The Reverend Dr. John Paul Meier | |
|---|---|
| Church | Honorary Prelate of thePapal Household byPope John Paul II in 1994 |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1967 inSaint Peter's Basilica,Rome |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1942-08-08)August 8, 1942 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | October 18, 2022(2022-10-18) (aged 80) South Bend, Indiana, U.S. |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic,Latin Church |
| Residence | University of Notre Dame,Indiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Priest, Professor ofTheology at theUniversity of Notre Dame,Biblical Studies, author ofA Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (5 vols.) |
| Alma mater | St. Joseph's Seminary and College (B.A.) Pontifical Gregorian University (S.T.L.) Pontifical Biblical Institute (S.S.D.) |
John Paul Meier (August 8, 1942 – October 18, 2022) was an Americanbiblical scholar andRoman Catholic priest. He was author of the seriesA Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (5 v.), six other books, and more than 70 articles for peer-reviewed or solicited journals or books.[1]
Meier was widely regarded as one of the leading scholars of thehistorical Jesus andearly Christianity during his life.[2] His bookAntioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity (which he co-authored with fellow Catholic scholarRaymond E. Brown) is considered by many scholars a seminal work about early Christianity, while his multi-volume workA Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus is hailed as Meier'smagnum opus.[2]
Meier was born inNew York City. He attendedSt. Joseph's Seminary and College (B.A., Philosophy, 1964),Dunwoodie, Yonkers, New York,Gregorian University,Rome; (S.T.L., 1968), and theBiblical Institute, Rome (S.S.D., 1976). Meier was William K. Warren Professor of Theology,Emeritus, at theUniversity of Notre Dame, Indiana. His fields includedbiblical studies andChristianity and Judaism inantiquity.[1][3]
Before the appointment to Notre Dame in 1999, he taught at St. Joseph Seminary, Dunwoodie, for 12 years and was professor of New Testament at theCatholic University of America for 14 years.[1] Meier wasordained aRoman Catholic priest at the Altar of the chair inSt. Peter's Basilica,Rome, in 1967, and was made anHonorary Prelate of thePapal Household (Monsignor) byPope John Paul II in 1994.[1] In retirement, Meier continued to offer courses at Notre Dame. He was working on a prospective volume 6 of the seriesA Marginal Jew at the time of his death.[1]
Meier died in South Bend, Indiana on October 18, 2022, aged 80, leaving his 6th volume unfinished.[4][5] His funeral took place at the chapel ofSt. Joseph's Seminary and College and was presided by CardinalTimothy M. Dolan.[6] His personal research library and papers were donated toSt. Joseph's Seminary and College.
Antioch and Rome is a co-work of Meier and his fellow Catholic scholarRaymond E. Brown analyses the history and development of early Christianity in the cities ofAntioch andRome, using a vast array of both Christian and Pagan sources.[7]
John P. Meier's seriesA Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus begins by invoking the methods of modernhistorical research to "recover, recapture, or reconstruct" the "historical Jesus." Meier suggests that such research might admit agreement ofCatholic,Protestant,Jewish, andagnostic scholars as to "whoJesus ofNazareth was and what he intended" (v. 1, 1991, p. 1).[8]
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 ofJesus as to formative years, "external" influences (language, education, and socioeconomic status), and "internal" influences (family ties and marital and lay status). The volume concludes with a survey ofJesus' life chronology.[9]
On the question of references toJesus in the Talmud, Meier considers the thesis ofJoseph Klausner (1925) that some very few rabbinic sources, none earlier than about the late 2nd or early 3rd century, contain traces of thehistorical Jesus. He presents further considerations and arguments, including those ofJohann Maier (1978) who maintains that theYeshu texts are later medieval corruptions, and writes that:
On the other hand, Meier accepts the partial authenticity of theTestimonium Flavianum byJosephus in theAntiquities of the Jews, eliminating what he thinks are Christians' interpolations in it; he also accepts the authenticity of the reference of Josephus toJames the Just andTacitus's reference to Jesus in theAnnals.
Volume 2 (1994) is in three main parts:
The kingdom of God in the second part (pp. 235–506) is examined as to:
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 (pp. 510–11, 517). 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.'"[11] 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 (p. 630). 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 (such as thecursing of the fig tree) and that other stories likely go back to events in the life of Jesus (though theological judgment is required to affirm any miracle) (p. 968). 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 hiseschatological message. Such activity, Meier suggests, might have added to the concern of authorities that culminated in Jesus' death (p. 970).[12]
Volume 3 (2001) places Jesus in the context of his followers, the crowds, and his competitors (includingPharisees,Sadducees,Essenes,Samaritans,scribes, and proto-Zealots) in first-centuryPalestine.[13]
Volume 4 (2009) deals with the ministry of the historical Jesus in relation toMosaic Law, such subjects as divorce, oaths, and observance of the Sabbath and purity rules, and the various love commandments in the Gospels.[14]
Volume 5 (2016) challenges scholarly consensus about the parables 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.[15]
According to his profile on the University of Notre Dame website, Meier was working on a sixth volume at the time he died. This volume would have addressed the titles used by and of the historical Jesus. The volume was left unfinished: its status and whether it will still be published after Meier's death is currently unclear.[16][6]
Meier was widely regarded as the foremost Catholic expert on the historical figure of Jesus on an international level.[17]Antioch and Rome was reviewed in 1984 and 1985.[18]A Marginal Jew vol. 1 was reviewed byLarry W. Hurtado in 1993.[19]A Marginal Jew vol. 3 was reviewed by William Loader in 2002.[20]
In his bookJesus of Nazareth: Holy Week,Pope Benedict XVI describes Meier's work as "a model of historical-critical exegesis, in which the significance and the limits of the method emerge clearly".[21]
