Michael Patrick O'Connor (1950,

Lackawanna, New York Lackawanna is a city in Erie County, New York, United States, just south of the city of Buffalo in western New York State. The population was 19,949 at the 2020 census. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in New York, growing in populati ...

– June 16, 2007,

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

) was an American scholar of the

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

and a poet. With the field of ANE studies he was a linguist of

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

, with a focus on

biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew ( or ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite languages, Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Isra ...

and

biblical poetry The ancient Hebrews identified poetical portions in their sacred texts, as shown by their entitling as "psalms" or as " chants" passages such as Exodus 15:1-19 and Numbers 21:17-20; a song or chant () is, according to the primary meaning of the t ...

. O'Connor received his bachelor's degree in English from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

in 1970, and a Masters in creative writing from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

in 1972, followed by a Masters in ancient Near Eastern studies (1974) and doctorate in 1978 at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. After working as a freelance scholar for a number of years, he taught at Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas then at Union Theological Seminary. In 1997 he joined the faculty of

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

and was appointed an Ordinary Professor in 2002. He is best known from his book on the structure of Hebrew verse and his co-authorship of a textbook on

syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...

. He proposed that the

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

of Hebrew verse was based on constraints in syntax, rather than

feet The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of ...

. He published poems throughout his career, including a book of poetry called ''Pandary'' in 1989. O'Connor was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, he died of complications of liver cancer on June 16, 2007, at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, MD.

Selected publications

;Books * The 2nd Edition was printed with a new afterword: * ;Edited books * * Note: Includes essays originally published in ''Michigan Quarterly Review'' XXII (3). Summer 1983, a special issue called ''The Bible and Its Traditions''. * ;Papers * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Table of contents with abstracts
* * * * ;Reviews * * * * * * * * * * ;Poetry * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Michael Patrick 1950 births 2007 deaths Historians of antiquity American Assyriologists American biblical scholars American Roman Catholics Roman Catholic biblical scholars University of Notre Dame alumni University of British Columbia alumni University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American linguists