Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J. | |
---|---|
Orders | |
Ordination | August 15, 1951 |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Joseph Augustine Fitzmyer |
Born | November 4, 1920 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
Died | December 24, 2016 Merion Station, Pennsylvania, United States |
(aged 96)
Nationality | American |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Occupation | Jesuit priest, Biblical scholar, theologian |
Alma mater |
Loyola University Chicago Catholic University of Leuven Johns Hopkins University Pontifical Biblical Institute |
Joseph Augustine Fitzmyer, S.J. (November 4, 1920 – December 24, 2016), was an American Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus and professor emeritus at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. He specialized in biblical studies, particularly the New Testament, though he also made contributions to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and early Jewish literature.
Fitzmyer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1920. On July 30, 1938, he was admitted to the novitiate of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. After completing this stage of his formation in the summer of 1940, he was sent to study at Loyola University of Chicago, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, then in 1945 a Master of Arts degree in Greek. He then studied theology in the Facultés Saint-Albert (Eegenhoven-Louvain), Belgium, and was ordained a Catholic priest on August 15, 1951. He was granted a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) by the Catholic University of Leuven in 1952, a doctorate in Semitics from the Johns Hopkins University in 1956, and a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture (S.S.L.) from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1957.