Joseph Augustine Fitzmyer {{post-nominals|post-noms=SJ}} (November 4, 1920 – December 24, 2016) was an American Catholic priest and scholar who taught at several American and British universities. He was a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

Fitzmyer was considered an important scholar of biblical studies, particularly the New Testament. He also contributed to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and early Jewish literature.

Biography

= Early life =

Joseph Fitzmyer was born on November 4, 1920, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was admitted on July 30, 1938 to the novitiate of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. In 1940, he entered Loyola University Chicago, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree and in 1945 a Master of Arts degree in Greek language. Fitzmyer then studied theology in the Facultés Saint-Albert in Belgium.{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Biblical Archaeology Society |date=2017-04-12 |title=Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J. (1920–2016) |url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archaeology-today/archaeologists-biblical-scholars-works/joseph-fitzmyer/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=Biblical Archaeology Society |language=en}}

= Priesthood =

Fitzmyer was ordained into the priesthood on August 15, 1951. He was granted a Licentiate of Sacred Theology by the Catholic University of Leuven in Leuven, Belgium, in 1952 and a Doctor of Semitics degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in 1956. He completed his education with a Licentiate of Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1957. He then received a fellowship at the American School of Oriental Research (ASOR) in Jerusalem. He worked on preparing a concordance to the Dead Sea Scrolls.{{Cite web |last=University |first=Catholic |title=Professor Emeritus Fr. Joseph Fitzmeyer, SJ Enters Eternal Life |url=https://trs.catholic.edu/news/2016/12/professor-emeritus-fr-joseph-fitzmeyer-sj-enters-e1.html |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=The Catholic University of America |language=en}}

= Career =

From 1958 to 1969, Fitzmyer taught New Testament and biblical languages at Woodstock College in Woodstock, Maryland. He moved to Chicago in 1969 to teach Aramaic and Hebrew at the University of Chicago. In 1971, Fitzmyer joined the faculty of Fordham University to teach New Testament and biblical languages. He then went to the Weston School of Theology at Boston College in Boston, Massachusetts.

Fitzmyer served as the speaker's lecturer at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom from 1974 to 1975. In 1976, Fitzmyer was appointed as a professor of New Testament in the Department of Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Fitzmyer joined the Jesuit community at Georgetown University in Washington.

Fitzmyer served as editor of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, The Journal of Biblical Literature and New Testament Studies. He was president of the Catholic Biblical Association of America (1969–1970), of the Society of Biblical Literature (1979), and of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (1992–1993). He was the 1984 recipient of the Burkitt Medal of the British Academy and was a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission from 1984 to 1995.{{cite web|last1=Schiffman|first1=Lawrence|title=Joseph Fitzmyer: An Appreciation|url=http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=11709}}{{cite journal|last1=Donahue|first1=John|title=Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J.: Scholar and Teacher of the Word of God|journal=U.S. Catholic Historian|date=2013|volume=31|issue=4|pages=63–83|doi=10.1353/cht.2013.0016|s2cid=143540551}}

= Retirement, death and legacy =

In 1986, Fitzmyer retired from Catholic University, but did not go into full retirement until 2011. Joseph Fitzmyer died in Merion, Pennsylvania, on December 24, 2016.{{Cite news|url=http://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/remembering-joseph-fitzmyer-sj|title=Remembering Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J.|date=2016-12-24|work=America Magazine|access-date=2017-12-15|language=en}}

John Martens told the magazine America that Fitzmyer was:

{{blockquote|a giant of biblical scholarship. No qualifiers need apply. He was not a giant of Catholic biblical scholarship, not a giant of 20th-century biblical scholarship, just a giant of biblical scholarship.{{Cite web |title=Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (Father) |url=https://www.jesuitsmidwest.org/memoriam/fitzmyer-joseph-a-father/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=Midwest Province |language=en-US}}}}

Fitzmyer's funeral was held on 5 January 2017 at St. Matthias Church in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania and he was buried in the cemetery of the Jesuit Center in Wernersville, Pennsylvania.{{Cite web |date=30 December 2016 |title=Noted biblical scholar Jesuit Father Fitzmyer dies at age 96 |url=https://www.ncronline.org/noted-biblical-scholar-jesuit-father-fitzmyer-dies-age-96 |access-date= |website=National Catholic Reporter |language=en}}

Biblical commentaries

Fitzmyer's publications covered Scripture, theology, Christology, catechesis, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was a co-editor of the Jerome Biblical Commentary (1968) and the New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1991)

