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A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus
A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume V - Probing the Authenticity of the Parables
Since the late nineteenth century, New Testament scholars have operated on the belief that most, if not all, of the narrative parables in the Synoptic Gospels can be attributed to the historical Jesus. This book challenges that consensus and argues instead that only four parables—those of the Mustard Seed, the Evil Tenants, the Talents, and the Great Supper—can be attributed to the historical Jesus with fair certitude. In this eagerly anticipated fifth volume of A Marginal Jew, John Meier approaches this controversial subject with the same rigor and insight that garnered his earlier volumes praise from such publications as the New York Times and Christianity Today. This seminal volume pushes forward his masterful body of work in his ongoing quest for the historical Jesus.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published November 24, 2015
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193 people want to read
About the author
John P. Meier
33 books33 followersJohn 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 9, 2016
The shortest volume in the "Marginal Jew" series happens to be the most controversial of the bunch. Contrary to the vast majority of New Testament scholarship over the past hundred-plus years, Meier argues the following: on the one hand, it's practically certain that Jesus taught using parables. On the other hand, only four can be traced to the historical Jesus with any degree of certainty. He bases his concussions strictly on the criteria he set out in the series from the beginning and lets the chips fall. The biggest evidence he relies on is multiple attestation, whether a parable shows up in different transmission streams (Mark, Q, Matthew, Luke, and the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, which he argues is mostly dependant on the Synoptic gospels). Most parables are excluded by this criteria alone. He also situates the remaining parables into the picture of Jesus his research has been painting throughout the series. Analyzing parables on the level of theme, structure, and individual word usage (the latter datum being especially tedious, as he repeatedly apologizes for!).
This is a great series. I don't recommend beginning it with this volume, though. It's less engaging and very reliant on the former volumes. I'll write a full review later.
This is a great series. I don't recommend beginning it with this volume, though. It's less engaging and very reliant on the former volumes. I'll write a full review later.
May 30, 2024
THE FIFTH VOLUME IN THIS IMPORTANT SERIES
Catholic priest and biblical scholar John P. Meier wrote in the “Acknowledgements” section of this 2016 book, “perhaps I should also acknowledge… the special nature of this volume on the parables… this volume… does not offer an exegesis of every single parable attributed to Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels. Rather… it seeks to probe the authenticity of these parables… it asks the basic question that should be asked repeatedly… the question is this: some ancient text tells us that Jesus of Nazareth said this or something like this… But did he?... The complaint, charge, and burden of Volume Five is that, all too often, the parables have been given a free pass. They have not been subjected to the same exacting scrutiny and criteria of historicity because ‘we all know that’ most if not all of the Synoptic parables come from Jesus. It is that basic---and I would claim groundless---presumption that is weighed and found wanting in this book. Hence this volume seeks to identify those parables that do have a solid claim to authenticity. Those parables alone will be explained in detail…” (Pg. xiii)
He explains further, “In the earlier volumes of ‘A Marginal Jew,’ I purposely focused of the sayings and deeds of Jesus that… gave strong indication that their authenticity could be supported… Sometimes my initial hunches prove correct, sometimes not… Here is where Volume Five marks a great divide… I will contend that such a positive outcome is often not to be had in the case of the parables… Needless to say, this does not automatically prove that this or that parable did NOT come from Jesus. All that is being claimed is that there are no strong positive arguments in favor of historicity… I will identify a number of parables that receive convincing support from one or another criterion of historicity. However, they will prove to be few and far between.” (Pg. 5-6)
