Dr. Terrence Murphy

Profile

Email: terry.murphy@smu.ca

Dr. Terry Murphy is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and History at Saint Mary’s University, where he served as Vice-President Academic and Research from 2001 to 2010. Previously he had been a member of the Department of Religious Studies and Dean of Arts (1993-2001) at Memorial University of Newfoundland. His principal research area is the religious history of Canada, with an emphasis on the Atlantic region. He is the author, co-author and co-editor of a number of publications including Creed and Culture: the Place of English-speaking Catholics in Canadian Society, 1750-1930 (McGill-Queen’s UP, 1993 and Concise History of Christianity in Canada (OUP, 1996). He is a past editor of Historical Studies, the journal of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association (CCHA). Since his official retirement, his research has focused on the Irish Catholic community of Halifax, seen in the context of global Irish networks. His archival research in Halifax, Dublin, London, and Rome has thus far resulted in a series of articles in the CCHA Historical Studies, including “Transformation and Triumphalism: the Irish Catholics of Halifax, 1839-1858” 81(2015); “Emancipation vs Equity: Civic Inclusion of Halifax Catholics, 1830-1866,” 83 (2017); and “Bermuda Triangle: the Archdiocese of Halifax, the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, and the British Government, “(2019). He has also presented papers at two conferences in Rome sponsored by the Cushwa Center, University of Notre Dame, one of which was published as “Language, Ethnicity, and Region: Rome and the Struggle for Dominance in the Canadian Catholic Church “(in Matteo Binasco,ed. Rome and Irish Catholicism in the Atlantic World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

Terry has a strong commitment to research that engages the wider community through partnerships. While Dean at Memorial, he played a leadership role in the creation of the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Website (www.heritage.nf.ca); during his term as Vice-President of Saint Mary’s, he chaired the Atlantic Metropolis Centre for Excellence in Immigration Research (2004-2013). He has served on national and local advisory bodies including the Council of the Historica Foundation (2001-2005) and the Board of the Holy Cross Cemetery Historical Trust.