Rating: 
Summary: Likely Fiction ... But More Believable Than the Gospels
Review: An interesting analysis of the Passion story, this book is most valuable for the background information it gives about the state of the world where and when Jesus lived. The faked death by crucifixion notion seems a trifle far-fetched, but not nearly so outlandish as the story in the Gospels of the return from death and the invention of the notion of the Second Coming to cover up the historical fact that the Romans crushed the Jewish Messiah like a grape, and he did not save his people. Anything that pokes a few more holes in fundamentalism is worth the price of admission.
Rating: 
Summary: a plot? why ever not?
Review: As a Roman Catholic, Schonfield's idea of a Passover plot is intriguing and does not in the least threaten my Christian beliefs. Why should it? He doesn't suggest that Christianity is bad or evil, just that its beginnings are not exactly the way they were portrayed by the reporters of a later time. It's a theory, and a pretty good one at that! In his sequel THE PENTECOST REVOLUTION, Schonfield sheds even more light on this very touchy subject.
Rating:
Summary: A revolutionary concept treated with scholarly exactness.
Review: Did Jesus orchestrate his public life and subsequent crucifixion and disappearance from the tomb? Hugh Schonfield, a renowned scholar and former Pulitzer Prize nominee, feels that is a possibility. And in his book "The Passover Plot," he presents his scholary arguments as to how and why Jesus could have pulled off such a feat. If you are a Christian this book could well destroy your faith, or else strengthen it. The author does not attempt to debunk Christian beliefs, but instead he gives us the "historical" Jesus as he sets down his arguments in the context of the times in which Jesus lived. He takes into consideration the political climate of the area, as well as the feelings and beliefs of contemporary Jews of which Jesus was one. For whatever reason you read this book, I suggest you do it with an open mind. If you can do so, you will surely agree that "The Passover Plot" is indeed an interesting and exciting read. Schonfield's ideas are revolutionarhy at the very least, and whether you agree with his treatise or not, you must laud his painstaking, scholarly sincerity and careful scrutiny of the available references. To reach his version of the truth, Schonfield tries to dispel the myths through which Christ looms larger than life in the Gospels of the New Testament. He sifts and probes the Gospels and other authoritative works, including those of the contemporary Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, to arrive at the facts which have not been previously represented. He attempts to show that it was the personality of Jesus which enabled him to embark on a program calculated to fulfill what he believed the prophecies demanded of the Messiah. The plot of Jesus was unique in that it called for intense messianic faith, acute perceptiveness, an iron will and extreme intelligence. To accomplish his goals, Jesus had to produce certain calculated reactions. The Galilean, the first-born of a Jewish carpenter Joseph and his wife Miriam (Mary), was to prove to be no ordinary boy, for he was destined to play a unique part in history. Very little information is available regarding the early life of Jesus. The Gospels pass over completely his entire life prior to his public ministry. It is fairly certain, however that Jesus having grown up under the influence of the Essene sect, their teachings influenced the shaping of his beliefs. The Gospels suggest that Jesus was imbibed by notions presented by the Nazarenes, and his younger brother James had somewhat embraced the ascetic way of life. Early in his life, Jesus put into operation a program which was the outcome of his prior messianic investigations in the years before his baptism by John the Baptist. That Jesus believed he was the Messiah of the Jews is divulged in the Gospels, the author feels. Following his baptism by John, Jesus put into motion his plot to fulfill the scriptures as to his ministry and subsequent crucifixion. Jesus was fully aware that the only future that mattered depended upon what he said and did in his life and finally upon his death. He knew exactly what he was doing, and every word and action was well planned and thought out. Schonfield weaves an intricate tapestry of Jesus' public life, taking into consideration the political climate of the times and the belief by many Jews that the end was at hand, as well as strong messianic fervor. Jesus calculated his entry into Jerusalem and subsequent ministry to coincide with the scriptures.s Because of the harsh political climate in the city, he had to carefully orchestrate his public life so as to not prematurely infuriate either the Roman rulers or the Jewish hierarchy. The author delves deeply into the brief ministry of Jesus, his agony on the cross, his burial and subsequent disappearance from the tomb. Although the written information of these events is sparse, Schonfield offers his take on a very intriguing chain of events in the life and death of Jesus. He tries to explain details of the resurrection using the resources at hand and a very fertile, educatiod mind. I think he has succeeded beyond what could have been expected. In conclusion, Schoenfield points out that Jesus exerted a powerful influence on those who came in contact with him. If you wish to know the real Jesus, he concludes, we have to be acutely aware of all that was going on at the time, the highly charged atmosphere and political tension. We must think of Jesus not as a divine being or teacher of ethics,but as a son of his country, a man with the blood of kings in his veins, exercising authority, because he truely believed it to be his messianic destiny. The Jesus of history can only be correctly known by those who are willing to see him as a Jewish Messiah. Finally, the author tries to lay out the origins of Christianity, completely interlaced with synoptic and paganic influences. His premise is that Christianity was in origin a messianic movement, and that it's development as a new religion was conditional by its subsequent non-Jewish environment. Schoenfield has indeed portrayed the historical Jesus as a real person of his time, rather than as a theological figure of Cbhristian faith. The figure that evolves is a person of dynamic character, with one perpose and one goal in mind. I strongly encourage you to read "The Passover Plot." It will either shake your Christian faith or greatly reinforce it. But surely, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Rating:
Summary: Historical What-ifs
Review: In 1971, I was a public high school senior who had dropped out of the Catholic School system after ten years of Catholic indoctrination and an excellent high school education under the Sistine Jesuits. I took an English elective entitled, "The Bible as Literature." Our first reading was "The Passover Plot." I found the book to be highly interesting in its presentation of the historical facts of the time (history has always been my passion), and its subjective interpretation of the life of Jesus. Keep in mind that my background had been the religous indoctrination of the Catholic Church, which had been the preeminet spiritual and temporal leader of Europe until Martin Luther happened along. Also, keep in mind that Protestants are considered to be heretics of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Anyway, my take on the whole matter is quite simple. I am sure most of us remember the old school game where you wisper a message in someones ear and have that person pass it to ten people. At the end of the line you ask the last person to reveal the message, and your original message has been totally twisted around. The same with history. Here we are two thousand years later after Jesus' presumable death at the
"brutal" hands of the Romans whose empire is also dead, and, more importantly, still waiting for his "SECOND COMING" as Christian believers, and no one can really say with sound accuracy if he lived or if he was just a myth. The bottom line really is quite simple. Regardless of his existence, a religion was started, and our modern world is now caught up in the grips of a terrorist inspired JIHAD. The crusades revisited. Jews against Moslems, and Moslems against Christians---an age old story. Yet, all three religions claim to be descended from Abraham, but are killing each other against the precept of "Thou shallt not kill thy neighbor." The more lethal the weapon, the better. Oh, and now we have a movie, "The Passion," which is exploiting the violent side of our souls in order to get a message out or is it the old Hollywood story--to make a bigger buck and be the all-time money grosser. When will we as so-called educated, enlightened humans ever learn that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Sorry, if this was not an exact review of the book, and more like a polemical takeoff of my feelings on the book...but,... In conclusion, the book does make an interesting read for someone who is open-minded enough to accept or reject the authors precepts. It should be read along with other books on the subject. Like the Constitution and the Bible, it is a matter of one's own interpretation. For historical research, I give it four stars, and for his "subjective" analysis and conclusion, I give the book three stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Apparently it's not supposed to be a fictional book
Review: In this book Hugh Schonfield delivers a theory that portrays Jesus as a deceiver who bent the rules in order to fulfill prophecy. According to Schonfield's story, Jesus planned His own resurrection, which was apparently foiled when He was accidentally pierced on the cross by a soldier. However, the disciples--what would a dead Jesus look like anyway? Schonfield asks--wanted so badly to believe in the resurrection that they mistakenly thought they saw Jesus and began what we today call Christianity. Pity the poor Christians today, Schonfield seems to be saying. Here they are, believing in a nonhistorical fairy tale. If his story is correct, then the Christian is truly the most pitied of all people, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:1ff. But if he is wrong, there is a terrible price to pay. Yet I believe that history shows the swoon theory, the wrong tomb theory, or even the spiritual resurrection theory as much more likely possibilities than what Schonfield has to offer. In effect, Schonfield is calling into question the integrity of both Jesus and his disciples. Was Jesus really a deceiver? Was He looking for popularity? If so, then why did He not accept the accolades of the people that He received on Palm Sunday and just become their political ruler? Certainly it could have ended no more tragically than what really took place. Jesus' popularity would have given Him an edge in trying to overthrow the Roman government in the Judean region, and perhaps He could have been more successful than the many other "messiahs" who, for the most part, were all unsuccessful and eventually lost their lives. But to claim that Jesus was in this for the power or because He Himself was under dillusional thoughts is not very historical at all. Another problem with Schonfield's theory is that there were many events not under Jesus' control for this theory to take place. Here is a man whose very birth was predicted in scripture (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2). What He would say on the cross and other circumstances of His death were also very clearly predicted (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53). His life fulfilled these things. Despite His death and the "plot" wallowing in shambles, everything is supposed to work out just right? Are we to believe that Thomas really touches Jesus, but this really wasn't Jesus? (John 20:26ff) So why does Thomas take the gospel message to India