He outlines, “Seven Unfashionable Theses On the Parables”: “Thesis One: The fact that scholars widely and wildly disagree on how many parables of Jesus there are in the Synoptic Gospels reveals a still more harassing fact: scholars in general do not agree on what constitutes a parable of Jesus… Thesis Two: The OT wisdom ‘masal’ is not the prime source or analogue of those ‘parables’ … particular to the Synoptic Jesus… Thesis Three: It is in the ‘writing prophets’… that we see … a notable expansion of the genre of comparative short story used … about key events in Israel’s history… Thesis Four: The Synoptic Jesus who tells narrative parables stands primarily … in the prophetic tradition of the Jewish Scriptures… Thesis Five:… Any attempt to define Jesus’ parables in greater detail… threatens to introduce qualifications that are true of some but not of all the parables of Jesus… Thesis Six: The claim that the parables in the … Gospel of Thomas represent an independent and indeed earlier and more reliable tradition of the parables of the historical Jesus is highly questionable… Thesis Seven: Relatively few of the Synoptic parables can be attributed to the historical Jesus with a good degree of probability.” (Pg. 35-48)
He states, “to claim the authenticity of any parable in the Synoptics is to claim that there was a chain or a group of oral tradents who preserved, repeated, and handed down Jesus’ authentic parables for three or four decades. Are we to suppose that the original disciples who spent two or three years listening to, absorbing, and repeating Jesus’ parables never learned anything from him about how to construct a striking parable? Were all the original disciples as stupid and dense as Mark makes them out to be?... we know nothing about how creative they were and to what degree they composed parables in imitation of the ones they received from Jesus of Jesus’ ‘eyewitnesses.’” (Pg. 54)
He observes, “in a disputed case a scholar can examine all the relevant data with great care, employ all the applicable criteria … and still wind up with a question mark---usually because the data are so sparse and/or ambiguous. My claim is that this is the problem with most of the Synoptic parables when examined one by one. To repeat a vital point: I am not questioning that the historical Jesus used parables in his teaching… [but] it is difficult to descend from a global judgment that Jesus spoke in parables to the individual judgment that he spoke this or that particular parable… the basic probe is that quite often the criteria do not apply.” (Pg. 190-191)
He suggests, “The tenacity of the desire to affirm that this parable [the Good Samaritan] goes back to Jesus is readily understandable. But let us be honest about the reasons for this tenacity… perhaps no other parable has been so deeply embedded in one’s consciousness at so early and pivotal an age. As can be seen from the results of the Jesus Seminar, even critics who readily assign much of the Gospel tradition to later Christian invention often resist the idea that Jesus did not speak the parable of the Good Samaritan (or the Prodigal Son). Such a reaction is quite comprehensible … the heart is strangely warmed. But if we are to form our judgements not on the basis of warmed hearts … but rather on the basis of the historical-critical method and clear criteria of authenticity… the parable of the Good Samaritan is an especially vulnerable target when viewed with the cold, skeptical eye of the historical critic… In the end, it seems more likely that Luke is the space heater set next to our souls.” (Pg. 208)
He notes, “we run up against a basic problem with the historical-critical method: it is an equal-opportunity offender… I have rigorously applied the historical-critical method to the sayings and deeds of Jesus recounted in the Gospels in order to discern what is or is not authentic… I may not now suddenly retreat from or discard this method simply because I don’t like the outcome in the case of the parables. A critical method becomes critically important when it runs counter to our desires and forces us to face unpleasant truths or probabilities.” (Pg. 230-231)
But he says, “At the end of this examination of the parable of the Mustard Seed, the question of whether the parable goes back to the historical Jesus almost answers itself. Uniquely among the parables found in all three Synoptics, the Mustard Seed fulfills the criterion of multiple attestation of independent sources, being witnessed in both Mark and Q… the parable also meets the criterion of coherence. It fits perfectly with the eschatological message and ministry of Jesus the prophet that we have slowly reconstructed in the previous volumes… In … Volume Five, a two-verse parable has been judged authentic, while the lengthy and much-more-admired parable of the Good Samaritan has been judged a creation of Luke. As the Jewish Jesus might well say, go figure.” (Pg. 239-240)
