The Catholic Biblical Association’s Obituary of Jerome Murphy-O’Connor

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Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P. – Nov. 11, 2013

Please pray for the repose of Rev. Dr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P., who died in Jerusalem on Nov. 11, 2013 at the age of 78.

A CBA member since 1966, Fr. Jerome served on the Editorial Board of Catholic Biblical Quarterly from 1997 to 2004 and wrote several articles for the journal. He was a leading authority on St. Paul, a Professor of New Testament at the École Biblique in Jerusalem, and a cousin to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.

Born on 10 April 1935 to Kerry Murphy-O’Connor and Mary McCrohan, Fr. Jerome was the eldest of four children. He attended the Christian Brothers College in Cork, going on to study at the Vincentian-run Castleknock College in Dublin. He entered the Dominican Novitiate in Cork in September 1953, giving up his baptismal name ‘James’ and to take a new name in religion, ‘Jerome’, a symbol of his commitment to his faith. Bearing in mind his future career, this was an apt choice, as Jerome is the patron saint of biblical studies.

Fr. Jerome was ordained priest in July 1960. At the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, the core of his scholarly life emerged. His first serious study as a lecturer was on the theme of Preaching in St. Paul, which he later developed into a doctoral thesis under the direction of the Dominican biblical scholar, Ceslas Spicq. He received his Doctorate in 1962, and studied in Rome in 1963. He also researched the Dead Sea Scrolls at the University of Heidelberg, and New Testament theology at the University of Tübingen. From there he went to the École Biblique in Jerusalem, which was to become his religious, scholarly, and personal home for the next 40 years.

The École Biblique, founded in 1890 by French Dominican scholars, was an internationally renowned centre for Biblical studies and Biblical archaeology. Fr. Jerome was appointed Professor of New Testament there in 1967. Oxford University Press invited him to write an archaeological guide to the Holy Land which was published in 1980. This was translated into several languages with a revised edition in 1986, and has become the standard guide-book. Murphy-O’Connor lectured around the world and made numerous television appearances.

Here is a man who’s passing elicited sorrow and lamentation.  A true servant of God.