A Marginal Jew, Volume Three: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Marginal Jew Rethinking the Historical Jesus) by John P. Meier (PDF)

Description

The third volume of the author’s monumental study of the historical Jesus goes beyond the person of Jesus himself to offer incisive portraits of hisboth his followers and such rival groups as the Pharisees and Zealots and examines his ministry in terms of its role and influence amid the political, social, and religious movements of his era.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Amazon.com Review No man is an island, not even Jesus, as John Meier writes in Companions and Competitors, the third installment of his four-part series, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. The first volume, an overview of Jesus’ background, chronology, and early years, was followed by a second that analyzed Jesus’ most important messages and deeds. Here, Meier explains his conviction that “No human being is adequately understood if he or she is considered in isolation from other human beings.” He leads readers through the concentric circles of companions (including the followers who became his disciples and apostles) and competitors (such as Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Samaritans) that shaped Jesus’ life in first-century Palestine. Meier, a priest and New Testament scholar at Notre Dame, writes in the engaging, methodical style of an astringently avuncular professor: chapters are carefully outlined, with straightforward headings such as “Points of Comparison and Contrast,” “Caveats on Comparisons,” and “The Sheer Oddness of Jesus”). His findings, particularly his explanation of “the essentially Jewish nature” of Jesus’ relationships, are a valuable addition to the field of Historical Jesus scholarship. –Michael Joseph Gross From Library Journal Meier, a Roman Catholic priest and professor of New Testament at University of Notre Dame, as well as president of the Catholic Biblical Association and general editor of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, here provides the third of a projected four-volume scholarly investigation of the historical Jesus and the context in which he taught and died. The current volume continues the rigorous historian’s approach of the preceding volumes, which investigated Jesus’ background and early years and the statements and deeds of his public ministry. In this volume, Meier focuses on those around Jesus: the crowds, the disciples, the 12, his Jewish competitors, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, the Samaritans, the Scribes, the Herodians, and the Zealots. This volume concludes with an integrative chapter focusing on how Jesus’ Elijah-like prophetic ministry and the identity he created for his movement set him apart from those around him. Meier also prepares for his final volume, which will focus on Jesus’ enigmatic teaching on the law, his riddle-speech in parable and self-definition, and his enigmatic death. Meier’s scholarship is detailed and thorough, supported by substantive footnotes that allow the text to read easily. Both a reference volume and a book for leisurely reading, this is essential for academic, theological, and large public libraries. Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Coll., Farmville, VA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist *Starred Review* Meier is a persistent critic of John Dominic Crossan, Burton Mack, Robert Funk, and others associated with the Jesus Seminar–scholars he criticizes for not taking the Jewishness of Jesus seriously; for example, he scores Crossan’s attention to the issue as “political correctness.” Despite the dismissive tone, his argument is important; and he puts forth substantial material here to enable readers to make their own judgments about the relative importance of Hebrew and Hellenistic influences on Jesus. Meier summarizes the first two volumes of A Marginal Jew and forecasts the next while meticulously documenting his understanding of the relations between the historical Jesus, his historical companions, and his historical competitors–Pharisees, Sadduccees, Essenes, and others. He reads the companions in concentric circles, moving from the crowds that followed Jesus to the inner circle of disciples. It is possible to be skeptical of Meier’s multiple attestations, for there is virtually no material outside the Christian community from which to draw information about Jesus, and still benefit from his close readings of available texts. If it seems puzzling that Meier should take four volumes and more than 2,000 pages to make a case he says is obvious to anyone who approaches the issues and materials with common sense, be assured that the only thing common about Meier’s project is fascination with the character of Jesus. Those who share that will find this dense, academic work worth their effort. Steven SchroederCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Catholic priest and biblical scholar John P. Meier wrote in the “Acknowledgements” section of this 2001 book, “thanks must go first of all to the patient readers who have waited so long for this third installment of the series. Right after them must come the various doctors and surgeons who have seen me through a number of serious illnesses and operations that were a major reason why the appearance of this volume has been so long delayed. To the doctors who … performed major surgery on my back I owe a special debt of gratitude. That I can sit at my computer and type these words in comfort is all their doing.”He adds in the introduction, “The first two volumes of ‘A Marginal Jew’ sought to lay the groundwork for this pivotal examination of Jesus the Jew and his Jewish relationships… Only at the end of these two volumes… can we now begin to widen the spotlight to include the Jewish individuals and groups that were interacting with him as he traveled around Galilee and Judea proclaiming his message on the kingdom and faith-healing. As the spotlight widens, many interrelated questions emerge: Who traveled with Jesus on these journeys?… was there some relatively stable group of core adherents such as the Twelve?… was he interested in forming a relatively closed, sectarian group, in some ways not unlike Qumran?