Harrison studied at the
University of London (
B.D., 1943;
M.Th., 1947,
Ph.D., 1952) and taught at
Clifton College,
Bristol from 1947 to 1949, before his appointment as Hellmuth Professor of Old Testament Studies at
Huron College,
University of Western Ontario. In 1960 he became Professor of Old Testament Studies at
Wycliffe College,
University of Toronto, where he stayed until his retirement in 1986. Harrison is best known for his
Introduction to the Old Testament (1969) but wrote many other books, including commentaries on
Leviticus () and
Jeremiah and
Lamentations (). He was on the Executive Review Committee of the
New King James Version. and translated several of the
Minor Prophets in the
New International Version. Together with
Merrill Unger, he edited
The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. In 1988, a
Festschrift was published in his honour, ''Israel's apostasy and restoration: essays in honor of Roland K Harrison'' (). Edited by
Avraham Gileadi, it included contributions by
Clarence Hassell Bullock,
Eugene Merrill and
Bruce Waltke. Harrison married Kathleen Beattie in 1945, and they had three children. ==Works==