His research showed that the search for ‘the historical Law’ is as difficult as the search for the Historical Jesus. The main topics of study in the present volume are: Jesus and the Law: Jesus’ teaching on divorce his prohibition of oaths Jesus and the Sabbath Jesus and purity laws and the love commandments. It must be noted that Meier is not a member of the Jesus Seminar and is quite critical of its conclusions.

He finds five criteria of historicity especially useful: embarrassment, discontinuity, multiple attestation, coherence with material judged to be historical on other grounds, and capacity to throw light on Jesus’ rejection and execution (13–17).

Near the beginning, Meier revisits the subject of criteria of historical authenticity. What, then, are the main conclusions of the present volume? I have not found a single conclusion reached on grounds that I would question. Some of these footnotes have as much weight as entire chapters of the books of some scholars.Įqually as impressive as Meier’s erudition is his critical acumen. The reader may well be tempted to skip reading the footnotes and focus only on the text, but to do that would mean missing a wealth of acute observations. This volume, which consumed six years, along with the three earlier volumes in this series represents the most impressive work of biblical scholarship that this reviewer has ever read. IV: Law and Love (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009). MEIER, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus.

John p meier a marginal jew