Jana Riess, Christianity Today, November/December 2007
The Year of Living Biblically, One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
A.J. Jacobs
Simon & Schuster, 2007
400 pp., $25
We’ve all seen the email: a letter to a fundamentalist pastor thanking him for his helpful insights on how vital it is to live all the laws of the Bible. But, the letter-writer continues, this uncompromising stance does raise some sticky questions. How and when should you stone adulterers and Sabbath-breakers? What is the best way to inform your first wife that you’ll be adding to the family by taking a second and third? How many human slaves should you strive to own, and where can they be purchased nowadays?
The point of the email, of course, is to sardonically highlight just how far we have come from the culture of biblical times, and how impossible it is to speak of living the Bible literally when our own world is so different. And yet many of us try, out of devotion, to arrive at an unspoiled, untainted biblical meaning – discovering how ancient ways of pleasing God might be relevant for our times.
Such is the agenda of A. J. Jacobs’ achingly funny memoir The Year of Living Biblically. Jacobs, the author of The Know-It All, begins by describing himself as a secular Jew. (“I’m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant. Which is to say: Not very.”) In spite of his own detachment from religion, he is increasingly curious about the ways it influences 21st-century American life. Rather than standing on the sidelines or casting himself as an aloof pundit, he dives in head first and decides to spend a year living all the commandments of the Bible – that’s right, all of them. A sampling:
He hires an earnest New York shatnez tester to ensure that his garments don’t mix wool and linen (Deut. 22:11).
Read More Here
It Is Written: Literalism ad absurdum
Jana Riess, Christianity Today, November/December 2007
The Year of Living Biblically, One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
A.J. Jacobs
Simon & Schuster, 2007
400 pp., $25
We’ve all seen the email: a letter to a fundamentalist pastor thanking him for his helpful insights on how vital it is to live all the laws of the Bible. But, the letter-writer continues, this uncompromising stance does raise some sticky questions. How and when should you stone adulterers and Sabbath-breakers? What is the best way to inform your first wife that you’ll be adding to the family by taking a second and third? How many human slaves should you strive to own, and where can they be purchased nowadays?
The point of the email, of course, is to sardonically highlight just how far we have come from the culture of biblical times, and how impossible it is to speak of living the Bible literally when our own world is so different. And yet many of us try, out of devotion, to arrive at an unspoiled, untainted biblical meaning – discovering how ancient ways of pleasing God might be relevant for our times.
Such is the agenda of A. J. Jacobs’ achingly funny memoir The Year of Living Biblically. Jacobs, the author of The Know-It All, begins by describing himself as a secular Jew. (“I’m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant. Which is to say: Not very.”) In spite of his own detachment from religion, he is increasingly curious about the ways it influences 21st-century American life. Rather than standing on the sidelines or casting himself as an aloof pundit, he dives in head first and decides to spend a year living all the commandments of the Bible – that’s right, all of them. A sampling:
He hires an earnest New York shatnez tester to ensure that his garments don’t mix wool and linen (Deut. 22:11).
Read More Here