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Ratzinger and Aquinas on the Dating of the Last Supper: In Defense of the Synoptic Chronology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

John P. Joy
John P. Joy*
Affiliation:
International Theological Institute, Trumaum, Austria
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Abstract

This essay takes up the question of the dating of the Last Supper and the apparent contradiction between the Gospel of John and the Synoptic Gospels with regard to the date of the Passover Feast in the year that Jesus died. Our point of departure is Joseph Ratzinger's consideration of the same problem in the second volume of his recent book Jesus of Nazareth, wherein he ultimately concedes the irreconcilability of the two accounts and concludes in favor of the historical accuracy of the Johannine rather the Synoptic chronology. The second part of this essay then takes up and re-proposes the solution to this apparent contradiction given by St Thomas Aquinas. The intervening centuries of ‘higher criticism’ notwithstanding, Aquinas's solution remains satisfactory inasmuch as it preserves the historical truth of all four Gospel accounts whole and entire, and does so with an historical plausibility and an elegant simplicity that is not forced to rely upon tenuous historical reconstructions. Moreover, there are strong arguments that can be drawn from the Gospel itself and from Jewish laws and customs pertaining to Passover which can be marshaled in favor of Aquinas's interpretation.

Keywords

RatzingerAquinasPassoverLast SupperBiblical Chronology
Type
Original Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 94 , Issue 1051 , May 2013 , pp. 324 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 The Author. New Blackfriars © 2012 The Dominican Council

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References

1 Ratzinger, Joseph, Jesus of Nazareth, Volume 2: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, trans. Whitmore, Philip J. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011), p. 103Google Scholar.

2 Ibid., p. 105.

3 Ibid., pp. 103–104.

4 Ratzinger, Joseph, Jesus of Nazareth, Volume 1: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, trans. Walker, Adrian J. (New York: Doubleday, 2007), p. xvGoogle Scholar.

5 Ibid., p. xxiv.

6 The timing of events within the day of Christ's crucifixion thus presents yet another point of apparent discrepancy between St John and the Synoptic Gospels.

7 Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 2, p. 108.

8 Jaubert, Annie, The Date of the Last Supper: The Biblical Calendar and Christian Liturgy (New York: Alba House, 1965)Google Scholar.

9 Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 2, p. 110.

10 Pope Benedict XVI, “Homily in Cena Domini,” AAS 97 (2007), pp. 233–34: “Nei racconti degli evangelisti esiste un'apparente contraddizione tra il Vangelo di Giovanni, da una parte, e ciò che, dall'altra, ci comunicano Matteo, Marco e Luca … Questa contraddizione fino a qualche anno fa sembrava insolubile … La scoperta degli scritti di Qumran ci ha nel frattempo condotto ad una possibile soluzione convincente che, pur non essendo ancora accettata da tutti, possiede tuttavia un alto grado di probabilità.”

11 Ibid., p. 234: “Egli però ha celebrato la Pasqua con i suoi discepoli probabilmente secondo il calendario di Qumran, quindi almeno un giorno prima.”

12 Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 2, p. 111.

13 Ibid., p. 112.

14 Ibid. The work to which Ratzinger refers is: Meier, John P., A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, vol. 1 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991)Google Scholar.

15 Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 2, p. 107.

16 Ibid., p. 109.

17 Ibid., p. 30.

18 Ibid., p. 107.

19 St Thomas Aquinas, Scriptum super Sententiis IV, d. 11, q. 2, a. 2, qc. 3; Summa contra Gentiles IV, cap. 69; Summa theologiae III, q. 46, a. 9, ad 1; q. 74, a. 4; Contra errores Graecorum II, cap. 39; Super Matthaeum, cap. 26, lec. 2; Super Ioannem, cap. 13, lec. 1; cap. 18, lec. 5.

20 Aquinas, Summa theologiae III, q. 74, a. 4.

21 Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles IV, cap. 69, n. 4.

22 Ibid.

23 Aquinas, Super Ioannem, cap. 13, lec. 1.

24 Ibid.

25 Sarna, Nahum M., The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), p. 55Google Scholar.

26 Josephus, Jewish Wars, 6, 9, 3.

27 Cf. Kanof, Abram, “Passover”, in Roth, Cecil, ed., Encyclopædia Judaica, vol. 13 (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971), c. 163Google Scholar: “Passover, a spring festival, beginning on the 15th of Nisan, lasting seven days … ”

28 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 3, 10, 5; cf. Sarna, Exodus, p. 57: “The focus is on the festival of matsot, unleavened bread. Without doubt, throughout the biblical period this remained a distinct celebration separate from the one-day paschal rite.”

29 Sarna, Exodus, p. 58.

30 Ibid.

31 Aquinas, Super Ioannem, cap. 13, lec. 1.

32 St.Aquinas, Thomas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, ed. Weisheipl, James A., trans. Larcher, Fabian R. (Petersham: St. Bede's Publications, 2000), p. 271Google Scholar.

33 Aquinas, Super Ioannem, cap. 18, lec. 5.

34 Ibid.

35 Talmud, Oholoth 18, Mishnah 7: “The dwelling-places of heathens are unclean.” Cf. Mishnah 10: Among the places “not [subject to the laws] of heathen dwelling-places: … the open spaces of a courtyard.”

36 Staff, Editorial, “Purity and Impurity, Ritual”, in Roth, Cecil, ed., Encyclopædia Judaica, vol. 13 (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971), c. 1406Google Scholar.

37 Ibid., p. 1412.

38 Hoffman, Lawrence A. and Arnow, David, eds, My People's Passover Haggadah, Volume 1: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries (Woodstock: Jewish Lights, 2008), p. 38Google Scholar.