I’m not quite done with The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, but will finish it up shortly. This was a fun, funny and even poignant read. This could easily have been a scornful, cynical book, but it’s not. A.J. Jacobs, an agnostic Jew (basically non-observant before this) brings a basic decency and even reverence to his experiment. Reverent irreverence—one of my favorite combinations.
It doesn’t look like he’ll emerge from the experience a hard-core believer, but there seems to be a greater openness to the possibility of The Great Whatever. The book testifies to the idea that behavior can change emotion/conviction.
12 Responses to “reading challenge, feb 4”
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Yes, I whole-heartedly agree with your assessment of the book. I think that it raises very interesting questions about the nature of belief and faith/belief’s relationship with work.
Exactly.
I believe that behavior can indeed shape beliefs/emotions. The NY Times article I saw about this man left me with a less favorable impression of what he did than you’ve conveyed here. So maybe I should read the book.
oh, i’m so happy to read your timely review! i was just sniffing around amazon last night and this one came up in my search for things i might want to read during lent. i was considering it, but i wasn’t sure; i thought, as you said, it might go in the direction of mockery. i’m glad to have an opinion from someone i’ve found to be trustworthy. thanks.
RDM, I’m not sure which article you meant, but I did find the NYT review. The reviewer seemed unable to get past the basic premise of the book. He (?) also misrepresented a few things in the book. The reviewer paints Jacobs as insincere but I disagree, though I can’t deny that Jacobs is quite savvy in terms of what will be marketable in the current culture.
I also heard him interviewed on Kojo Nnamdi before I read the book and had a favorable impression from the start. This is a guy who read a stack of heavy theology and biblical interp in the course of writing the book. He’s no slouch.
He manages to bring concepts like the documentary hypothesis to a mass market audience, no small feat.
But, different strokes.
I had such a good time with this book! I checked it out of the library thinking it would be a fun car read a la Tim Cahill or Bill Bryson, and found it to be much more thought provoking that I had anticipated-
RM, I agree with your assessment about the sincerity and marketing, and I think that there are some passages I’ll use in sermons (This past Sunday I used the line about the joy found in following something you cannot fully explain).
I enjoyed this book immensely, and found Jacobs to be honest about things that even believers rarely are. His experiences of “God” were well written, and I found his conclusion to be thoughtful. However, I think his Christian section was quite weak, but if it’s hard to come to terms with Judaism, it is even more difficult to understand Christianity!
My husband E. got this book for Christmas - sounds like I might need to move it from his stack to mine. Glad to hear it is not a platform for potshots or mockery. Anything that might preach I am game to read! Thanks for the tip.
From the reviews at Amazon:
Whether being what my friend Blake calls Jew…ish has anything to do with this, I don’t know, but I’m there.
Yes Keith, I also love that expression… and feel like one much of the time. *cough*
I finally put this book on hold at the library….as soon as it comes in I’ll read it (no waiting like with the last couple of holds…I’ve had to renew!). I was holding out until someone I know/like/respect wrote something about it. Now that you have, I’m on board.
Late getting back to this, but what I read wasn’t a review but was an article about what he was doing…might have been a while back. It highlighted selectively no doubt, but I was left feeling like he was focusing on obvious (dress, food) but less important perhaps aspects of what the bible deals with. Not much substance. So I’m glad to hear that there is substance there.