Anyway, my mother got a book out from the library recently, and according to tradition, I picked it up and finished it before she could even get started. I found her lack of reading ... disturbing. And then I realized: It was a trap! She got me to learn about the Bible through subliminal methods involving (a) leaving a cool-looking book lying around the house and (b) waiting for me to read it.
So this book. It was titled The Year of Living Biblically and was made 12 times better because of the cover image.
As you can see from the subtitle, a guy decided to try and follow all the rules and advice and commandments of the bible. His previous book was about reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z. Clearly a sadist.
He writes in the introduction that he was of Jewish heritage but labeled himself as agnostic before his noble quest. In the epilogue, he states that he cannot quite bring himself to believe in the god of Judaism but is no longer agnostic. This is a man who writes for Esquire and reads encyclopedias for a living. So what did he do?
Well, everything. He stopped shaving. Stopped eating shellfish. Wore tassels on his clothes. Prayed regularly. Stoned adulterers. Those are just a few of the purity laws which he attempted to follow. He also tried to obey the moral laws like the 10 Commandments, the advice to pray regularly, or Leviticus 19:18. Look it up.
So it's an interesting read. It's an almost day-by-day account of what his new life is like. He notices the changes that his self-imposed restrictions and mandates are wreaking on his habits and thoughts. He has some moments where he actually feels connected to God and his heritage, and other moments when he is frightened by some sects which are affected by the same biblical literalism that his project requires. It's a very interesting experience.
Go read it.
Cheers,
Isaac
Isaac--
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the review! I appreciate your insights, not just into the book itself, but also into your family dynamics--on both the nuclear and church level.
I had an opportunity to attend a lecture/reading with AJ Jacobs when he came for the Texas Book Festival in support of this book. Someone asked if he was still doing any of it. He said that he and his family were going to synagogue--that in the end, one of the things he really found was a sense of community that he had been missing and he wanted his children to experience that. I was intrigued to go back and read the book as a move from individual to community, aside from the religious aspect of it, but I haven't done it yet. Your review reminded me that I want to do that! Thank you!
Cynthia Kepler-Karrer
That's *really* interesting, Cynthia.
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