On the other hand, he argues, “If neither multiple attestation nor coherence argues for the authenticity of the Evil Tenants, does any other criterion support it? In my view, one can argue for the parable’s going back to Jesus from the criterion of embarrassment (or, if one prefers, discontinuity)---though, admittedly, the argument is a long and circuitous one.” (Pg. 241-242) Later, he adds, “for the first Christians, a parable ending in the tragic death of the son, with no vindication for him or punishment of his enemies, was unthinkable. It was thinkable for the historical Jesus.” (Pg. 253)
He concludes, “let me review an add to those preliminary theses, now expanded to fifteen conclusions… (3) … we are confronted with a surprising insight. Jesus’ parables place him more in the prophetic tradition of Israel than in the wisdom tradition… (4) … Jesus seems to have reached back to the classical past of Israel rather than simply to have aligned himself with the apocalyptic authors and visionaries of his own time, as seen in the Enoch literature and … the Dead Sea Scrolls… (7) Only a few of the Synoptic parables can be attribute to the historical Jesus with fair probability… (9) … Given the small number of parables that our inventory listed in more than one source, we immediately got the sinking feeling that the number of parables that would prove viable candidates … would be few and far between… (13) At first glance, the results of our inventory might have led us into thoroughgoing skepticism about whether any Synoptic parable can be assigned… to the historical Jesus. However… such a radical position… went too far… (14) … total skepticism about Jesus speaking a particular parable and that parable’s preservation in the early Christian tradition is not warranted….” (Pg. 363-370)
He concludes, “The Jesus we have found … presented himself to his fellow Palestinian Jews as the eschatological prophet in the mold of Elijah, sent to Israel at the climax of its history to begin the regathering of the whole people, a people prepared for the coming of God’s definitive kingdom by a radical doing of his will according to the Torah as interpreted by Jesus… the parables we have deemed authentic make perfect sense within the context of the preaching and activity of this particular 1st-century eschatological prophet and miracle worker from Jewish Palestine…” (Pg. 372-373)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone seriously studying the historical Jesus.
Catholic priest and biblical scholar John P. Meier wrote in the “Acknowledgements” section of this 2016 book, “perhaps I should also acknowledge… the special nature of this volume on the parables… this volume… does not offer an exegesis of every single parable attributed to Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels. Rather… it seeks to probe the authenticity of these parables… it asks the basic question that should be asked repeatedly… the question is this: some ancient text tells us that Jesus of Nazareth said this or something like this… But did he?... The complaint, charge, and burden of Volume Five is that, all too often, the parables have been given a free pass. They have not been subjected to the same exacting scrutiny and criteria of historicity because ‘we all know that’ most if not all of the Synoptic parables come from Jesus. It is that basic---and I would claim groundless---presumption that is weighed and found wanting in this book. Hence this volume seeks to identify those parables that do have a solid claim to authenticity. Those parables alone will be explained in detail…” (Pg. xiii)
He explains further, “In the earlier volumes of ‘A Marginal Jew,’ I purposely focused of the sayings and deeds of Jesus that… gave strong indication that their authenticity could be supported… Sometimes my initial hunches prove correct, sometimes not… Here is where Volume Five marks a great divide… I will contend that such a positive outcome is often not to be had in the case of the parables… Needless to say, this does not automatically prove that this or that parable did NOT come from Jesus. All that is being claimed is that there are no strong positive arguments in favor of historicity… I will identify a number of parables that receive convincing support from one or another criterion of historicity. However, they will prove to be few and far between.” (Pg. 5-6)
He outlines, “Seven Unfashionable Theses On the Parables”: “Thesis One: The fact that scholars widely and wildly disagree on how many parables of Jesus there are in the Synoptic Gospels reveals a still more harassing fact: scholars in general do not agree on what constitutes a parable of Jesus… Thesis Two: The OT wisdom ‘masal’ is not the prime source or analogue of those ‘parables’ … particular to the Synoptic Jesus… Thesis Three: It is in the ‘writing prophets’… that we see … a notable expansion of the genre of comparative short story used … about key events in Israel’s history… Thesis Four: The Synoptic Jesus who tells narrative parables stands primarily … in the prophetic tradition of the Jewish Scriptures… Thesis Five:… Any attempt to define Jesus’ parables in greater detail… threatens to introduce qualifications that are true of some but not of all the parables of Jesus… Thesis Six: The claim that the parables in the … Gospel of Thomas represent an independent and indeed earlier and more reliable tradition of the parables of the historical Jesus is highly questionable… Thesis Seven: Relatively few of the Synoptic parables can be attributed to the historical Jesus with a good degree of probability.” (Pg. 35-48)
