A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume II - Mentor, Message, and Miracles

A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus

by John P. Meier

This book is the second volume in John Meier's  masterful trilogy on the life of Jesus. In it he  continues his quest for the answer to the greatest  puzzle of modern religious Who was  Jesus? To answer this Meier imagines the following   "Suppose that a Catholic, a  Protestant, a Jew, and an agnostic were locked up in the  bowels of the Harvard Divinity School library... and  not allowed to emerge until they had hammered out  a consensus document on who Jesus of Nazareth was  and what he intended...". A Marginal  Jew is what Meier thinks that document  would reveal. Volume one concluded with Jesus  approaching adulthood. Now, in this volume, Meier  focuses on the Jesus of our memory and the development  of his ministry. To begin, Meier identifies  Jesus's mentor, the one person who had the greatest  single influence on him, John the Baptist. All of the  Baptist's fiery talk about the end of time had a  powerful effect on the young Jesus and the  formulation of his key symbol of the coming of the  "kingdom of God." And, finally, we are given a  full investigation of one of the most striking  manifestations of Jesus's Jesus's practice  of exorcisms, hearings, and other miracles. In all,  Meier brings to life the story of a man, Jesus,  who by his life and teaching gradually made himself  marginal even to the marginal society that was  first century Palestine.

Genres: Religion, History, Theology, Christianity, Nonfiction, New Testament, Catholic

1136 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

John Paul Meier is a Biblical scholar and Catholic priest. He attended St. Joseph's Seminary and College (B.A., 1964), Gregorian University [Rome] (S.T.L, 1968), and the Biblical Institute [Rome] (S.S.D., 1976).

Meier is the author of nine books and more than 60 scholarly articles. He was editor of The Catholic Biblical Quarterly and president of the Catholic Biblical Association.

Meier is Professor of New Testament in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Before coming to Notre Dame, he was Professor at The Catholic University of America.

Reviews

[Blair Hodges · Rating 4 out of 5]

The enlightened Thomas Jefferson took a pair of scissors to the New Testament, cutting out all the objectionable, fanciful miracle tales in order to show Jesus in his rational light as a great moral teacher. Morton Smith took a magnifying glass to the gospels, and to other ancient texts, to make Jesus the magician appear from thin air. More recently Jesus has been painted as a kindhearted rabbi preaching a message of love. Of course, such portraits of Jesus seem extremely relevant at the time they are drawn, but as John Meyer notes, perhaps nothing ages as fast as relevance. His goal is to separate the wheat from the chaff and discover through strict historical analysis what sort of picture the original scripts portray.

Volume two of his series is a remarkable (and remarkably thick) book on the quest for the "historical Jesus." The author raises and tries to answer questions about what can and can't be confidently said about the historical person, Jesus, based on a specifically outlined methodology of historical inquiry. "Modest data dictate modest questions and claims," he notes (p. 517), and the book is suffused with this attitude. "Modest" doesn't mean the questions aren't difficult or important, but that the data available helps dictate what can reasonably be said about the historical Jesus, as opposed to the Jesus of confessional or de-confessional faith.

At times the narrative gets bogged down in what feels like nit-picky debates over particular words, phrases, sources and claims. Meier did his best to minimize excessive pedantry by using substantive footnotes at the end of each chapter. The footnotes can be extremely long at times, for instance, ch. 17 is 11 pages long, the footnotes (in a smaller font) comprise 12 pages! This is a strength in that Meier has tried to be as thorough and fair as possible, but a weakness in that the footnotes can begin to feel like dead weight interruptions. In volume two Meier focuses on the public ministry of Jesus, beginning with his relation to John the Baptist, his proclamation of a Kingdom of God (both coming and partly present) and the miracle stories. In the end he discovers that a watered-down miracle-less Jesus doesn't wash in the sources. He refrains from pronouncing an opinion on whether actual miracles occurred (he calls this a theological question). "Those who claim to be 'only' historians must wait outside the confessional door" (p. 113). He focuses instead on whether the miracle stories can be attributed to the earliest sources rather than being later creations by the early church to venerate their leader. It's really quite a remarkable book with centuries of scholarship and argument behind it. I highly recommend it.

