The Passover Plot by Hugh Schonfield

Title: The Passover Plot - A New Interpretation of the Life and Death of Jesus by Hugh J. Schonfield

Description:

The Passover Plot is a controversial, best-selling book, by British biblical scholar Hugh J. Schonfield who has also published a translation of the New Testament informed by a Jewish perspective.

Based on scholarly research into the culture in which Jesus lived, into the source documents of the gospels & into other literature, Schonfield reached the following conclusions:

-Jesus was a religious Jew, well-versed in the teachings of local northern sects such as the Nazarenes & Essenes.

-Growing up in Galilee he had a skeptical & somewhat rebellious relationship to the hierarchy & teachings mandated by the authorities of the Temple in Jerusalem.

-Jewish Messianic expectation was high in those times, matched to the despair caused by the Roman occupation.

-He was both typical of his times, yet extraordinary in his religious convictions, in his scholarship of the biblical literature & in the fervency in which he lived.

-He was convinced of being the expected Messiah based on his descent from King David. He methodically attempted to fulfill that role, being well-versed in the details of what it entailed.

-He was convinced of the importance of his fulfilling the role perfectly & could not allow himself to fail, as that would undoubtedly lead to his being declared a false Messiah.

-He was aware of the consequences of his actions & he directed his closest supporters, the original twelve apostles, unknowingly to aid him.

-He involved others in his plans on a "need to know" basis, therefore very few knew of the details of his final plan & even then only the least amount of information necessary.

-The culmination of his plan was to be his crucifixion, his resurrection & his reign as the true Kingly & Priestly Messiah, not in heaven but on earth the realized King of the Jews.

According to Schonfield's analysis, the events of the Passover, which are presented in all gospels, but inconsistently, are most accurately presented in John. His reading of that gospel convinced him that John's account, tho probably filtered thru an assistant & transcription in his old age, suggests that Jesus had planned everything, viz. so that he would not be on the cross for many hours before the Sabbath arrived when it was required that Jews be taken down, so that one of his supporters on hand would give him water that was laced with a drug to make him unconscious, & so that Joseph of Arimathea, a well-connected supporter, would collect his apparently dead body so he could be secretly nursed back to health. Schonfield suggests that the plan went awry because of a soldier's actions with a spear. Schonfield gives evidence of a high ranking member of the Sanhedrin who was one of Jesus' followers, likely the Beloved Disciple who is otherwise obscure, & notes several instances in which knowledge of or access to the Temple was available to one or more of Jesus' followers. He identifies this follower as John, the source of the gospel many decades later whilst living in Asia Minor. He suggests that this Apostle, & Joseph of Arimathea, were responsible for events following the Crucifixion, & that it might have been this 'undercover disciple' who was seen by those who did not know him at the Tomb on the morning of the Resurrection.