Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (born 10 April 1935,

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

, Ireland – died 11 November 2013,

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

) was an Irish Dominican priest, a leading authority on St. Paul, and a Professor of

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

at the

École Biblique École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, commonly known as École Biblique, is a French academic establishment in Jerusalem specializing in archaeology and Biblical exegesis. It is housed by the Saint-Étienne priory. Associate ...

, a position that he held from 1967 until his death.

Biography

He was born James Murphy-O'Connor in 1935 to Kerry and Mary (née McCrohan) Murphy-O'Connor, the eldest of four siblings. A cousin is Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the 10th Archbishop of Westminster. Murphy-O'Connor attended the Christian Brothers College, Cork, and later the Vincentian Castleknock College in Dublin, where he decided to become a Dominican priest. He entered the Dominican novitiate in St. Mary's Dominican Church and Priory, Cork in September 1953, giving up his baptismal to take a new name in religion, "Jerome". After the novitiate he studied philosophy for a year before studying at The Priory Institute in Tallaght and at the

University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (; ) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius founded the Collège Saint-Michel in the City of Fribourg ...

in Switzerland.Introductory address given 10 May 2002 when conferring an honorary doctorate in Literature to Father Murphy-O'Connor

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

He was ordained as a priest in July 1960. In Fribourg his first serious study as a lecturer was on the theme of preaching in

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

, which was later developed into a

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

thesis. He received his doctorate in 1962.

École Biblique

In 1963 he studied in Rome, and researched the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, and

theology at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

. From there he went to

to the

, which was to become his religious, scholarly, and personal home. The École Biblique, founded in 1890 by French Dominican scholars, is an internationally renowned centre for

Biblical studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...

and

Biblical archaeology Biblical archaeology is an academic school and a subset of Biblical studies and Levantine archaeology. Biblical archaeology studies archaeological sites from the Ancient Near East and especially the Holy Land (also known as Land of Israel and ...

. He remained there for the rest of his life, having been appointed Professor of

in 1967. He received honorary degrees in the US and Australia, and particularly treasured the doctorate of literature conferred in 2002 by the National University of Ireland in

.Cork-born priest with international reputation in Biblical scholarship
, ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'', 16 November 2013

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

invited him to write an archaeological guide to the Holy Land which was first published in 1980. This was translated into several languages, with a fifth edition in 2008, and it has become the standard guide book. Murphy-O'Connor lectured around the world; he also made numerous television appearances, including in ''Le Mystère Paul'' (2000), ''Jesus: The Complete Story'' (2001), ''The Search for John the Baptist'' (2005), ''Christianity: A History'' for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

(2009), and "David Suchet: In the Footsteps of St Paul (TV documentary, 2012)".Jerome Murphy-O'Connor
at the

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He was also interviewed for the docudrama '' The Lost Tomb of Jesus'', although he later stated that he was misquoted and misrepresented by the filmmakers, stressing that he did not believe there was any truth in the movie's claims, which he dismissed as "a commercial ploy".

Views

On Paul

Murphy-O'Connor was considered a leading scholar on

Paul the Apostle Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

, on whom he authored several major works, both for scholarly and lay audience. In them, he tried to reconstruct the life and theology of the Apostles, mainly relying on his epistles, while avoiding the use of the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

, unless necessary; he also consistently defended the authenticity of the

Second Epistle to the Thessalonians The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is a book from the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle, with Timothy as a co-author. The majority of biblical scholars came to conclude that 2 Thessa ...

, the

Epistle to the Colossians The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Saint Timothy, Timothy, and addressed to the Church (congregation), church in Colossae, a small Phrygian cit ...

and the

Second Epistle to Timothy The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three pastoral epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle.. Addressed to Timothy, a fellow missionary, it is traditionally considered to be the last epistle Paul wrote before his death. ...

Selected works

Murphy-O'Connor authored many research articles and reviews, often in '' Revue Biblique''. In addition, he authored or co-authored the books listed below. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Murphy-O'Connor interview
–

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

, 13 April 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy-OConnor, Jerome 1935 births 2013 deaths Irish Dominicans Irish biblical scholars Irish expatriates in Israel Irish expatriates in Germany Irish expatriates in Switzerland Roman Catholic biblical scholars New Testament scholars 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Scholars and academics from Cork (city) People educated at Castleknock College University of Fribourg alumni Academic staff of École Biblique