He states, “to claim the authenticity of any parable in the Synoptics is to claim that there was a chain or a group of oral tradents who preserved, repeated, and handed down Jesus’ authentic parables for three or four decades. Are we to suppose that the original disciples who spent two or three years listening to, absorbing, and repeating Jesus’ parables never learned anything from him about how to construct a striking parable? Were all the original disciples as stupid and dense as Mark makes them out to be?... we know nothing about how creative they were and to what degree they composed parables in imitation of the ones they received from Jesus of Jesus’ ‘eyewitnesses.’” (Pg. 54)
He observes, “in a disputed case a scholar can examine all the relevant data with great care, employ all the applicable criteria … and still wind up with a question mark---usually because the data are so sparse and/or ambiguous. My claim is that this is the problem with most of the Synoptic parables when examined one by one. To repeat a vital point: I am not questioning that the historical Jesus used parables in his teaching… [but] it is difficult to descend from a global judgment that Jesus spoke in parables to the individual judgment that he spoke this or that particular parable… the basic probe is that quite often the criteria do not apply.” (Pg. 190-191)
He suggests, “The tenacity of the desire to affirm that this parable [the Good Samaritan] goes back to Jesus is readily understandable. But let us be honest about the reasons for this tenacity… perhaps no other parable has been so deeply embedded in one’s consciousness at so early and pivotal an age. As can be seen from the results of the Jesus Seminar, even critics who readily assign much of the Gospel tradition to later Christian invention often resist the idea that Jesus did not speak the parable of the Good Samaritan (or the Prodigal Son). Such a reaction is quite comprehensible … the heart is strangely warmed. But if we are to form our judgements not on the basis of warmed hearts … but rather on the basis of the historical-critical method and clear criteria of authenticity… the parable of the Good Samaritan is an especially vulnerable target when viewed with the cold, skeptical eye of the historical critic… In the end, it seems more likely that Luke is the space heater set next to our souls.” (Pg. 208)
He notes, “we run up against a basic problem with the historical-critical method: it is an equal-opportunity offender… I have rigorously applied the historical-critical method to the sayings and deeds of Jesus recounted in the Gospels in order to discern what is or is not authentic… I may not now suddenly retreat from or discard this method simply because I don’t like the outcome in the case of the parables. A critical method becomes critically important when it runs counter to our desires and forces us to face unpleasant truths or probabilities.” (Pg. 230-231)
But he says, “At the end of this examination of the parable of the Mustard Seed, the question of whether the parable goes back to the historical Jesus almost answers itself. Uniquely among the parables found in all three Synoptics, the Mustard Seed fulfills the criterion of multiple attestation of independent sources, being witnessed in both Mark and Q… the parable also meets the criterion of coherence. It fits perfectly with the eschatological message and ministry of Jesus the prophet that we have slowly reconstructed in the previous volumes… In … Volume Five, a two-verse parable has been judged authentic, while the lengthy and much-more-admired parable of the Good Samaritan has been judged a creation of Luke. As the Jewish Jesus might well say, go figure.” (Pg. 239-240)
On the other hand, he argues, “If neither multiple attestation nor coherence argues for the authenticity of the Evil Tenants, does any other criterion support it? In my view, one can argue for the parable’s going back to Jesus from the criterion of embarrassment (or, if one prefers, discontinuity)---though, admittedly, the argument is a long and circuitous one.” (Pg. 241-242) Later, he adds, “for the first Christians, a parable ending in the tragic death of the son, with no vindication for him or punishment of his enemies, was unthinkable. It was thinkable for the historical Jesus.” (Pg. 253)
