Customer Reviews

A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus: The Roots of the Problem and the Person, Vol. 1

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John Meier's "A Marginal Jew" is the leading study of the historical Jesus of our time. Notwithstanding three sizeable volumes the work is still incomplete, but this reputation is clearly well-deserved. The first volume only deals with the basic contours of his life, but it is the most intelligent discussion of these questions available. Meier, a Catholic priest, reminds us that the historical Jesus is not the real Jesus. For a start we have a radical shortage of information of information about all but a few people in classical times, and Jesus is not one of those lucky few. What he has presented is what a spectrum of theologians and historians would conclude about Jesus if they were forced to provide a basic consensus.

So Meier starts with the sources for Jesus' life, which basically consists of the Gospels. There is a long, thorough discussion of the reference to Jesus in Josephus, from which Meier agrees with most scholars is mostly genuine, with several obvious Christian interpolations. He then discusses other sources, which reveal a very meagre crop. There is Tacitus' reference to Christians, nothing of value in the Talmud, as well as a thorough deflation of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas. Thomas consists of sayings, many of which resemble those in the Gospels. But Thomas' sayings are simpler, and many have concluded that they are more primitive and therefore earlier than the canonical gospels. Meier disagrees. He points that one reason Thomas' order of sayings does not resemble the synoptic gospels is because many of them were remembered orally, not because they proceeded them. He also points out one reason Thomas' sayings appear simpler is because the Gnostic concerns of the author/editor has pared away those elements of the original Gospel saying that were too clear or too eschatological for the author's taste. We then get a discussion of the criteria for deciding what comes from Jesus; embarrassment, discontinuity, multiple attestation and providing a motive for Jesus' execution.

We then turn to Jesus' actual life himself. We start off with a discussion of his name, and then we have a discussion of the infancy narratives. Notwithstanding the fact that Meier is a Catholic priest, by the time he is finished there is not much left of them, or the doctrine of Jesus' virginal conception. The narratives are inaccurate about precisely those childbirth rituals that Mary, the presumed source, would have to know. Both Matthew and Luke use questionable historical elements (the Massacre of the Innocents in Matthew, unattested to by any other source, the census in Luke that could not have happened at the time Luke gives) and give clearly different routes of Joseph and Mary to and from Nazareth and Bethlehem. Even more disconcerting is Meier's later discussion of Jesus' siblings, of which there were at least four brothers and two sisters. For centuries Catholics, seeking to preserve both the eternal virginity of Joseph and Mary, have sought to argue that the references in the gospels to brothers are really to his cousins. This is based on the idea that Hebrew does not distinguish between the two terms. Of course the gospels were written in Greek, which does distinguish the two. Nor were the authors of the New Testament woodenly translating Jesus' Aramaic into Greek. After all Paul refers to brother(s) of the Lord in both Galatians and Corinthians, where he is writing originally in Greek. Josephus refers to James the brother of Jesus, even though he could and did distinguished between brother and cousin. Moreover statements by Jesus such as "Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother," (Matt 12:50) lose their force if the term for sibling is replaced by cousin. The safest assumption is that Jesus' siblings were Mary's children. (It has been argued that they were actually her stepchildren, being Joseph's from a previous marriage. Elsewhere Meier has written while this is not impossible, it is not supported by the gospels--where there is no clear use of the term "stepbrother"--and it is based on a late source, the second century Protoevangelium of James which is patently inaccurate about many Jewish rituals. What is gratuitously asserted can be gratuitously denied.)

Was Jesus illegitimate, as some scholars have speculated? No, the simplest explanation for references to Jesus as "Mary's son," was because the speaker wished to assert Jesus' ordinariness by referring to his ordinary parents. Mary was right near by and Joseph was presumably already dead. Was he married? No again, since while it was unusual, it was not unprecedented, as we can see from the examples of Jeremiah, the Essenes and John the Baptist. What language did Jesus speak? Almost certainly Aramaic, says Meier. If a cosmopolitan author like Josephus had trouble with Greek, it is not likely that the Greek of a marginal villager like Jesus was likely to be any better. Archaeological evidence has confirmed this sceptical attitude towards mass hellenization, as helpfully summarized in James Dunn's "Jesus Remembered." Jesus was probably literate and he was probably a layman. When did Jesus die? Most likely on April 7, 30 CE. He was executed on the eve of Passover. Meier is thorough on all matters but he is especially illuminating on why John, the most mystical Gospel is more accurate on this point than the synoptics. For they claim Jesus was executed on Passover. The answer is that the passage on Mark is a later addition, which we can see by comparison with the surrounding passage, and which Luke and Matthew unfortunately copied. Such is the conclusion to Meier's first volume, the beginning of a most scrupulous, scholarly and well-read journey indeed.

