John Paul Meier is an American biblical scholar and Roman Catholic priest. He is author of the series A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, six other books, and more than 70 articles for peer-reviewed or solicited journals or books.
He was ordained a Catholic priestat the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, in 1967, and was made an Honorary Prelate of the Papal Household by Pope John Paul II in 1994. In retirement, Meier continues to offer courses at Notre Dame while working on a prospective volume 6 of the series A Marginal Jew.
''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus''
John P. Meier's series A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus begins by invoking the methods of modern historical research to "recover, recapture, or reconstruct" the "historical Jesus." Meier suggests that such research might admit agreement of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and agnostic scholars as to "who Jesus of Nazareth was and what he intended".
Volume 1
Volume 1 differentiates the historical Jesus from the Biblical Jesus. It analyzes sources, including the New Testament and non-canonical works. The latter include the agrapha, the apocryphal gospels, Josephus, and other Jewish and second-century Roman works. For deciding what comes from Jesus as distinct from early Christian tradition it proposes these primary criteria :
The criteria are to be used in concert for mutual correction. Still, any claim is only to the probable, not the certain. The rest of Volume 1 discusses the origins of Jesus as to formative years, "external" influences, and "internal" influences. The volume concludes with a survey of Jesus' life chronology. On the question of references to Jesus in the Talmud, Meier considers the thesis of Joseph Klausner that some very few rabbinic sources, none earlier than about the late 2nd or early 3rd century, contain traces of the historical Jesus. He presents further considerations and arguments, including those of Johann Maier who maintains that the Yeshu texts are later medieval corruptions, and writes that:
the kingdom proclaimed by Jesus' words and deeds as already present in his ministry.
The third part applies the same criteria of historicity to miracle stories as to other aspects of Jesus' life. Rather than adopting say an exclusively agnostic or Christian perspective or relying on philosophical arguments whether miracles can occur, it poses narrower data-based historical questions. Meier is quoted in a 1997 interview as saying: "The proper stance of a historian is, 'I neither claim beforehand that miracles are possible, nor do I claim beforehand they are not possible.'" Meier finds that Jesus' performance of extraordinary deeds deemed miracles at the time is best supported by the criteria of multiple attestation and the coherence of Jesus' deeds and words. In moving from the global question of miracles to the particular, Meier examines each miracle story by broad category. That examination drives the conclusion that no single theory explains all such stories with equal assurance and applicability. Rather, it is suggested that some stories have no historical basis and that other stories likely go back to events in the life of Jesus . At the global level again, Jesus as healer is as well supported as almost anything about the historical Jesus. In the Gospels, the activity of Jesus as miracle worker looms large in attracting attention to himself and reinforces his eschatological message. Such activity, Meier suggests, might have added to the concern of authorities that culminated in Jesus' death.
Volume 3
Volume 3 places Jesus in the context of his followers, the crowds, and his competitors in first-century Palestine.
Volume 4 deals with the ministry of the historical Jesus in relation to Mosaic Law, such subjects as divorce, oaths, and observance of the Sabbath and purity rules, and the various love commandments in the Gospels.
Volume 5 challenges that consensus and argues instead that only four parables-those of the Mustard Seed, the Evil Tenants, the Talents, and the Great Supper-can be attributed to the historical Jesus with fair certitude.
Critical reception
Antioch and Rome was reviewed in 1984 and 1985. A Marginal Jew vol. 1 was reviewed by Larry W. Hurtado in 1993. A Marginal Jew vol. 3 was reviewed by William Loader in 2002.
