Jerome Murphy O'Connor is professor of New Testament at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem and is regarded as one of the foremost experts in the world on the historical Jesus and on the life of St Paul. He is author of Paul, a Critical Life and of the archaeological guide, The Holy Land.

He was born in Cork in 1934 and brought up at Summerhill, near the railway station. He went to the Christian Brothers in Cork and then to Castleknock College in Dublin. He entered the Dominican Order in 1953 and was ordained by the former archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Charles McQuaid, in 1960.

He is a cousin of the new Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy O'Connor. They meet each summer in Baltimore, Cork, where there is a family home, but they don't talk shop.

In early December, Jerome Murphy O'Connor spoke at the Millennium Conference at the Milltown Institute in Dublin. The chairman of the session described his lecture as the best he had heard and the enthusiasm of the audience suggested it concurred.

Jerome is a huge man. He stands 6 ft 4 ins and weighs something over 15 stone. He has a flowing beard, mischievous eyes and expressive hands. We met at his brother's elegant house in Upper Leeson Street, Dublin.

We spoke first about his background and his schooldays but then moved into his area of expertise, the life of Jesus . . .