The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1989){{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Raymond, S.S. |title=The New Jerome Biblical Commentary |last2=Fitzmyer |first2=Joseph, S.J. |last3=Murphy |first3=Roland, O.Carm |date=1989 |publisher=Pearson}} This includes articles introducing the New Testament Epistles, Epistle to the Galatians, Romans, Philemon and on the history of Israel as well as Paul the Apostle and Pauline theology. In the last one, after a historical review of 40 themes, Fitzmyer concludes:

As Christ was "the image of the God" (2 Cor 4:4) so human beings are destined to be "the image of the heavenly man" (1 Cor 15:49; cf. Rom 8:29). [Through] growth in Christ ... the Christian lives his or her life "for God" (Gal 2:19). Thus, for all his emphasis on Christ, Paul once again refers Christian existence ultimately to the Father – through Christ.{{Cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Raymond Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/newjeromebiblica0000unse/page/1416 |title=The New Jerome Biblical Commentary |last2=Fitzmyer |first2=Joseph A |last3=Murphy |first3=Roland Edmund |date=1990 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=0136149340 |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newjeromebiblica0000unse/page/1416 1416] |language=en}}

Anchor Bible Commentary (1993).{{cite book |last1=Fitzmyer |first1=Joseph |title=Romans |date=1993 |publisher=Yale University Press |series=The Anchor Bible Commentary |location=Connecticut}} It contains the Spiritual Exercises Based on Paul's Epistle to the Romans,{{cite book |last1=Fitzmyer |first1=Joseph |title=Spiritual Exercises Based on Paul's Epistle to the Romans |date=1995 |publisher=Paulist Press |location=Maryland}} which links biblical commentary and exegeses with modern spirituality. In it, Fitzmyer lays out his interpretation of Romans in a more condensed form. Using historical and rhetorical criticism, Paul's Jewish background and Graeco-Roman setting, Fitzmyer sees coherency in Paul's message. While some scholars argue that Paul's theology is largely dependent on its context, such as the crisis in the Corinthian community, Fitzmyer argues for a vital application of Romans to modern situations. It also includes work on The Gospel of Luke (in two volumes), Acts of the Apostles, 1 Corinthians, Romans, and Philemon.

The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Fitzmyer summarizes his 50 years of research in the field.{{Cite book|url=https://www.christianbook.com/the-impact-the-dead-sea-scrolls/joseph-fitzmyer/9780809146154/pd/146154|title=The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls|isbn=9780809146154|access-date=15 December 2015|last1=Fitzmyer|first1=Joseph A.|year=2009|publisher=Paulist Press }}