and die a martyr's death? To make everything work, Thomas and the other disciples must have been complete dolts, which is the only possible way it would have worked. With Jesus out of the picture, there is no way in the world this could have fooled so many different people, including the more than 500 who saw Jesus at one time (1 Cor. 15:1-7). All in all, I believe that a person will have to own a lot of faith in order to believe The Passover Plot. If the author was not serious about his research, it would almost be a fun theory. But Schonfield shows how far off a person can get by reading into history and creating one's own "what if" theory. To me, believing in the many eyewitness accounts of Jesus' resurrection appearances, the evidence of the power of changed lives because of this resurrection, and a tomb where no body could be found is a much better risk of faith than believing anything Schonfield has to offer. Unless you're curious to see how Schonfield explains his theory, I just don't recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Scholarship and speculation
Review: It was Schoenfeld's specualtion that Jesus faked his crucifixion that made this a hot best-seller in its day, but the virtues of the book lie in the meticulous and persuasive scholarship that underlie the sensational element. Schoenfeld is particulary good at explaining what it means to understand Jesus as a Jew, a fact given lip service but rarely understood by Christians. Also outstanding is his analysis of the differing theological conceptions and aims of the four gospel authors, and how their religious views shaped their versions of the story. His idea that Jesus deliberately set out to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies and become the Messiah is interesting and plausible. One needn't accept his highly speculative passover plot theory of just what happened on that first Easter to get quite a lot out of this excellent work.
Rating: 
Summary: Silliness dressed up as scholarship
Review: It's hard to know where to begin in debunking this flimsy theory about the crucifixion of Jesus. The author piles supposition on top of legend on top of rank speculation and comes up with an absurd reinterpretation of Jesus' death. It's significant that there are no reputable scholars who would agree with this pseudo-scholarly proposition. I give the book one star for at least being creative enough to come up with a fresh way of trying to undermine the historicity of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. But this book's ridiculous theories have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with historical reality.
Rating:
Summary: How trustworthy was Schonfield?
Review: Ted Albasini says Schonfield was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. I think he means the Nobel Peace prize . Schonfield got this nomination for his World Citizenship peace work, not his writing. He is not apparently much regarded as an authoritative scholar by academics, none of whom refer to him in their books. Geza Vermes is the real thing, not Schonfield who was a publisher with Michael Joseph, and whose speciality was modern Egypt. In the preface of his book Politics of God he describes a vision which inspired him to try and unite Christianity and Judaism for world peace. He saw lights etc. I think he was sincere but not academically highly qualified as a biblical scholar, nor would I think him altogether sane. The Passover Plot happened to hit the right time for the fashion for reading "debunking books". He knows how to speak to fundamentalist evangelicals and has enraged so many American evangelicals more than better books because Schonfield was himself an evangelical at Waltham New Town Mission, London, in the early 1920's. All his understanding of Christians seems to be aimed at his old aquaintances.
Rating:
Summary: Let's Get Real
Review: The contents of "The Passover Plot" is pure tripe. If Hugh Schonfield had realistically thought about what had happened 2000 years ago, then he would have realized that; 1) Jesus was scourged at a pillar where anywhere from 2-4 men whipped him mercilessly with metal attached to the ends of the leather whips. They ripped into his flesh and muscle causing bleeding, contusions, probably cracked ribs and bones and chunks of flesh and muscle to hang off of his body. This type of torture was used to weaken the victim into total submission thus making crucifixtion easy for the Romans. 2)After that they placed thorns on his head and pressed them into his skull causing bleeding and terrible pain to add to what he had already gone through. 3)Next he had to carry a piece of his cross weighing approximately 75-125 pounds through the streets until he could no longer do it himself after his brutal torture. 4) Then he was laid on the ground and had his hands and feet nailed to a cross and had his body stretched so far on the cross that ligaments and bones were stretched until they popped out of place. Three hours on the cross with all of his weight on his nail driven hands and feet and then a spear in his side. I don't think that he was some sort of prankster, just doing this for laughs. He was the Son of God and the author should remember the following: When you want a seat at a table in the club called "Eternity", they'll check to see if he gets "Smoking or Non-Smoking".
Rating:
Summary: Absurd
Review: This book is clearly a work of fiction. Its absurd. The author has invented theories about the Passion that hold absolutley no water. He also cannot count apparently. Christ had 12 disciples not 13 as he says. The beloved dicsiple in this book is a totally different person than who it really is St John. I didnt find this book offensive, just totally a fictional fantasy of one person. His theories of the death and resurrection are actually quite humorous, because if they were in the least bit true, Christianity would have went out the window two thousand years ago.
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