Editing Last Supper (section)

==Historicity==
According to [[John P. Meier]] and [[E. P. Sanders]], Jesus having a final meal with his disciples is almost beyond dispute among scholars, and belongs to the framework of the narrative of Jesus' life.{{sfn|Sanders|1995|pp=10-11}}{{sfn|Meier|1991|p=398}} [[I. Howard Marshall]] states that any doubt about the historicity of the Last Supper should be abandoned.{{Sfn|Marshall|2006|p=33}}

Some [[Jesus Seminar]] scholars consider the Last Supper to have derived not from Jesus' last supper with the disciples but rather from the [[gentile]] tradition of memorial dinners for the dead.{{sfn|Funk|1998|pp=51-161|loc=Mark}} In their view, the Last Supper is a tradition associated mainly with the gentile churches that Paul established, rather than with the earlier, Jewish congregations.{{sfn|Funk|1998|pp=51-161|loc=Mark}} Such views echo that of 20th century Protestant theologian [[Rudolf Bultmann]], who also believed the Eucharist to have originated in [[Pauline Christianity|Gentile Christianity]].{{Sfn|Bultmann|1963}}{{Sfn|Bultmann|1958}}

On the other hand, an increasing number of scholars have reasserted the historicity of the institution of the Eucharist, reinterpreting it from a [[Jewish eschatology|Jewish eschatological]] point of view: according to Lutheran theologian [[Joachim Jeremias]], for example, the Last Supper should be seen as a climax of a series of Messianic meals held by Jesus in anticipation of a new [[The Exodus|Exodus]].{{Sfn|Jeremias|1966|p=51-62}} Similar views are echoed in more recent works by Catholic biblical scholars such as [[John P. Meier]] and [[Brant Pitre]], and by Anglican scholar [[N. T. Wright|N.T. Wright]].{{Sfn|Meier|1994|pp=302-309}}{{Sfn|Pitre|2011}}{{Sfn|Wright|2014}}