knotheadusc's Full Review: A. J. Jacobs - The Year of Living Biblically: One ...
Epinions.com can be a wonderful place to discover great products. For instance, Epinions member mmcphee wrote a great review about A.J. Jacobs' 2007 book The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. I stumbled across that review a few months ago, thought it sounded interesting, and ended up sticking Jacobs' book in my perpetually full Amazon virtual cart to be purchased the next time I needed a book fix. Last month, as my husband Bill and I were sitting in our huge, mostly empty house, waiting for our stuff to get here from Germany, I bought a bunch of new books. Jacobs' remarkable tale was among my purchases.
About the author and his project
A.J. Jacobs is an editor at Esquire magazine, a graduate of Brown University, and, apparently, an agnostic with Jewish leanings. He grew up in a secular family, but was curious about the more spiritual aspects of the world. He wanted to know more about the relevance of faith in today's society. And that curiosity led Jacobs to spend a year trying to live as literally as possible by the rules of the Bible.
Naturally, as a guy who grew up in a secular family with Jewish leanings, Jacobs was a relative novice in matters relating to the Bible. Still, he endeavored to follow the Ten Commandments, love his neighbor as he loved himself, and even be fruitful and multiply. And he didn't stop with those simple commandments. Apparently, A.J. Jacobs is not one to do these kinds of projects halfway.
Besides taking on the most obvious tenets of Christianity, Jacobs decided to follow some of the more obscure rules, too. For instance, he vowed to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers and even had a rabbi come over and inspect his duds for potentially offensive material. He committed to stoning adulterers and came up with a way to do so that wouldn't result in murder. The formerly bare faced Jacobs even grew a super long beard that required a second facial mask when his wife was giving birth to their twins.
Jacobs' project brought him plenty of curious stares from onlookers. It also brought him into contact with some interesting people who all ultimately helped him with his quest to understand the Bible. His long suffering wife, Julie, and their son, Jasper, were sort of pulled into Jacobs' Biblical year by proxy. Julie was, especially put upon as Jacobs observed rules about touching her and other women, particularly during "that time of the month". After reading about some of the things Jacobs did, I definitely feel like giving his wife a lot of credit for her patience. At least she got a trip to a cool Amish B&B out of the deal.
My thoughts
I think A.J. Jacobs definitely has guts to undertake a project like this one. Not only does his quest to live Biblically require dedication, attention to detail, and advice from experts, it also requires a thick skin. After all, living Biblically in our modern times required Jacobs to alter his look quite substantially. And, of course, I'm certain he also had to deal with people who found his project ridiculous or irreverent. Luckily, I happen to be a big fan of the ridiculous and irreverent, so this book was right up my alley.
Jacobs has a wonderfully witty writing style that makes him come across as one of those people who manage to be both polite and snarky at the same time. I found myself laughing out loud several times as I read this book, particularly when Jacobs explains his attempts at stoning an adulterer. I also found this book extremely interesting, since the obscure rules Jacobs follows require an explanation as to why they were made rules. As someone who grew up being dragged kicking and screaming to Sunday school and church every Sunday, I definitely missed out on these more interesting aspects of the Bible. Maybe had some of these tidbits been thrown into the lessons, I might have ended up a more dedicated Christian.
Speaking of dedicated Christians, I'm not sure how some of them would react to this book. While I think a lot would chuckle about Jacobs' project and maybe even learn a few things from it, some others might find it offensive. To be honest, for all of Jacobs' dedication to living strictly by the gospel, sometimes his attitude while doing so seems less than reverent. Personally, I liked that about his book, but people who are very devout Christians might find Jacobs' attitude mocking.
At times, Jacobs seems to be trying to expose aspects of the Bible as kooky. I have no doubt that many readers will, indeed, find some aspects of the Bible as pretty kooky, at least as Jacobs explains them. But those who really take the Bible seriously may not like that viewpoint very much and will likely consider it blasphemous. On the other hand, there are times when Jacobs seems to really respect the Bible in a literary and historical context and that respect comes through in his writing. In fact, sometimes Jacobs' revelations are even as moving as they are funny.
Jacobs' work has already inspired another book. Kevin Roose, currently a student at Brown University, was fortunate enough to work as Jacobs' intern. Roose admits that Jacobs inspired him to try a semester at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, which spawned Roose's book The Unlikely Disciple. Naturally, I have read and reviewed that book, too. As a committed smart aleck, I can't get enough of reading about liberals taking on the religious right. Anyway, I would recommend this book to those of a like mind... or anyone who just likes to read about interesting but slightly goofy projects.
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