John P. Meier, a Catholic priest, is professor of New Testament at the University of Notre Dame. He is perhaps the foremost biblical scholar of his generation. Meier's work represents the first time an American Catholic biblical scholar has attempted a full-scale, rigorously scientific treatment of the "historical Jesus." By the "historical Jesus," Meier means the Jesus whom we can recover or reconstruct by using the tools of modern historical research. (#5984)