John Paul Meier (August 8, 1942 – October 18, 2022) was an American biblical scholar and Roman Catholic priest.
[2] His book Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity (which he co-authored with fellow Catholic scholar Raymond E. Brown) is considered by many scholars a seminal work about early Christianity, while his multi-volume work A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus is hailed as Meier's magnum opus.
[1] Meier was ordained a Roman Catholic priest at the Altar of the chair in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, in 1967, and was made an Honorary Prelate of the Papal Household (Monsignor) by Pope John Paul II in 1994.
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" (v. 1, 1991, p. 1).
He presents further considerations and arguments, including those of Johann Maier (1978) who maintains that the Yeshu texts are later medieval corruptions, and writes that: On the other hand, Meier accepts the partial authenticity of the Testimonium Flavianum by Josephus in the Antiquities of the Jews, eliminating what he thinks are Christians' interpolations in it; he also accepts the authenticity of the reference of Josephus to James the Just and Tacitus's reference to Jesus in the Annals.
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.
In the Gospels, the activity of Jesus as miracle worker looms large in attracting attention to himself and reinforces his eschatological message.
[12] Volume 3 (2001) places Jesus in the context of his followers, the crowds, and his competitors (including Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Samaritans, scribes, and proto-Zealots) in first-century Palestine.
[13] Volume 4 (2009) 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.
[20] In his book Jesus 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".