… These are the types … of questions that Volume Three will seek to answer in order to make ‘Jesus the Jew’ something more than a politically correct slogan.” (Pg. 4-5)He continues, “The goal of this work is a reasonably reliable sketch of the historical Jesus… the ‘historical Jesus’ is that Jesus whom we can recover or reconstruct by using the scientific tools of modern historical research. The ‘historical Jesus… coincides only partially with the real Jesus of Nazareth… If the historical Jesus is not the real Jesus, neither is he the ‘theological Jesus’ investigated by theologians according to their own proper methods and criteria… the quest for the historical Jesus must be carefully distinguished from Christology…” (Pg. 9)He observes, “In later rabbinic literature, one hears of students ‘following’… their rabbi, but not in the sense applied to Jesus’ disciples in the Gospels… Jesus peremptory call to follow was open-ended not only geographically but also temporally. It did not set any time limit on the obligation to follow him. There was no course of studies, the completion of which would release a disciple from constant attendance upon Jesus. Becoming a disciple of Jesus was not a temporary appointment , after which the disciple could hope to be promoted to equality with Jesus as a younger colleague.” (Pg. 54-55)He notes, “in the first Christian generation there was a tradition that the family of Jesus did not believe in his mission during his public ministry. In Mark 3:31-35… the mother and brothers of Jesus come to see Jesus only to be rebuffed… He proclaims that the attentive crowd around him is his true family… Mark himself makes this scene even more negative … where he depicts [3:21] the family of Jesus setting out to seize him because they think he has gone mad.” (Pg. 69)He points out, “Luke’s picture in 8:1-3 of unchaperoned women sharing the preaching tours of a celibate male teacher is discontinuous with both the Judaism of the time and with what Luke presents… of the first-generation Christian mission. It seems that Luke… preserves a valuable historical memory in 8:1-3: certain devoted women followers accompanied Jesus on his journeys around Galilee and finally up to Jerusalem and actually supported him and his entourage with their own money, food, or property.” (Pg. 76)He states, “That I should have to argue that there was a special group of twelve followers around Jesus during the public ministry make strike some readers as strange… Far from variations in the lists of the Twelve disproving the group’s existence during Jesus’ lifetime, the Synoptists’ disagreements within the basic agreement of their lists argue for a primitive oral tradition that underwent some changes before the Gospels were written. Actually… there is only one basic difference in the names: for the ‘Thaddeus’ … in Mark and Matthew, Luke… has ‘Jude [or Judas] of James’… Otherwise… even the basic order of the names is the same.” (Pg. 128-130) Later, however, he rejects the identification of the toll collector ‘Levi’ in Mark and Luke with the ‘Matthew’ in the Matthean Gospel.” (Pg. 201)He adds, “The reasons for the swift disappearance or total absence of the Twelve from most of the NT are unclear. Perhaps some members of the Twelve…died in the first decade after the crucifixion; and no attempt was made to replenish a foundational group that was not viewed as ongoing in the church. Once this happened… it made little sense to continue to speak of the Twelve in regard to the present situation of the church.” (Pg. 147)He suggests, “It is within this overarching hope for the regathering in the end of time of ALL Israel, all twelve tribes, that Jesus’ choice of an inner circle of twelve disciples must be understood… Jesus was consciously performing such a power-laden, prophetic act when he constituted the Twelve.” (Pg. 153)He suggests, “If Jesus’ hobnobbing with toll collectors and sinners upset the stringently pious, Jesus’ traveling entourage of women followers … probably disturbed them even more—especially since some, if not all, of the women apparently followed Jesus without benefit of husbands as chaperons. Strangely, these women … are never explicitly called ‘disciples’ by the evangelists… the women proved themselves disciples in deed if not in word not only by the economic support they gave Jesus during his journeys but also by their following him even to the cross, after the male disciples had betrayed, denied, or abandoned him.” (Pg. 247)He acknowledges, “The basic fact that the historical Jesus claimed to work miracles and that certain actions performed by him were hailed by his followers as miracles during his lifetime is easily established by the criteria of historicity. But to move beyond that global affirmation to discern which individual miracle stories may actually go back to startling actions performed by Jesus is extremely difficulty… with a certain umber of miracle stories falling into the limbo of … ’not clear’…” (Pg. 336)He states, “to claim that Jesus never spoke of the general resurrection is to … miss a subtle but important point. To be sure, at the heart of Jesus’ proclamation was the kingdom of God… Jesus’ thought and action aimed squarely at convincing and converting those who were … at risk of final condemnation… This main goal of this mission, and not speculation about the fate of the long-since departed, naturally occupied most of his attention and preaching… In contrast, the idea of a general resurrection, by definition involved the dead, not the living… Accordingly, the resurrection would be a matter for God, not Jesus, to take care of.” (Pg. 438)He points out, “At Qumran, we meet with various rules that take a strongly puritanical stance toward sexual activity… We do not hear the same detailed regulations coming from Jesus. As a matter of fact, detailed regulations on moral and legal matters do not loom large in the sayings of the historical Jesus. Even more remarkably, apart from the two special cases of divorce and celibacy… relatively little of the Gospel material … deals with sexual matters… Perhaps one reason … is that, apart from the two special cases of divorce and celibacy, where he diverged from mainstream Judaism, his views WERE those of mainstream Judaism.” (Pg. 503)He summarizes, “A Jewish layman from Nazareth layman from Nazareth… a woodworker with no professional education as … a student of the Law… he harked back to the ancient tradition of the oral prophets of Israel rather than to the more recent tradition of learned scribes … Jesus seems to have combined in his ministry a number of different religious roles: an eschatological, miracle-working prophet…a religious guru who gathered male and female disciples around him and had them follow him on his itinerant ministry… a wisdom teacher and spinner of parables who taught the common people, and… a prophet who made at least implicit claims about being the Messiah. Such claims may have led to his execution … under the accusation of trying to make himself ‘the King of the Jews.’” (Pg. 523-524)Later, he asserts, “it is hopelessly anachronistic to talk about Jesus being a Zealot or even about his being sympathetic to the Zealots…” (Pg. 565) He adds, “all too often Jesus is portrayed as an angry social rebel emerging from a seething cauldron of intolerable social and economic injustice. Such a portrait… gives the historical Jesus a type of social conscience and political concern for which there is precious little proof in the Gospels.” (Pg. 629)This book will be “must reading” for anyone seriously studying the historical Jesus.