[John Alvord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been a devotee (of sorts) of Marcus Borg and J. Dominic Crossan, I am now a (current) devotee of John Meier. His work is truly magisterial. I can only agree with Burton Visotky's appraisal that "A Marginal Jew is methodologically impeccable and shot through with brilliance." His work is decidedly non-ideological (unlike Borg and Crossan), balanced and fair; I believe that the four volume series will be the standard by which future work on the Jesus of history will be measured for years to come. Not a quick read by any means (1,300 pages down, about 1,600 more to go), but well worth the time for anyone who is passionate and serious about what we can--and cannot--know about the historical figure who more than anyone else has shaped and continues to shape our collective consciousness.

[Andrew Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well too much for the amateur historian. This is a real McCoy, no wonder with its extensive comments to be studied by PhD candidates.
The Kingdom of God is a central part of Jesus’ proclamation. He must have purposely made it so, since in general it cannot be said to be central to Old Testament or to the Qumran literature.
The Lord’s Prayer is an unique example of prayer attributed to Jesus. It stands as a sole exception.
The meaning of the first half of Lord’s prayer is: Father, reveal yourself in all your power and glory [= hallowed be your name] by coming to rule as king [= your kingdom come].

[David Szatkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of five in the series. If you do not have a background in the historical critical study of the Bible, volumes one will be very valuable to you. The first volume lays out methodology, sources, historical questions, etc. that are critical to understanding the historical research in this volume. This volume looks what events in the Gospels seem to be part of the historical life of Jesus and which events are probably from the early Church or the evangelists and why. This is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to understand the scriptures better.

[Claudio · Rating 3 out of 5]

In questo secondo volume il teologo cattolico vuole dimostrare che Gesù fu anche un taumaturgo ed esorcista.
Ritiene che i racconti dei miracoli contenuti nei vangeli corrispondono a fatti risalenti al Gesù storico (anche se non dichiara di ritenere che siano realmente accaduti) .
Dopo la lettura del primo volume mi ero chiesto come un cattolico potesse accettare i risultati della critica neotestamentaria come fa il Meimer senza entrare in contrasto con la propria fede. Neanche in questo volume affronta il problema e il contrasto è più evidente. Infatti per l'autore Gesù fu un Ebreo marginale che seguendo l'esempio di Giovanni Battista si dedicò ad annunciare l'avvento del Regno di Dio e per il successo dei suoi esorcismi e guarigioni ritenne che il Regno era già in atto. Il regno era quello atteso in terra di Israele ed era rivolto agli ebrei. Nel terzo volume affronta il tema del messaggio di Gesù.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly magnificent book. Less partisan than other historical Jesus studies.

One of Meier’s theses is that Jesus began his ministry as a disciple of John. I summarize his argument here: https://kevinbinz.com/2018/09/11/jesu...

For a shorter read from a comparable perspective, see Ehrman’s Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium. While 90% of their conclusions overlap, one interesting divergence is that Ehrman thinks Jesus’ reputation as a miracle worker accrued after his life; Meier thinks he had this reputation among his contemporaries.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skipped big chunks of this one, not just the very scholarly and detailed notes, but also large portions of the central—Meier does a fine job analyzing the ins and outs of the gospel stories as they have come down to us and trying to ascertain which ones (or which parts of them) may actually have a historical source in the historical Jesus. But unless the reader wants encyclopedic knowledge of these “events,” it simply becomes too much, and too much that follows the same argumentative tracks, after a while.

[Shannon Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I read this over 20 years ago, but I remember appreciating his scholarship, but disagreeing with many of his conclusions. I'd refer people to N.T. Wright or E.P. Sanders.

[Jacob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I quit reading this after about 300 pages. I find the idea that we can know what Jesus said with any certainty to be absurd from the stance of science. The author accepts words/phrases based on a tower of assumptions that will come down quickly when one proves false. I found myself coming up with several other possibilities that could be just as likely. I think we need to accept that we don't have any proof of Q, M, L, or any of the theories of who looked at what. If we suppose that Luke used sources, as he said he did, then it seems likely that he made choices about what history he thought was right. That doesn't mean he chose the right ones, but it does seem to cause problems for L and other theories that Meier puts forth.

