In Search of Jesus
Some scholars seek answers in history and redefine the meaning of his life and deeds
Like many of his academic colleagues, Meier finds that the New Testament gospels have limited value as historical records. Still, he considers them to be the best information source on Jesus's life, offering far richer historical detail than the ancient biographies of many additional important figures. Among the conclusions Meier draws regarding the life of Jesus:
He was born probably around 7 B.C. in Nazareth, not in Bethlehem as the gospel of Luke says.
Despite official Catholic teaching that Mary, the mother of Jesus, remained a virgin all of her life, Meier says Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters, details that emerge from the gospels of Mark and John and from the writings of Paul. The virgin birth of Jesus, says Meier, "cannot be proven or disproven" by historical investigation.
He had a brief ministry in Galilee as a teacher, prophet and worker of deeds that were perceived by some as miracles.
He was arrested in Jerusalem and crucified under Pontius Pilate somewhere around A.D. 30. His followers claimed he rose from the dead.
As interesting and as accurate as those facts may be, says Meier, they do not constitute "the real Jesus." The best that historians can hope for, says Meier, is "sufficient data to draw a rough sketch."
Meier is widely regarded by his peers as meticulous and tidy as a historian, although some criticize his work as unimaginative and too beholden to official Catholic doctrine. A priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Meier was raised in a Catholic neighborhood in the South Bronx, educated and ordained in Rome and taught in a New York seminary before moving to Washington. He remains close friends with New York's Cardinal John O'Connor.
Meier keeps his academic work and his faith separate. He notes, for example, that while he firmly believes in the virgin birth, the miracles and the resurrection of Jesus, "as a historian, I cannot claim the ability to either confirm or deny those." Too often, he says, "historical scholars make theological claims about Jesus" that "go beyond the realm of historical research. You can't mix theology and historical research without causing tremendous confusion."
Even so, says Meier, good historical data on Jesus "can help inform theology." And while it will never "create faith where there is none, it does say to the ordinary believer: You are not putting your faith in a fairy tale or some ahistorical symbol, but in a real person who was crucified in the first century."
UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM Jesus was a revolutionary peasant who resisted economic and social tyranny in Roman-occupied Palestine. He was a Jewish cynic who wandered from town to town, teaching unconventional wisdom and subverting oppressive social customs. He was a preacher who proclaimed "God's radical justice" and lived the idea so powerfully that it inspired a movement that changed the course of history. And if the clarity of his life and message, now long obscured, could be fully grasped today, the same could happen again.
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