⭐The 3rd volume keeps de methodological rigor of the first two. Accordingly, objective arguments and rational discussion are common place. The author has no problem when a question is not clear enough to emit a judgment of non liquet, not clear. Indeed, the book is not addressed to those seeking faith, but to those seeking historical rigour as much as possible.Concerning the contents, in the first part Meier addresses Jesus followers in three concentric circles. The first one is the general populace that attended Jesus preaching. No special commitment was on their side, and they were equally supporters and enemies, poor’s and riches, men and women, etc. The second strata were those committed to Jesus but without leaving their homes and livelihood. These were the ones offering home to rest to Jesus and their companions in their travels around Galilee (Mary and other women, the host in Jerusalem offering room for the last meal, for instance). These may had been rich people to offer such a huge infrastructure, because hosting Jesus and his wandering companions was not a cheaper thing to do: beds, food, water, clothes and other facilities were required (considering Jesus was totally unconcerned for material maintenance). Finally, the inner circle of followers were the disciples, being the 12 the closest ones. These were explicitly call and chosen by Jesus. According to the Gospels, also women were close disciples of Jesus, although not one of the 12. Certainly, no narrative relating the call of a women is depicted in the Gospels, but despite this narrative in the Gospels show women in the group, so they may be counted as disciples. On the other hand, is difficult to believe that any woman could join the group without the explicit or implicit agreement of Jesus. Still, this strange companion should cause an impact in Galilee: a single man wandering, who wanted the children to stay with him, with both single and married man, some of them living families and obligations behind, mixed with women without a concrete status; entering houses were they stayed the night together, or sleeping in the camps.The second part is devoted to the competitors: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Qumran, Samaritans, Escribes, Herodions. I found specially interesting the chapters devoted to Pharisees, were a historical background is depicted. I had the impression they were a kind of satanic sect, but after reading the book I see them with a more objective and documented light. Also, the comparation with the Essenes and Qumran is very clever. Usually, authors stress similarities with Qumran and Jesus, but there also huge and insurmountable dissimilarities. To signal only one: Qumran was a sect with strict observation about who could be accepted, what he had to do to become a full member, what he had to do with his personal wealth… To say nothing of their eschatological expectations: they waited for a final combat between the sons of the light (themselves, obviously), and the sons of the night (the other ones). But Jesus never established and organized protocol to accept disciples: he just call them or left them join the company. Jesus never asked for sharing the money of the disciples, and did not distinguish between a full membership an another kind. Still, Jesus was a wandering prophet seeking to mix with sinners, not an illuminate seeking the fuga mundi, away form the world, in a monastery.All in all, if you are looking for a documented account of Jesus human atmosphere without dogmatic or systematic deviations, you will feel like home.

