More About Carroll
Learn more about James Caroll by visiting his Web site.
James Carroll
James Carroll (center) accepts congratulations from President Jehuda Reinharz (right) as he is hooded by Provost Marty Krauss.
James Carroll is a novelist and journalist whose writings on politics, religion and culture have challenged and inspired readers in America and elsewhere.
He has published 10 novels, including New York Times best-sellers "Mortal Friends," "Family Trade" and "Prince of Peace." The Times named "City Below" and "Secret Father" Notable Books of the Year.
Carroll’s major nonfiction works include a memoir, "An American Requiem: God, My Father and the War that Came Between Us"; "Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews — A History"; "Toward a New Catholic Church: The Promise of Reform"; and "House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power." He has written for the New Yorker and Daedalus and has a column in The Boston Globe.
Carroll was raised in Washington, D.C., where his father served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He attended Georgetown University before entering the seminary and receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. Paul’s College. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969 and served as Catholic chaplain at Boston University until 1974, when he left the priesthood to become a writer.
He is a regular participant in ongoing forums among Christians, Jews and Muslims at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and he serves on the advisory board of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis University.
He lives in Boston with his wife, the novelist Alexandra Marshall. They have two grown children.
Honorary Degree Citation
Accomplished author and playwright, insightful commentator, advocate of understanding and reconciliation.
Through your writing and acts of conscience, you compel us to examine our history, institutions, and beliefs so as to understand the world as it has been and to imagine a world that might be. Raised in our nation’s capital in a military family, trained in the seminary, and ordained as a Catholic priest, you found your voice and your calling as a writer.
Upon leaving the priesthood to write full time, you crafted compelling works on politics, religion, and culture. You confront forthrightly our most pressing moral concerns: America’s role in the world, religion, and power, the place of faith in people’s lives, the church, and the Jews.
Written with eloquence and clarity, compassion and drama, your books and essays contribute powerfully to the most important dialogues of our timesc — dialogues you advance through your participation in public forums at home and abroad.
In recognition of the power of your art, the strength of your voice, and your upstanding moral compass and unbending ethical principles, Brandeis University is proud to bestow upon you its highest honor.
