John P. Meier

John Paul Meier (August 8, 1942 – October 18, 2022) was an American biblical scholar and Catholic priest. He was author of the series A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (5 v.), six other books, and more than 70 articles for peer-reviewed or solicited journals or books. Meier was widely regarded as one of the leading scholars of the historical Jesus and early Christianity during his life. His book Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity (which he co-authored with fellow Catholic scholar Raymond E. Brown) is considered by many scholars a seminal work about early Christianity, while his multi-volume work A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus is hailed as Meier's magnum opus. Life and career Meier was born in New York City. He attended St. Joseph's Seminary and College (B.A., Philosophy, 1964), Dunwoodie, Yonkers, New York, Gregorian University, Rome; (S.T.L., 1968), and the Biblical Institute, Rome (S.S.D., 1976). Meier was William K. Warren Professor of Theology, Emeritus, at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. His fields included biblical studies and Christianity and Judaism in antiquity. Before the appointment to Notre Dame in 1999, he taught at St. Joseph Seminary, Dunwoodie, for 12 years and was professor of New Testament at the Catholic University of America for 14 years. Meier was ordained a Catholic priest at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, in 1967, and was made an Honorary Prelate of the Papal Household (Monsignor) by Pope John Paul II in 1994.