Beyond this rant, his biggest problem is that it is all discussion in the abstract. Why should we even care which Gospel has the more authentic saying of Jesus? This book just goes through one saying after another of Jesus and picks what was the real saying w/o ever moving to why this is important. I mean lets talk about The Kingdom of God...not just define what actual words Jesus said in the "Kingdom of God" sayings. At this point it just becomes a waste of time and paper.

Finally, his use of history/sources to prove what is authentic is very short sighted. He does not integrate other fields into his research, and I often felt that some basic reading in literary theory would make his distinctions unimportant. He frequently brings up differences in the text, or argues for one word here or there, that honestly don't make a difference in the saying or idea. We also have to deal with an author translating a saying from Aramaic into Greek, which causes him even more problems; not to mention that Jesus probably said/did a lot of similar things as he traveled. Meier wants to expect growth in Jesus, so why couldn't his sayings/teachings develop over time? Think The Lord's Prayer in Luke vs. Matthew as an example.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Volume II, Meier continues his survey on the historical Jesus by tackling three new areas: a). the Mentor relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and John the Baptist, b). Jesus' Message centralized on the Kingdom of God now-but-not-yet, and, c). the Miracle workings of Jesus of Nazareth (exorcisms, healings, raising of the dead, and so-called "nature miracles."). A conclusion in crude and brief terms: Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish eschatological prophet (much like John), but taught both the immediacy and end-time eschalon punctuating this with miracles (most notably exorcism and healings). Meier stresses that the miracles are strongly attested, but that it is the claim and historical event that he is arguing for, not the philosophical/theological conclusion that a miracle actually happened. In this work, we have a strong rebuff of the 1st quests liberalized moralized Jesus (i.e. eschatological and miracle working); an excellent work in the 3rd quest view of Jesus supporting x3 facts that we can know about the historical Jesus (i.e. he was contemporaneous and had relationship with John the Baptist who baptized him, Jesus taught the Kingdom of God, and Jesus was viewed by his contemporaries as a miracle-worker).

[Brent Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monster-sized volume - too big to be reader-friendly really. Could have been divided into two or three books.

Meier is so thorough in his treatment of Jesus' miracles - he more than satisfies your curiosity about the scholarship and evidence and positions of different thinkers. In the process of being so thorough, I came to respect and trust Meier's point of view and value the exegesis.

I didn't read every word of this. The footnotes are something to return to as a reference resource. I particularly valued the later chapters on raising the dead, resurrection etc. - the major miracles. Meier concludes that most or many of these stories have their origins traceable back to Jesus - which I agree with.

Overall a very rich and satisfying resource!

[Chad Gibbons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible. Meier has taken the last two hundred years of historical Jesus research and condensed it into (now) roughly 3,000 pages across 4 volumes. In this, his second volume in the ground-breaking series, Meier turns the historical methodology he outlined in volume one onto John the Baptist, Jesus' message of the Kingdom of God and lastly his miracles. These volumes have set themselves up as the standard for historical Jesus studies today and serve as the culmination of a hundred years of study in the discipline. The criteria for his findings are laid out at the beginning and the author diligently follows these criteria throughout the series, come what may. Anyone interested in the subject of historical Jesus studies should read this.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh good. 1100 pages. I really was starting to think he was too laconic for a scholar. He finally, in vol. 2, gets to some ACTUAL Historical Jesus stuff... relationship to John the Baptist, preaching (only Kingdom of God), and Miracles (with a massive massive defense on nearly every page for his historical treatment of miracles. It's cute how at this point, he assures the reader there will only be one more volume (there's currently four with a fifth almost ready for print).

[John]

nonfiction,theology

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second volume.
Erudite, compelling.
A balanced and inspirational demonstration of the contribution of historical criticism to our appreciation of the Gospels.

[Cliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Barely got past chapter 1, then gave it back to the library. Going to have to purchase this one.

[Kathleen Basi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes me a year and a half to wade through one of Meier's books, but it's worth the time to see my faith and my understanding grow.