The mystery of the last supper
Subtitle: reconstructing the final days of Jesus
By: Colin J. Humphreys
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 244
ISBN-13: 9780521517553; 9780521732000
Subjects: Chronology; RELIGION / Biblical Studies / New Testament; Last Supper; Bible
Description: "For centuries, we thought we knew what happened during Jesus' last days. Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are not only observed by Christians around the world, but are also recognized in calendars and by non-practitioners as commemorating events in the final week of Jesus' life. But apparent inconsistencies in the Gospel accounts of this period have continued to puzzle Bible scholars -and fuel skeptics. In The Mystery of the Last Supper, Colin Humphreys uses science to reveal the truth about Jesus' final days. Reconciling conflicting biblical accounts with scientific evidence, Humphreys proves that the Gospels, correctly interpreted, are in remarkable agreement. He reveals the exact date of the Last Supper in a groundbreaking new timeline of Holy Week. Colin Humphreys is director of research at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Miracles of Exodus (2003). He was awarded a knighthood in 2010 for services to Science"--Provided by publisher.

"This new book returns to this last theme and offers a detailed study of the associated puzzles caused by the apparent discrepancy between the Gospel of John and the other three Gospels on the date of the Last Supper of Jesus. Colin's solution is a new version of the old theory that different Jewish groups may have used different calendrical systems together with a proposal that Jesus held his meal not on the Thursday immediately preceding his crucifixion on the Friday but on the Wednesday evening, a view that allows a more adequate period of time for all the recorded events that have to be fitted in between the meal and the crucifixion"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-233) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements; title: 1. Four mysteries of the last week of Jesus; title: 2. Dating the crucifixion; title: the first clues; title: 3. The problem of the last supper; title: 4. Can we reconstruct the Jewish calendar at the time of Christ?; title: 5. The date of the crucifixion; title: 6. The moon will be turned to blood; title: 7. Did Jesus use the solar calendar of Qumran for his last supper Passover?; title: 8. Does ancient Egypt hold a key to unlocking the problem of the last supper?; title: 9. Discovering the lost calendar of ancient Israel; title: 10. Was the lost ancient Jewish calendar used in Israel at the time of Jesus?; title: 11. The date of the last supper: the hidden clues in the gospels; title: 12. From the last supper to the crucifixion: a new analysis of the gospel accouunts; title: 13. A new reconstruction of the final days of Jesus; title: Notes; title: Bibliography; title: Index of Biblical and other ancient sources; title: General index.