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 ...
in
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 ...
, 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-WĂĽrttemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...
, and 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 ...
theology at the University of TĂĽbingen
The University of TĂĽbingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of TĂĽbingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of TĂĽbingen, Baden-WĂĽrttemberg, Germany.
The University of TĂĽbingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...
. From there he went to 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 ...
to 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 ...
, 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 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 ...
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 ]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 ...
.[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](_blank)
at the Internet Movie Database
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
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.
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References
Further reading
Father Jerome Murphy-O'Connor - Obituary
, ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'', 15 November 2013
Fr Jerome Murphy-O’Connor: Why scholarship trumps archaeology
, ''Catholic Herald
The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly magazine, founded in 1888 and a sister organisation to the non-profit Catholic Herald Institute, based in New York. After 126 years as a weekly newspaper, it became a magazine ...
'', 13 November 2013
Obituary of Jerome Murphy-O’Connor
– Catholic Biblical Association
The Catholic Biblical Association of America (CBA) is an American learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible. The suggestion to form a permanent association of biblical scholars was made at the beginning of 1936 at a meeting in ...
Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, O.P.: A Life Well Lived
, ''America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
'', 19 November 2013
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