Born: October 10, 1943
Died: July 10, 2022
Prof Carmel McCarthy, the Mercy Sister who was a major international figure in biblical studies, has died. She was Professor of Hebrew and Syriac at University College Dublin (UCD) and previously a theology lecturer at Carysfort College of Education for more than 20 years.
The author of numerous scholarly articles, she was a member of the international team of textual experts involved in producing a new critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, which when fully completed will be the basis for all translations and biblical study for decades to come. Her edition of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Christian Old Testament, was published in Stuttgart in 2007 as part of the Biblia Hebraica Quinta project.
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She also translated into English one of the treasured fifth-century Syriac manuscripts in the Chester Beatty collection. In recognition of her scholarship, she was made a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2008.
In an autobiographical chapter in the book, Ireland and the Reception of the Bible: Social and Cultural Perspectives (Bloomsbury, 2018), McCarthy said that she first engaged in biblical studies by “blind obedience” to her religious superiors when in September 1963, she was told she would take a BA course in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek at UCD.
Initially wondering what kind of gain could come from studying such obscure languages she excelled in her studies and, following her BA, was awarded a tutorial scholarship at UCD to teach undergraduates while undertaking a Master’s degree. In 1966 she became the first female member of the Irish Biblical Association, an organisation of which she later became president from 1987-1990.
McCarthy loved teaching and particularly enjoyed directing postgraduate students in their research fields. “Students came from a wide variety of backgrounds, about half of them from overseas. Some were clearly Jewish, Muslim or Christian, while others did not indicate any particular religious allegiance. This diversity was a source of considerable enrichment,” she wrote in the aforementioned book.
When she finished her MA in 1968, she went to the University of Fribourg in Switzerland for four years to study for a licentiate in theology to prepare her for the role of teaching theology at Carysfort College of Education in Blackrock, Co Dublin. At the University of Fribourg, she was the only female in her class but could hold her own with all of the other students.
She said that her study in Switzerland deepened her faith, gifted her with lifelong friends, gave her fluency in French and German as well as opportunities to enjoy cross-country skiing and trekking in the Alps.
In 1972 before returning to Ireland, she travelled with her class-mates to Israel for a month, where her group explored many of the key sites of the Holy Land, giving her lasting insights into the topography, geography and imagery of the Old and New Testaments.
Back in Dublin, she began teaching theology to the students at Carysfort College of Education, a role she continued for the next 20 years or so. She also returned to lecture part time in Hebrew and Syriac at UCD during this period and worked there as acting head of department for a year when Dr Dermot Ryan became Catholic Archbishop of Dublin in 1973 and before the appointment of Prof Kevin Cathcart as head of department in 1974.
Her first publication in the field of textual criticism appeared in 1976 as an entry to the supplementary volume to the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon). This would be the first of many articles for scripture journals, chapters and books in her career as a text critic of ancient manuscripts.
Following the closure of Carysfort College in 1985, McCarthy — who had returned to Fribourg to complete her doctorate in 1979 to 1980 — was redeployed to the Department of Near Eastern Languages at UCD where she moved up the ranks from lecturer to associate professor to head of department until her retirement in 2008.
A modest person whose personal humility and diffidence about her scholarship belied her global stature, McCarthy was popular among students and staff alike. A student of hers at UCD remarked that she was a wonderful teacher who “managed to make learning the Hebrew language appear easy while she brought to life — often with great humour — the many characters in Hebrew, Greek and Syriac texts.”
Emeritus professor of Near Eastern Languages at UCD and senior research fellow at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, Kevin Cathcart said McCarthy was an exceptionally gifted teacher, lecturer and supervisor. “She had excellent administrative skills and staff and students benefited from her efficiency and attention to detail. Several of her former students became university professors,” he said.
During her tenure at UCD, she also acted as an external examiner to various universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Belfast, Maynooth and the Mater Dei Institute. She also gave lectures to various associations including the Society for the Study of the Old Testament and the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament.
Throughout her life, McCarthy also taught scripture modules to students in Mater Dei Institute, All Hallows and at Maynooth University. She also found time for pastoral outreach — giving scripture classes — first to the novices in her religious community for over 20 years and then for over 10 years in her retirement to a group of adult learners who read texts in Hellenistic and Biblical Greek.
Baptised Kathleen McCarthy, she grew up in Fenagh, Co Carlow, one of five children. She attended St Mary’s College, a Catholic girls’ secondary school in Arkow, after which she joined the Sisters of Mercy Order in Caryfort Park, Dublin, making her final professions in 1967. Latterly, she lived in the Religious Sisters of Mercy convent in Eblana Avenue, Dún Laoghaire.
Carmel McCarthy is survived by her sister, Mary (Lavin), her brother Michael, niece, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and her Mercy Sisters. She was pre-deceased by her sisters, Ann (O’Reilly) and Clare (Brennan).