He concludes, “let me review an add to those preliminary theses, now expanded to fifteen conclusions… (3) … we are confronted with a surprising insight. Jesus’ parables place him more in the prophetic tradition of Israel than in the wisdom tradition… (4) … Jesus seems to have reached back to the classical past of Israel rather than simply to have aligned himself with the apocalyptic authors and visionaries of his own time, as seen in the Enoch literature and … the Dead Sea Scrolls… (7) Only a few of the Synoptic parables can be attribute to the historical Jesus with fair probability… (9) … Given the small number of parables that our inventory listed in more than one source, we immediately got the sinking feeling that the number of parables that would prove viable candidates … would be few and far between… (13) At first glance, the results of our inventory might have led us into thoroughgoing skepticism about whether any Synoptic parable can be assigned… to the historical Jesus. However… such a radical position… went too far… (14) … total skepticism about Jesus speaking a particular parable and that parable’s preservation in the early Christian tradition is not warranted….” (Pg. 363-370)
He concludes, “The Jesus we have found … presented himself to his fellow Palestinian Jews as the eschatological prophet in the mold of Elijah, sent to Israel at the climax of its history to begin the regathering of the whole people, a people prepared for the coming of God’s definitive kingdom by a radical doing of his will according to the Torah as interpreted by Jesus… the parables we have deemed authentic make perfect sense within the context of the preaching and activity of this particular 1st-century eschatological prophet and miracle worker from Jewish Palestine…” (Pg. 372-373)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone seriously studying the historical Jesus.
Currently reading
December 3, 2019In stark contrast to N. T. Wright’s works, Meier offers a thorough-going historical-critical study with fresh results. In the fifth volume, he concludes,
(1) scholars do not agree on what is a parable of Jesus;
(2) the wisdom mashal of the OT is the prime source or analogue of the Gospels' parables;
(3) prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel expand the genre of the comparative short story;
(4) Jesus who tells narrative parables thus stands in the prophetic tradition (not
the wisdom tradition);
(5) Jesus' parables cannot be described in terms of essential characteristics;
(6) the parables in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas are not independent and earlier parables of the historical Jesus;
(7) there are relatively few authentic parables of Jesus. Meier presents his seventh thesis as the corollary of the first six theses authentic Jesus parables that emerged from the previous chapters, establishing their authenticity: the parables of the mustard seed, of the evil tenants in the vineyard, of the great supper, and of the talents/pounds
(8) works with the criteria he finds useful (embarrassment, discontinuity, multiple attestation, coherence, Jesus' rejection and execution; pp. 12-17; cf. vol. 1, pp. 167-95)
Very helpful to catch up with the new idea of Jesus as a Jewish prophet.
The problem: Meier’s skepticism leads him into minimum acceptance of the canonical material. we will be forced to maximize the genius contribution of the witnesses and later hands to Jesus’ parables which look so masterful and profound, if Meier is correct in his methods.
(1) scholars do not agree on what is a parable of Jesus;
(2) the wisdom mashal of the OT is the prime source or analogue of the Gospels' parables;
(3) prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel expand the genre of the comparative short story;
(4) Jesus who tells narrative parables thus stands in the prophetic tradition (not
the wisdom tradition);
(5) Jesus' parables cannot be described in terms of essential characteristics;
(6) the parables in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas are not independent and earlier parables of the historical Jesus;
(7) there are relatively few authentic parables of Jesus. Meier presents his seventh thesis as the corollary of the first six theses authentic Jesus parables that emerged from the previous chapters, establishing their authenticity: the parables of the mustard seed, of the evil tenants in the vineyard, of the great supper, and of the talents/pounds
(8) works with the criteria he finds useful (embarrassment, discontinuity, multiple attestation, coherence, Jesus' rejection and execution; pp. 12-17; cf. vol. 1, pp. 167-95)
Very helpful to catch up with the new idea of Jesus as a Jewish prophet.
The problem: Meier’s skepticism leads him into minimum acceptance of the canonical material. we will be forced to maximize the genius contribution of the witnesses and later hands to Jesus’ parables which look so masterful and profound, if Meier is correct in his methods.
