Meier leads Sat. lecture
MARIA SMITH
News Writer
Father John Meier, discussed the historical Jesus in the fourth lecture of the Saturday Scholar Series before the football game against Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Meier holds the position of William K. Warren IV Professor of Theology at Notre Dame. He has written several books and articles and is currently writing the fourth volume of his work "A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus."
"The first question is always where to begin addressing such a huge topic as the life of Jesus," Meier said as he began his lecture. "First you have to address the definition. What do we mean by the `historical Jesus?'"
Meier stressed the difference between Christology, the study of Christ as a subsection of theology, and historical study of Jesus Christ.
"You must divide the methods of discipline," said Meier. "Faith has to be separate from history."
Meier, however, acknowledged that historical methodology did not necessarily provide information relevant to faith or current theology.
"The closer you get to a first-century Jew and what he said to other first-century Jews, the less relevant he will at first seem to us," he said.
Meier also discussed the issue of historical sources in researching the life of Jesus. He listed Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the four gospels of the New Testament, as major sources of information. Other possible sources of information included the writings of Josephus, a first century Jewish historian and of Tacitus, a second century Roman author.
"Josephus and Tacitus make reference to Christ, but they have differences from the gospels," said Meier, emphasizing their use as verifying sources for the existence of Christ. "These people were not just getting their information from the New Testament."
The issue of differing sources also raised the question of criteria for deciding which information to accept as valid.
"In ancient history, we do not have pretext that there is no spin," said Meier. "At that time, you were not a decent historian if you gave no spin on what the truth was."
In deciding whether a saying or teaching could truly be attributed to Christ or if it might instead have simply been a doctrine of the early church, Meier considered several criteria. "One criterion is that of discontinuity, what cannot be derived from Judaism of the early church," said Meier. "The rejection of voluntary fasting and the prohibition of divorce were something unique to Jesus, and the teaching sticks out like a sore thumb."
Another important criterion was that of multiple witnesses.
"The word of two to three witnesses reinforces an event," said Meier. "Not word-for-word testimonies, which imply coaching, but independent accounts from different times and viewpoints."
Though Meier emphasized the difference between faith and history, he also focused on the importance of history in faith.
"Some people wonder, if the historical Jesus is not the same as the Christ of faith, why bother to research him?" said Meier. "No amount of scholarship will ever produce faith. Historical research will not prove the Christian faith but if historical claims are untrue, and Jesus did not exist and die on the cross, the religion loses meaning."
Meier holds the position of William K. Warren IV Professor of Theology at Notre Dame. He has written several books and articles, and is currently working on the fourth volume of his work "A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus."
The Saturday Scholar Series lectures take place each football Saturday in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium, starting three and a half hours before kickoff.
All News Stories for Monday, October 14, 2002
