Synopsis (from the book cover):

Apparent inconsistencies in the gospel accounts of Jesus’ final week have puzzled Bible scholars for centuries. Matthew, Mark and Luke clearly state that the last supper was a Passover meal, whereas John asserts that it occured before the festival. The gospel narratives also do not seem to allow enough time for all the events recorded between the last supper and the crucifixion, whilst indicating that Wednesday was a ‘missing day’ on which Jesus did nothing. Colin Humphreys presents a compelling, fresh account of how these inconsistencies can be explained, drawing on the evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Egyption texts and using astronomy to reconstruct ancient calendars. In doing so, Humphreys proposes a new theory – that the last supper took place on a Wednesday, rather than a Thursday as traditionally believed – and successfully unifies the supposedly contradictory gospel stories.

Review:

Colin’s writing style is easy and compelling and his book is fascinating, providing credible evidence to pinpoint an exact dating of Christ’s Crucifixion. He presents astronomical information and different calendars that were in use at that time, proposing that the discrepancies in the gospel accounts and timings were due to the writers using different calendars in their accounts of the event. The evidence he provides reconciles the differences.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the subject.