March 30, 2018
Continuing the series, this book behind rejecting the mainstream consensus about authenticity of most of the parables (based on the acceptance of the independence of the coptic gospel of Thomas as an independent source of the synoptics). After that, a process of deep critical analysis results in successfully identifying some of them as authentical, although for most of the others almost nothing can be said in this respect. Finally, the conclusion is that, though the message in the authentic parables is coherent with the portrait of a marginal Jew, many of its characteristics are not present in them. Hence, the shocking conclusion: the parables cannot be seen (from a critical point of view) as the most representative source of message of Jesus.
June 17, 2023
The subject of the parables is one of the more daunting areas of historical Jesus research. Yet, with his characteristic wisdom and wit, John Meier guides us through the many parables that are attached to Jesus' name. Freely conceding that in many cases utter certainty will escape us, Meier shows us which parables are most likely from the lips of Jesus and why.
Gary A. Anderson, University of Notre Dame
September 30, 2019
This volume takes on the thorny questions of parables, historicity, and what message of Jesus comes more directly from him and which parables are creations of the early Church to preach the message of Jesus. Not as 'exciting' as some parables books, but still a solid and worthy addition to the series.
May 30, 2021
Volumi 3-4-5
Il volume terzo è dedicato alla ricerca sugli uomini e i movimenti religiosi che attorniavano Gesù nel suo tempo. Quindi la gente che lo ascoltava (le "folle") e quelli che lo seguivano: i discepoli e gli apostoli. A proposito di Pietro e della presunta investitura a capo della Chiesa Meier afferma che è una creazione della comunità primitiva. Una parte del libro approfondisce i temi religiosi dei farisei, sadducei, esseni, ecc.
Con i capitoli sugli apostoli termina il libro. Il lavoro è intenso ma i dati su cui basare la ricerca sono scarsi.
Il volume quarto tratta, come in tutti gli altri volumi dell'opera, in maniera approfondita e con grande ricchezza di riferimenti bibliografici, il tema di Gesù e la legge. Risponde alla domanda : Gesù si pone contro la legge ebraica del suo tempo?
La risposta è : non vuole abrogare la legge ma in alcuni casi (divorzio, giuramento, purità) la rifiuta. Perché? "per la sua pretesa di essere il profeta carismatico del tempo finale" afferma Meier. Cioè: dato che Gesù annuncia il Regno di Dio, futuro e nello stesso tempo in atto, ritiene che quelle leggi non si applichino nel Regno in atto.
È quello che affermava Albert Schweitzer nel 1966 ma Meimer invece di riconoscergli il merito lo critica con una distinzione sottile fra la sua tesi e quella del teologo.
L'ultimo tema affrontato nel volume è il più importante e il più interessante per me. La grandezza di Gesù, anche per il non credente, risiede nel suo messaggio dell'amore. Gli studiosi son concordi nel riconoscere a Gesù il merito di aver posto questo comandamento al centro del suo insegnamento e della sua vita. Sono rimasto esterrefatto, all'inizio del capitolo, nel leggere che Meier aveva qualche dubbio in proposito. Dubbio che ha fugato al termine dello stesso capitolo quando riconosce l'originalità del messaggio di Gesù.
Il quinto volume è dedicato allo studio critico delle parabole e qui il cattolico sorprende ancora perché nega che la maggior parte di esse risalgano a Gesù. Ne salva solo quattro e fra queste non c'è quella più bella, quella del buon Samaritano.
Conclusione
Quello che ho cercato e ho trovato nella lunga lettura di questi volumi, in risposta alle mie domande, è che secondo l'autore :1) molte parole, attribuitegli dagli evangelisti, Gesù non le ha mai pronunciate 2) Gesù annuncia il Regno di Dio su Israele. Regno vicino e in atto, in cui Lui e i suoi apostoli avrebbero avuto un posto eminente. Un' altra risposta verrà con il sesto volume e qui è anticipata: Gesù nell'ultimo periodo presagiva la propria fine.