⭐Consistent with the overall quality of the Anchor Bible Series, the “Marginal Jew” series impresses with the depth, honesty, and objectivity of its scholarship. It may be that nobody is completely impartial when it comes to assessing the historical Jesus, but John Meier comes far closer than most, and he documents every opinion he offers. (If you’re into footnotes, and I mean thousands of them,is this ever the series for you!) I took on the challenge of this series when I read that Raymond E. Brown, the late great Catholic scholar and author, gave his highest marks to the first two volumes. Similar to Brown, Meier cooly and adeptly applies the tools of critical scholarship to his task of learning what we can of the historical Jesus. Fundamentalists will find his approach too liberal. Jesus Seminar types will find him too conservative. As a believing Christian who also wants to be intellectually honest in my faith, I think he’s just right.

⭐In this book Meier investigates Jesus’ followers, disciples, and the other Jewish groups that Jesus interacted with. He wisely doesn’t try to draw too many conclusions about Jesus’ interaction with other Jewish groups because of the scarcity of sources. His treatment of Jesus’ disciples is wonderfully done and brings insight into the nature of Jesus’ disciples. I’m eagerly waiting the 4th book of the series.

⭐Book exactly as described

⭐Fabulous beyond words.

⭐Very good condition

⭐Use this text for study purposes.

Keywords

Free Download A Marginal Jew, Volume Three: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Marginal Jew Rethinking the Historical Jesus) in PDF format
A Marginal Jew, Volume Three: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Marginal Jew Rethinking the Historical Jesus) PDF Free Download
Download A Marginal Jew, Volume Three: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Marginal Jew Rethinking the Historical Jesus) 2001 PDF Free
A Marginal Jew, Volume Three: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Marginal Jew Rethinking the Historical Jesus) 2001 PDF Free Download
Download A Marginal Jew, Volume Three: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Marginal Jew Rethinking the Historical Jesus) PDF
Free Download Ebook A Marginal Jew, Volume Three: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Marginal Jew Rethinking the Historical Jesus)