Jerome Murphy-O'ConnorOP (born 10 April 1935,Cork City, Ireland – died 11 November 2013,Jerusalem) was an IrishDominican priest, a leading authority onSt. Paul, and a Professor ofNew Testament at theÉcole Biblique inJerusalem, a position that he held from 1967 until his death.[1]
Jerome Murphy-O'Connor | |
|---|---|
| Citizenship | Irish |
| Alma mater | University of Heidelberg |
He was bornJames Murphy-O'Connor in 1935 to Kerry and Mary (née McCrohan) Murphy-O'Connor, the eldest of four siblings. A cousin is CardinalCormac Murphy-O'Connor, the 10thArchbishop of Westminster.[2]
Murphy-O'Connor attended theChristian Brothers College, Cork, and later theVincentianCastleknock College in Dublin, where he decided to become aDominican priest. He entered the Dominican novitiate inSt. 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 atThe Priory Institute inTallaght and at theUniversity of Fribourg in Switzerland.[3] He was ordained as a priest in July 1960. In Fribourg his first serious study as a lecturer was on the theme of preaching inSaint Paul, which was later developed into adoctoral thesis.[3] He received his doctorate in 1962.
In 1963 he studied in Rome, and researched theDead Sea Scrolls at theUniversity of Heidelberg, andNew Testament theology at theUniversity of Tübingen. From there he went toJerusalem to theÉcole Biblique, which was to become his religious, scholarly, and personal home. The École Biblique, founded in 1890 by FrenchDominican scholars, is an internationally renowned centre forBiblical studies andBiblical archaeology. He remained there for the rest of his life, having been appointed Professor ofNew Testament in 1967.[3] 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 inUniversity College Cork.[4]
Oxford University Press 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,[4] including inLe Mystère Paul (2000),Jesus: The Complete Story (2001),The Search for John the Baptist (2005),Christianity: A History forChannel 4 (2009), and "David Suchet: In the Footsteps of St Paul (TV documentary, 2012)".[5]
He was also interviewed for the docudramaThe 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".[6]
Murphy-O'Connor was considered a leading scholar onPaul the Apostle, on whom he authored several major works, both for scholarly and lay audience.[7] In them, he tried to reconstruct the life and theology of the Apostles, mainly relying onhis epistles, while avoiding the use of theActs of the Apostles, unless necessary; he also consistently defended the authenticity of theSecond Epistle to the Thessalonians,[8] theEpistle to the Colossians and theSecond Epistle to Timothy.[8]
Murphy-O'Connor authored many research articles and reviews, often inRevue Biblique. In addition, he authored or co-authored the books listed below.