Quello che mi colpisce non sono i risultati della ricerca del Meier, poiché sono stati già anticipati dagli studiosi del secolo scorso, ma:
1) il tono leggero con cui il prete cattolico tratta argomenti che hanno appassionato tante anime nobili nei secoli senza affrontare il problema di conciliare i risultati dei suoi studi con la sua fede.
2) che la Chiesa, nella massima autorità di Ratzinger, accetti questi risultati senza trarne conseguenze nel suo magistero.
Il volume terzo è dedicato alla ricerca sugli uomini e i movimenti religiosi che attorniavano Gesù nel suo tempo. Quindi la gente che lo ascoltava (le "folle") e quelli che lo seguivano: i discepoli e gli apostoli. A proposito di Pietro e della presunta investitura a capo della Chiesa Meier afferma che è una creazione della comunità primitiva. Una parte del libro approfondisce i temi religiosi dei farisei, sadducei, esseni, ecc.
Con i capitoli sugli apostoli termina il libro. Il lavoro è intenso ma i dati su cui basare la ricerca sono scarsi.
Il volume quarto tratta, come in tutti gli altri volumi dell'opera, in maniera approfondita e con grande ricchezza di riferimenti bibliografici, il tema di Gesù e la legge. Risponde alla domanda : Gesù si pone contro la legge ebraica del suo tempo?
La risposta è : non vuole abrogare la legge ma in alcuni casi (divorzio, giuramento, purità) la rifiuta. Perché? "per la sua pretesa di essere il profeta carismatico del tempo finale" afferma Meier. Cioè: dato che Gesù annuncia il Regno di Dio, futuro e nello stesso tempo in atto, ritiene che quelle leggi non si applichino nel Regno in atto.
È quello che affermava Albert Schweitzer nel 1966 ma Meimer invece di riconoscergli il merito lo critica con una distinzione sottile fra la sua tesi e quella del teologo.
L'ultimo tema affrontato nel volume è il più importante e il più interessante per me. La grandezza di Gesù, anche per il non credente, risiede nel suo messaggio dell'amore. Gli studiosi son concordi nel riconoscere a Gesù il merito di aver posto questo comandamento al centro del suo insegnamento e della sua vita. Sono rimasto esterrefatto, all'inizio del capitolo, nel leggere che Meier aveva qualche dubbio in proposito. Dubbio che ha fugato al termine dello stesso capitolo quando riconosce l'originalità del messaggio di Gesù.
Il quinto volume è dedicato allo studio critico delle parabole e qui il cattolico sorprende ancora perché nega che la maggior parte di esse risalgano a Gesù. Ne salva solo quattro e fra queste non c'è quella più bella, quella del buon Samaritano.
Conclusione
Quello che ho cercato e ho trovato nella lunga lettura di questi volumi, in risposta alle mie domande, è che secondo l'autore :1) molte parole, attribuitegli dagli evangelisti, Gesù non le ha mai pronunciate 2) Gesù annuncia il Regno di Dio su Israele. Regno vicino e in atto, in cui Lui e i suoi apostoli avrebbero avuto un posto eminente. Un' altra risposta verrà con il sesto volume e qui è anticipata: Gesù nell'ultimo periodo presagiva la propria fine.
Quello che mi colpisce non sono i risultati della ricerca del Meier, poiché sono stati già anticipati dagli studiosi del secolo scorso, ma:
1) il tono leggero con cui il prete cattolico tratta argomenti che hanno appassionato tante anime nobili nei secoli senza affrontare il problema di conciliare i risultati dei suoi studi con la sua fede.
2) che la Chiesa, nella massima autorità di Ratzinger, accetti questi risultati senza trarne conseguenze nel suo magistero.
March 2, 2016
Review to come soon! Glad to finish another book!!!
August 8, 2021
I imagine that this latest volume will be somewhat of a game-changer in the way scripture scholars approach the parables of Jesus. At least, it will be a book with which they will have to contend.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews