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This ISSUE of the CBQ is dedicated to the memory of Roland E. Murphy, O.Carm., who died on July 20, 2002, the feast of the prophet Elijah and one day after his eighty-fifth birthday. His life as a scholar intersected with extraordinary developments in biblical scholarship in the twentieth century. As he was beginning doctoral studies, Pope Pius XII promulgated Divino Afflante Spiritu; and as he was finishing his dissertation, a young Bedouin shepherd was tossing stones into a cave near Qumran, unwittingly shattering clay jars. When Roland was in his third year of teaching Christian Arabic at the Catholic University of America, the manuscripts of Cave 4 were discovered. Then came the conciliar document Dei Verbum, which Roland would later describe as pivotal to the teachings of Vatican II. It was equally pivotal in his own life. This brief essay is intended to commemorate the life of this biblical scholar who is deeply missed by his fellow Carmelites, by his students and friends, and by the members of the Catholic Biblical Association.
Roland was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 19, 1917, the son of John and Marian Murphy. He professed vows as a Carmelite on Aug. 15, 1935, and was ordained a priest on May 23, 1942. His brother, David Murphy (currently Professor Emeritus of St. Mary's College, South Bend, Indiana), was also ordained the same day. In 1943 Roland earned the masters degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of America. Again from Catholic University, in 1948, he attained a Doctorate in Sacred Theology with a focus on Sacred Scripture (his dissertation treated Psalm 72).1The following year he earned an M.A. in Semitic
Languages and, at the encouragement of Msgr. Patrick W. Skehan, joined the faculty of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at Catholic University and began teaching Christian Arabic. This academic preparation afforded him unique opportunities. On June 27, 1950, he boarded the Ile de France bound for Europe and from there traveled to the Holy Land. He had received a $2000 fellowship from the American Schools of Oriental Research, to which Catholic University would add another $1000. Roland would later recall that his year in Israel was a great benefit to him, though while there he discovered that he...