Every once in a while, public attention turns to the person of Jesus of Nazareth. A few years ago, it was the "Jesus Seminar." Lately, Dan Brown's book THE DA VINCI CODE sparked some interest, particularly among the conspiracy minded. The impression that many people have is that the conventional story about Jesus is wrong, and the more established churches don't want you to know it.

What many people haven't been told is that there is a large body of work in recent years which is supportive of the historical accuracy of the Gospels. One such work is John Meier's series A MARGINAL JEW. Meier is a Catholic priest who teaches at Notre Dame. In 1991 he came out with the first volume. It might not be the first book you want to read on the subject, but it's a work that anyone interested in the historical Jesus should tackle. Volume two and three are out, and a fourth and final volume is promised.

Meier's work is nothing if not comprehensive. Volume 1 describes the sources for the life of Jesus, the historicity of those sources, the chronology of Jesus' life, and his background (his family, what languages he spoke, whether he could read, and the like). Meier is particularly good on some of the supposed sources for Jesus' life, such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Peter. As he shows, careful analysis of these documents indicates that they are later than and rely upon the canonical Gospels. Contra people like Crossan, it is highly unlikely that they contain a separate Jesus tradition.

This book is also interesting for a couple of other reasons. First, although the book contains the imprimatur of the Roman Catholic Church (indicating it is free from doctrinal error), Meier actually denies the perpetual virginity of Mary and is noncommittal on the virgin birth (both of which are Catholic dogma, or so I thought). Second, Meier disputes the historicity of portions of the Gospels, particularly the infancy narratives. For example, he thinks it unlikely that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Ben Witherington provides a review of Meier's project up to the second volume in THE JESUS QUEST. Witherington reaches more conservative conclusions while using a similar methodology.

Why even bother trying to learn about the historical Jesus? Why try where so many others have given up or gotten bogged down in disagreement? In his great, academic book, Fr. John Meier recalls Plato: "The unexamined life is not worth living." For the Christian, some things are sacred, but nothing about Yeshu the "marginal" Jew is forbidden in a proper historical examination. And Fr. Meier does just that in this, the first of three volumes. Was Jesus an illegitimate child? Could he read? Did he have brothers and sisters? Why was he "marginal"? What was his early life like?

The scarcity of the evidence can at first be discouraging, but Fr. Meier takes us through the centuries of scholarship and the best available modern evidence to paint us a picture of the young son of Mary and Joseph. Faithless and faithful alike may be unhappy with Meier's conclusions, but his arguments are well-researched and presented. You can read the text and skip the chapter endnotes for a decent academic presentation, or you can delve into the notes and branch off into the cutting edge discussion on the Jesus of history.

Most interesting to me was the fact that the book bears the Imprimatur of Bp. Sheridan, but does not have the Nihil Obstat, or the approval of the Church's censor office. Normally the two go together. Fr. Meier's message may not be popular among modern Christians, Catholic or otherwise, but he's not been censured either. It's a testimony the the impeccability of his scholarship and the validity of his message: The historical Jesus is not the Jesus of faith. He is also not the "real" Jesus, irrecoverable now after 2000 years. He is simply the Jesus that we can recover from "purely historical sources and arguments."

This is the best book on Biblical scholarship I have yet read. Everyone from Anne Rice to Harold Bloom cites John P. Meier as the foremost authority on the "historical Jesus." Meier, a Roman Catholic priest, begins his work by explaining that the "historical Jesus" is not the "real Jesus," and vice versa. One cannot write an accurate "biography" of Jesus (understood in its modern sense) because there is just too little information. What he can do however, is assess the information that we do have, and see what everyone - "Catholic, Protestant, Jew, and agnostic" - can agree on.

Make no mistake; this is a work of genuine scholarship by a university professor - not some book of pop pseudo-science or conspiracy theory, such as Holy Blood, Holy Grail. As such, the casual reader MAY find it a bit dry; it is heavily footnoted and Meier makes reference to all the previous researchers in the same field. However, if you are fascinated by the subject-matter (as I am) it is a genuine page-turner. Although it is listed as being 496 pages long, in reality it is much shorter than that as a lot of the book is taken up by supplementary material - such as footnotes - which I simply skipped.

This is the first volume of an ongoing series of books, and they arrive at an important time. As is often pointed out, most "scholarly" works on Jesus or Christianity (such as Albert Schweitzer's, or the recent disappointing work by Harold Bloom) approach the subject with an openly hostile attitude; they write from emotion and not from fact, rendering their "non-fictional" works unattractive and unconvincing. Now - with the Da Vinci Code movie opening shortly - people are willing to believe just about anything. How refreshing then is it for Meier to try to tackle the problem without seeking to AFFIRM OR DENY anyone's faith! The result is sure to offend fundamentalists and atheists alike, but it is surely a fascinating read.

This book maintains solid research and well thought out arguements, while being fun reading. Of all the modern books on the historical Jesus, this is both the most scholarly and best written. My only criticism is that which has already been mentioned: you have to read the text in the chapters and again in the endnotes (which are at least as long as the chapters) to get the full value.

From the beginning to the end, this book will enthrall those who are attempting to understand Jesus and his times. I could not put the book down until I completed it. For the scholar, it provides abundant resources. The inquisitive readers, like myself, can skip over the footnotes, without losing the intellectual flavor of this brilliant work. It is spellbindingly honest in its analysis. Thank you John Meier for this wonderful work. Book two is equally brilliant. I anxiously await the promised book three.

I have just finished reading Meier's fantastic first volume. I picked it up at my university library after hearing many great things about it and thought I would check it out.

This book, while scholarly, is extremely fun to read. Meier does not beat around the bush, but is extremely forward in his methodology and the meat of each chapter. He carefully examines all points, and even discusses some of the fringe scholar's findings, such as Barbara Thiering. It never gets dull as we uncover findings about this marginal Jew that influenced the world.

From my reading I did not feel like his Catholic background contributed to any flaws in the text. If you happen to be Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox he addresses subjects that would be important to them though. Such as Mary's perpetual virginity, which he discusses lucidly and with poise. Obviously it is a much later idea that was not held universally for the first four hundred years of Christianity, and therefore not essential for the Church.

But my one complaint is that the "footnotes" are endnotes, and it got annoying of having to flip back and forth while reading. Other than that this is a finely researched book, and is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn about Jesus, theist or naturalist. Especially if they desire to be informed on where mainstream Biblical Criticism is, because often the representatives of the "New Atheist" movement (Dawkins, etc) are poorly informed when it comes to Biblical Scholarship or Theology. And Meier's contribution is essential reading.

As an Eastern Orthodox Christian though, I would highly recommend this text to other Orthodox. I often find that because of Orthodoxy's mystical tendencies we often forget how human Jesus really was. Or even how Jewish he was.

I think like all things it is necessary to have balance, and the more we can learn from Jesus the better we can be as people. I think that in the current quest for the "historical" Jesus, all scholars have something to bring to the table, whether it be Wright, Borg, Meier, Crossan or Sanders. But of course, at the same time, this cannot obscure the living relationship that Christians have with Jesus, whether they fall to the Left or Right.

This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the quest for the historical Jesus. This book is an introduction to Meier's series: A Marginal Jew. Meier's methodology is clear and well thought out. Meier takes the historical methodology formulated in the first chapters of the book and then applies them to the early life of Jesus (to set the reader up for Volume 2 which deals with Jesus' public ministry). Meier also examines the sources that historians deal with when constructing the historical Jesus. I'd give this book more than 5 stars if I could.

John Meier's 1st book in a series of what is currently at three volumes is a good scholarly look at the Historical roots of Jesus. The scholarship in the book is impeccable. Meier gives an excellent survey and sketch of scholarship on each of the issue he addresses and then ends each point with his personal conclusions. The annotated footnotes problem make up at least a third of the length of the book. The biggest problem I had with this book is the overall delievery of the information, it reads like an encyclopedia. I would say easily that more than half of the book, particularly the first half, drones on and on about topics that really do nothing to advance the subject at hand. It is on this fact that I must first recommend Wright or Witherington over Meier, but at no offense to the scholarship. I'm a history/theology major and I have to read material presented like this all the time, though I can't lay that on a more general reader. This aside though, there are some gems in the book. The introduction and overall set up of the series found in chapter one are very good. His chapter on Josephus is good as well. For me the most interesting chapter in the book is chapter nine that looks at the languages, education and society that Jesus grew up and lived in; an often ignored piece in the history of Jesus. This book is great if one is seriously interested in deep scholarship on Jesus, Meier notes in his introduction that he's really writing it for the college graduate. But unfortunately this is also a huge fault of the book as far as reaching the general reader to whom I recommend Wright or Witherington first.

This is an objective attempt to develop what secular history has to say about Jesus, the man who lived at the start of the first century.

Because the writer is a scholarly man of christian faith he is keenly aware of the need to take great care not to taint the project with his own faith based predispositions. He does this well.

He explores historical documents other than those traditionally accepted by the Christian Theo/Political powers. Not to say he does this irreverently but with the obvious motivation of sincere conscientious study of a very delicate subject.

Another thing he does well, considering he is one of the foremost Catholic scholars in the world, is write to the common man as well as the scholar. I am a common man. I am not a scholar. I was drawn to this book by a desire to understand my faith tradition more fully. I now do.

I will follow Tom Meirs series. This was Vol 1. and I will obtain Vol. 2 as well as Vol. 3 when it is released! .