return for Winter. So, they spent their time traveling the Holy Land and visiting sites as they continued to learn and prepare. As a more peaceful time came that winter, it was announced that students would return in May 2025. Before the students came, three groups of Jerusalem Center Alumni came to the Center for two week tours. Josh served as a guide for some of these alumni.
Josh taught one semester of students at the Jerusalem Center, visiting two other countries. The Spring Summer semester of 2025 was scheduled to go to Greece and they arrived there shortly before the 12-Day war broke out between Israel and Iran. The time in Greece was extended and the program was then moved to Turkey for an unexpected additional study program. The war ended and things calmed enough that the program returned to Jerusalem for the final month of the program.