A Marginal Jew - Rethinking the Historical Jesus - volume one. the roots of the problem and the person
by Meier, John P.
pub by Doubleday. Anchor Bible Reference Library NY, 1991 -       - isbn 0-385-26425-9 - - LCCN 91-10538 - - Contents p.vii-viii - - Acknowlegemens p. ix-x - introduction p.1-14 - - Notes after each chapter - - Bibliography p. 403-410 - - Map of Palestine in the time of Jesus p. 434 - - Map of Galilee of Jesus p. 435 - - Family of Herod the Great p.436 - - Regional Years of the Roman Principes (Emperors) p.437 - - Index of Abbreviations p.439-457 - - Index of Scripture p. 459-466 - - Author Index p.467-473- - Index of Subjects p.475-484 - - Total 484 pages.

The purpose of this book was to explore what Jesus was like as a human being, living in village life in the First century AD. As much as possible the author uses non-biblical information to build a picture of what Jesus life was like given the time and place of his life on earth. The first few chapters are involved with methodology, and the attempt of the author (a believing member of the clergy) to separate his research and writings from his (and other religions christians) belief systems.
After that he used writings of Josephus Flavius and even the Annals of the Roman Tacitus. Followed by what could be gleaned from the historical parts of the Bible, even where the Biblical stories had slight variences. This is a scholarly book which delves into minor textual differences in sources to glean some sort of truth. At first it is a difficult read, where the author uses a vocabulary suited for a religious scholar. It is more readable for the non-scholar in the last 2/3 of the book.
This is a challenging read. It is for those who want to get a view of what Jesus life might have been like. The author did not shy from the idea that Mary had other children after Jesus was born. Why Jesus was not married given the way people lived at the time, and other thoughts.
Note that the publisher is a mainline religious publisher and this book is in a series on Biblical scholarship.
Read it if you want to understand where such scholarship was in 1991.
~2020-12-29~

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