For hundreds of years, 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 the true timeline of events in the life of Christ. But apparent inconsistencies in the gospel accounts of Jesus' final week have puzzled Bible scholars for centuries. In The Mystery of the Last Supper, Colin Humphreys uses science to reveal the truth about Jesus' final days. Reconciling conflicting Gospel accounts and scientific evidence, Humphreys reveals the exact date of the Last Supper in a definitive new timeline of Holy Week.

Many great works of art have been created that we call "Christian," but none has received as much acclaim as Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. Art lovers venerate it for its composition and noble aesthetics, whereas, for Christians, it epitomizes the intimacy between Christ and his disciples. In recent years--following the publication of bestselling fictional narratives and dubious historical studies--The Last Supper has also become the focus of intrigue, controversy, speculation, and sensation. Recent restoration of the painting has exposed remnants of the original work and removed falsifications created by over-painting. Thus, for the first time since its creation more than five hundred years ago, we can contemplate Da Vinci's masterpiece in its more or less original form. This lavishly illustrated, full-color book reproduces many details of the restored work, and the author turns our attention to newly revealed aspects of The Last Supper that lead to fresh interpretations. The philosopher Rudolf Steiner called The Last Supper the world's most important work of art, adding that it revealed "the meaning of Earth existence." Michael Ladwein sheds light on many aspects of the spiritual facts that can be uncovered in this immortal painting--one that has lost nothing of its urgency in our modern world.

"We live today at a time when the full mystery of the Resurrection body can become manifest to human beings out of the inspirations of Michael.... This was accomplished by Rudolf Steiner not just in a theoretical sense but also practically, and came about through the establishing of a path, accessible to all human beings, which leads to a union with the forces of the Resurrection body." Sergei Prokofieff approaches the deepest mysteries of the Turning Point of Time (the Christ event) through Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research. At its heart stands the question of the restoration of the "phantom" of the physical body and its transformation into the resurrected body of Christ through the Mystery of Golgotha. The author draws a broad and differentiated picture of the tasks and possibilities that the Easter event--as well as Ascension and Pentecost--present, both for the individual and humanity. The final chapter considers the mystery of Easter Saturday, through which the two polar aspects of the Mystery of Golgotha--death and resurrection--interconnect, also explaining the relationship between the Earth Spirit and the interior of the Earth. An appendix tackles the phenomenon of stigmatization from a spiritual-scientific perspective.

The four Gospels unanimously present Jesus as someone who quoted from, commented on, and engaged with the Scriptures of Israel. Whether this portrayal goes back to the historical Jesus has been a hotly debated issue among scholars. In this book, eleven expert researchers from four different continents tackle the question anew. This is done through detailed study of specific themes and passages from the Scriptures which Jesus, according to the Gospels, quoted or alluded to. Among the various topics investigated are Jesus' use of Genesis 2 to bolster his teaching on divorce, his reference to the Queen of Sheba story in 1 Kings, the significance of the Book of Zechariah for Jesus' self-understanding, and his enigmatic quotation of Psalm 22 on the cross. These and other contributions result in a common understanding of Jesus' use of the Scriptures. Not only did Jesus engage with the Scriptures, according to these scholars, but his mode of engagement has to be placed within the early Jewish interpretative framework within which he lived.

"In 1576, as the Protestant Reformation continued to sweep across Western Europe and Catholic prelates tried to stem the tide through diligent application of Trent's reforming agenda, the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, Charles Borromeo (1538-84) penned a letter to his clergy. In order to restore the Church to its former glory, he enjoined his "beloved brethren" to "bring back good observances and holy customs which have grown cold and been abandoned over the course of time." Chief among them, he wrote, was the custom, which although ancient, had been "practically lost nearly everywhere in Italy . . . I mean the practice that ecclesiastical persons not grow, but rather shave the beard, . . .a custom of our Fathers, almost perpetually retained in the Church" that was "replete with mystical meanings.""--

This play brings the Passion narrative to life in a production suitable for anyone with little or no acting experience.

The first monograph to appear in English on the Last Supper frescoes in Quattrocento Florence, this study examines the effect of gender on the contextualized perceptions of the male and female religious who viewed the Florentine Last Supper images. Using archival, literary and cultural sources, and by examining a wide range of contexts, Diana Hiller argues that the religious viewers’ perceptions of the refectory frescoes were gendered.

In this third volume of papers from Thomas Merton’s conferences during his decade (1955-1965) as novice master at the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani, his insight into the liturgical pattern of the Christian year and beyond is presented in fresh detail. Merton’s own commitment to this central dimension of Christian life is clear, and nowhere more so than in his work introducing students to the patterns that would mark their lives as monks. Though dating from the period just before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, Merton's commentaries remain pertinent. The thoroughly annotated text is preceded by an extensive introduction situating this material in the context of Merton's lifelong writing on liturgy. Moreover, as his former student Br. Paul Quenon notes in his foreword, this context is one deeply rooted in Merton’s understanding of Scripture. ‘These notes . . . take us into one man's lifetime of reflection and seasoned experience of the Church Year.’

Liturgical Feasts and Seasons, in this third volume of paper, from Thomas Merton's conferences during his decade (1955-1965) as novice master at the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani, his insight into the liturgical pattern of the Christian year and beyond is presented in fresh detail. Merton's own commitment to this central dimension of Christian life is clear, and nowhere more so than in his work introducing students to the patterns that would mark their lives as monks. Though dating from the period just before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, Merton's commentaries remain pertinent. The thoroughly annotated text is preceded by an extensive introduction situating this material in the context of Merton's lifelong writing on liturgy. Moreover, as his former student Br. Paul Quenon notes in his foreword, this context is one deeply rooted in Merton's understanding of Scripture. 'These notes ... take us into one man's lifetime of reflection and seasoned experience of the Church Year.' In the Liturgical Feasts and Seasons: Novitiate Conferences on Scripture and Liturgy 3, Patrick F. O'Connell deeply rooted in Merton's understanding of Scripture.

‘And however paradoxical it may seem today, the “Grail mood” is in the fullest sense to be found in Russia. And the future role that Russia will play in the sixth post-Atlantean epoch... rests firmly upon this unconquerable “Grail mood” in the Russian people.’ – Rudolf Steiner Although Eastern Europe has been part of the Christian world for more than a thousand years, its spiritual identity remains a mystery. This mystery, says Sergei Prokofieff, can only fully be solved by looking behind external events and seeking spiritual – meta-historical – dimensions of reality. In illuminating the maya of outer history, Prokofieff reveals the forces that have been at work to hinder the progress of mankind: the materialistic Brotherhoods of the West and the occult aspects of both Jesuitism and Bolshevism. These adversary groups have created a ‘karma of materialism’, that the eastern Slavic peoples have taken upon themselves out of their ‘exalted willingness for sacrifice’. Prokofieff shows how, from the earliest times, the future ‘conscience of humanity’ flowed from hidden mystery centres in Hibernia, to the eastern Slavic peoples. As a result, qualities of ‘compassion, patience and willingness for sacrifice’ developed in their souls, creating a truly Christian ‘Grail mood’. Despite incalculable suffering – from the persecutions of the Mongol hordes to the Bolshevik experiment of the last century – this quality has become an unconquerable force. Will humanity be able to use the present opportunity granted by this sacrifice to fulfil the primary purposes of the present cultural epoch? Can the future mysteries of the Holy Grail be fulfilled? In this momentous work, breathtaking in its scope and detail, the author attempts a truly esoteric approach, penetrating to the spiritual wellsprings of Eastern Europe in the light of Rudolf Steiner’s research.