Selected works

=Books=

{{cite book |last=Fitzmyer |first=Joseph |title=The Historical Truth of the Gospels: the 1964 instruction of the Biblical Commission |location=Glen Rock, NJ |publisher=Paulist Press |year=1964 |isbn=978-0-8091-3253-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/christologicalca00fitz }} See "The Biblical Commission's Instruction" below for earliest publication in English.
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefîre |location=Rome |publisher=Pontificial Biblical Institute | year=1967 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-8-8765-3347-1 | title-link = Sefire }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Semitic Background of the New Testament Volume II: A Wandering Aramean: Collected Aramaic Essays |series=Biblical Resource Series |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans | year=1979 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-0-8028-4846-8 }}
{{cite book |last=Fitzmyer |first=Joseph |author-mask=3 |title=The Gospel According to Luke 1–9 |series=Anchor Yale Bible |volume=28 |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-3850-0515-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/gospelaccordingt28afitz }}
{{cite book |last2=Fitzmyer |first2=Joseph |author2-mask=3 |author-last=Reumann |author-first=John Henry Paul |title=Righteousness in the New Testament: Justification in the United States Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue |location=Philadelphia, PA & New York |publisher=Fortress Press & Paulist Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-8091-2436-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/righteousnessinn0000reum }}
{{cite book |last=Fitzmyer |first=Joseph |author-mask=3 |title=The Gospel according to Luke 10–24 |series=Anchor Yale Bible |volume=28A |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-3851-5542-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gospelaccordingt28afitz }}
{{cite book |last=Fitzmyer |first=Joseph |author-mask=3 |title=Scripture and Christology: a statement of the Biblical Commission with a commentary |location=New York |publisher=Paulist Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-8091-2789-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/scripturechristo0000fitz }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=Paul and His Theology: A Brief Sketch |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1989 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-1365-4419-7 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |editor-last= Brown| editor-first = Raymond E. |display-editors=etal|title=The New Jerome Biblical commentary |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |publisher=Prentice Hall | year =1990 |isbn=978-0-2256-6803-2 | title-link = The New Jerome Biblical commentary }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |author2-last=Glanzman |author2-first=George S. |title=An Introductory Bibliography for the Study of Scripture |location=Rome |publisher=Pontificio Istituto Biblico | year =1990 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-8-8765-3592-5 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls: major publications and tools for study |location=Atlanta, GA |publisher=Scholars Press | year=1990 |edition=Revised |isbn=978-0-8841-4053-5 }}
{{cite book |last=Fitzmyer |first=Joseph |author-mask=3 |title=A Christological Catechism: New Testament Answers |location=Glen Rock, NJ |publisher=Paulist Press |edition=Second |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-8091-3253-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/christologicalca00fitz }}
{{cite book |last=Fitzmyer |first=Joseph |author-mask=3 |title=Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls |location=Glen Rock, NJ |publisher=Paulist Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8091-3348-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/responsesto101qu0000fitz }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |author2-last=Kaufman |author2-first=Stephen A. |title=An Aramaic Bibliography: Part I: Old, Official, and Biblical Aramaic (Publications of The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project) |location=Baltimore, MD |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8018-4312-9 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=According to Paul: Studies in the Theology of the Apostle |location=Glen Rock, NJ |publisher=Paulist Press | year =1993 |isbn=978-0-8091-3390-1 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=Romans |series=Anchor Yale Bible |volume=33 |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday | year=1993 |isbn=978-0-3001-4078-1 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=Scripture: The Soul of Theology |location=Glen Rock, NJ |publisher=Paulist Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8091-3509-7 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |author2-last=Harrington |author2-first=Daniel J. |title=A Manual of Palestinian Aramaic texts: (second century B.C.–second century A.D.) |location=Rome |publisher=Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico |year=1994 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-8876533341 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Biblical Commission's Document "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church: Text and Commentary |series=Subsidia biblica |volume=18 |location=Rome |publisher=Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico |year=1995 |isbn=978-8-8765-3605-2 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=Spiritual Exercises Based on Paul's Epistle to the Romans |location=Glen Rock, NJ |publisher=Paulist Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-8091-3580-6 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Semitic Background of the New Testament Volume I: Essays on the Semitic Background of the New Testament |series=Biblical Resource Series |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans | year=1997 |edition=Reprint |isbn=978-0-8028-4845-1 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Semitic Background of the New Testament: Combined Edition of "Essays on the Semitic Background of the New Testament" and "A Wandering Aramean" |series=Biblical Resource Series |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans | year=1997 |edition=Combined |isbn=978-0-8028-4344-9 }}
{{cite book |last=Fitzmyer |first=Joseph |author-mask=3 |title=The Acts of the Apostles |series=Anchor Yale Bible |volume=31 |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-3854-6880-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/actsofapostlesan00fitz }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=To Advance the Gospel: New Testament Studies |series=Biblical Resource Series |location=New York |publisher=Paulist Press |year=1998 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0802844255 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins |series=Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8028-4650-1 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Letter to Philemon |series=Anchor Yale Bible |volume=34C |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=2001|isbn=978-0-3001-4055-2 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=Tobit |location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2002 |isbn=978-3-1101-7574-5 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave 1 (1Q20): a commentary |location=Rome |publisher=Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico | year=2004 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-8-8765-3318-1 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The One Who is to Come |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8028-4013-4 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=1 Corinthians |series=Anchor Yale Bible |volume=33 |location=New York |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-3001-4044-6 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=Luke the Theologian: Aspects of His Teaching |location=Eugene, OR |publisher=Wipf & Stock |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-5924-4959-0 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Interpretation of Scripture: In Defense of the Historical-Critical Method |location=New York |publisher=Paulist Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8091-4504-1 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature |series=Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |edition=Revised & expanded |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8028-6241-9 }}
{{cite book |last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls |location=New York |publisher=Paulist Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8091-4615-4 }}

=Articles and chapters=

{{cite journal|last= Fitzmyer| first = Joseph | author-mask = 3 |title=The Biblical Commission's Instruction on the historical truth of the Gospels | journal=Theological Studies |volume=25 | issue = 3 |year=1964 |pages=386–408 | doi = 10.1177/004056396402500302 | s2cid = 170679530 }}