[5] He was born in 1935 in London and after serving in the Royal Air Force, where he worked in intelligence, he took a degree in theology at the University of Manchester.
In 1971, researching in social anthropology, he made the first of many visits to Germany, which initiated his interest in especially 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy and biblical scholarship.
[6] John Rogerson's interests ranged widely from linguistics and philosophy to German biblical scholarship, Palestinian topography, and social anthropology.
Clines remarked, "There proved to be almost no area to which Old Testament studies could be related in which John Rogerson did not make himself a master".
[8] He was a keen musician and played the cello, and continued an active ministry at Beauchief Abbey, Sheffield,[9] as well as academic and pastoral writing.