My New Book! Jesus and the Last Supper

Ever since I published Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist in 2011, various readers have hit me with questions such as: Why didn't you discuss the Feeding of the Five Thousand, in which Jesus acts like a New Moses? What do you think Jesus' meant when he referred to the "daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer ? How can you treat Jesus' sermon in the synagogue at Capernaum in John 6 as historically plausible when scholars doubt that John's Gospel is historical? And, above all: How do you solve the problem of the date of the Last Supper? Did the Last Supper take place at the same time as the Jewish Passover meal (as in the Synoptic Gospels) or did it take place twenty-four hours before the Jewish Passover meal (as John's Gospel appears to describe). And what about the Essene hypothesis, that argues that the Last Supper took place on a Tuesday rather than a Thursday?

I answer these (and many other) questions in my new book Jesus and the Last Supper, which was just released a couple of weekends from Eerdmans. Although it's written for scholars, I tried to make it as clear and readable as possible. I'm really excited about it. It took me almost ten years to write. And boy is the cover sweet! (it looks even better in real life than on this Jpeg.)

If you're interested, below are what some scholarly readers have said about the book. My hope is that you'll pick up a copy and read it.

"This beautifully written work confirms Brant Pitre's eminence as a scholar of the very first rank. . . . Focusing on the Last Supper, Pitre develops such themes as the new bread of the presence, the new manna, the new Passover, the messianic banquet, and the kingdom of God in often surprising but utterly persuasive ways. Catholic participation in the Jesus quest has hereby finally borne its hoped-for fruit, with enormous implications for all Christians. Pitre should win the Ratzinger Prize for this book alone."
Matthew Levering— Mundelein Seminary

"Brant Pitre's contribution is provocative in the best sense of the word. At every turn readers will find new observations worth pondering and new arguments worth weighing. In particular, the numerous intertextual claims should generate much productive discussion, as should Pitre's challenging approach to dating the Last Supper. No one will come away from this volume without having learned much."
Dale C. Allison Jr. — Princeton Theological Seminary

"Now more than ever the field of historical Jesus studies is in a state of flux. The discipline is razing old foundations with the hope that more sophisticated methods will emerge. With Jesus and the Last Supper Brant Pitre constructs a bridge from the best scholarship of previous generations to the most promising possibilities of the present. This book is nothing less than a blueprint for resurrecting Jesus studies in the twenty-first century."
Anthony Le Donne— United Theological Seminary, Dayton

"This dramatic new rereading of the evidence for the Last Supper is a pivotally important work on the Last Supper and also an important contribution to historical Jesus research. Carefully researched and vigorously yet graciously argued, it offers a brilliant new synthesis of the data. Even readers not persuaded by every point will find much or even most of the argument persuasive."
Craig S. Keener— Asbury Theological Seminary

"This long-awaited book is a brilliant study about the sacred meal that Jesus instituted for his followers, including its background, its origins, and its meaning for us. Pitre artfully shows that the bread and wine of the meal commemorate and embody the hopes of Israel's restoration as achieved through their messianic deliverer. You'll never look at the Lord's Supper, Eucharist, or Mass the same way after reading this book. A sumptuous feast of exegesis and theology!"
Michael F. Bird — Ridley Melbourne Mission and Ministry College