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812 reviews for:
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible
A.J. Jacobs
3.76 AVERAGE
812 reviews for:
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible
A.J. Jacobs
3.76 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this but wish there was more on the New Testament.
The problem, it seems to me, with the mindset of many "believers" is that they seem so *sure* of themselves. Jacobs approaches the Bible with a heavy dose of humility and innocent curiosity, removing as many of the usual filters as possible. In the process, he goes from being a garden variety agnostic, to a "reverent agnostic", a notable change. Many of the rules are off-the-wall - no mixed fibers in clothing, only eat the fruit of a tree older than 4 years - but they somehow add up to the author's newfound sense of the divine. By approaching the book with a "beginner's mind", Jacobs clearly shows how little even the most devout can truly know or follow the Bible.
There were times the book felt a little superficial - a little too "lite", but the guy has guts and it was dang funny at times. I've also been inspired to read Ecclesiastes.
There were times the book felt a little superficial - a little too "lite", but the guy has guts and it was dang funny at times. I've also been inspired to read Ecclesiastes.
I liked The Know-It-All so I guess I was predisposed to liking this book. It is an atheist's study of the Bible and Judeo-Christian beliefs. Although he makes a serious study and attempts to live all the rules of the bible, it is a foregone conclusion that he will not be converted by the end of the book. Still, it is entertaining and offers insight into religious extremism.
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
When I was a Christian, I will admit that I found this book humorous, informative, inspiring, and highly interesting. Now that I am not a Christina, that has not changed fully, but I look at this book through a new lens. It was never a doubt to anyone reading that many of the laws which the author follows through this experiment are pretty outlandish. Even so, the idea of following many if not any of these laws and regulations in the current century feels incredibly arbitrary and backwards. In addition, the idea of following the letter of the law (hence the "literally" in the title) is ridiculous when many of the time the rules/guidelines were intended to prevent something not written directly.
All in all, it's not a bad book, but take it with a grain of salt and remember that it was written for a specific people in a specific time and that many elements are not applicable to the current century.
All in all, it's not a bad book, but take it with a grain of salt and remember that it was written for a specific people in a specific time and that many elements are not applicable to the current century.
This book was amusing, although it occasionally inspired eye-rolls as the author’s literal interpretations of Scripture sometimes defied the Biblical context and both Jewish and Christian tradition (even orthodox and fundamentalist traditions). The author’s attempts to draw a list of commands and advice from the Bible and to follow it literarily is at times comical, and it ends up highlighting the importance of following Scripture in the context of a tradition and a fellowship of like believers. It reveals the ultimate inadequacy of religion apart from community; it shows how solo devotion, while valuable to a point, can only take a person so far and can end up being quite lonely.
The author was surprisingly non-prejudiced in his treatment of fundamentalists of various stripes; while he couldn’t buy into their positions, he did not treat them, as journalists so often do, as caricatures and villains, but instead he gave them a mostly fair shake.
I read a great deal of theology and devotional literature, and I find it interesting that it should be a book about a humorous, bizarre experiment conducted by a secular, agnostic Jew that should inspire in me an urge to begin trying harder to live my life according to God’s will and the Bible’s teachings. Life changes and stresses can make it easy for one’s focus to drift, and this has certainly happened to me; reading The Year of Living Biblically has made me more conscious of the way I live my life and of the things I have done that I ought not to have done as well as the things I should do that I am not doing.
He gives much less attention to the New Testament than to the Old in the book, and I do think his attempts to follow the New Testament inevitably miss the point, since Christianity is ultimately about a relationship with Christ and an experience of grace and not simply about following Christ’s moral teachings, which, when you get right down to it, are not vastly different than the teachings of many rabbis and prophets who came before and after Him. Christianity essentially adds little to the Jewish moral tradition. Without following the commands to worship Christ, to teach, to baptize, to participate in communion, etc., one is not really experiencing the New Testament. (But, were I Jewish, I would probably say he was not really experiencing the Hebrew Scriptures either, given the way he went about following it.)
It was interesting to observe the author’s journey during his “biblical year” and the softening of his agnostic position. Ultimately, he seems to emerge essentially unchanged from the experiment, with most of his suppositions intact, but perhaps a little more respect for religious people and religion in general.
The author was surprisingly non-prejudiced in his treatment of fundamentalists of various stripes; while he couldn’t buy into their positions, he did not treat them, as journalists so often do, as caricatures and villains, but instead he gave them a mostly fair shake.
I read a great deal of theology and devotional literature, and I find it interesting that it should be a book about a humorous, bizarre experiment conducted by a secular, agnostic Jew that should inspire in me an urge to begin trying harder to live my life according to God’s will and the Bible’s teachings. Life changes and stresses can make it easy for one’s focus to drift, and this has certainly happened to me; reading The Year of Living Biblically has made me more conscious of the way I live my life and of the things I have done that I ought not to have done as well as the things I should do that I am not doing.
He gives much less attention to the New Testament than to the Old in the book, and I do think his attempts to follow the New Testament inevitably miss the point, since Christianity is ultimately about a relationship with Christ and an experience of grace and not simply about following Christ’s moral teachings, which, when you get right down to it, are not vastly different than the teachings of many rabbis and prophets who came before and after Him. Christianity essentially adds little to the Jewish moral tradition. Without following the commands to worship Christ, to teach, to baptize, to participate in communion, etc., one is not really experiencing the New Testament. (But, were I Jewish, I would probably say he was not really experiencing the Hebrew Scriptures either, given the way he went about following it.)
It was interesting to observe the author’s journey during his “biblical year” and the softening of his agnostic position. Ultimately, he seems to emerge essentially unchanged from the experiment, with most of his suppositions intact, but perhaps a little more respect for religious people and religion in general.
Had it's good bits, and was interesting coming from someone who lived a secular life prior to the year.
This book got better as it went along. Seemed trite in the beginning, possibly because the author's "experiment" was trite. But as his experience deepened and grew so did the book.
funny
informative
fast-paced
I loved this book, but I'm so sad that AJ missed the real lesson. After all his efforts to follow all the laws and rule and suggestions in the Bible, he never met Jesus. Yet, the whole Bible is about Him.
He has learned that it's impossible to follow every precept of Law, yet he stopped there, just deciding to pick and choose, and be a "morally better" person. How sad.
He learned about religion. He never realized it's really about having a two-way friendship with God.
He has learned that it's impossible to follow every precept of Law, yet he stopped there, just deciding to pick and choose, and be a "morally better" person. How sad.
He learned about religion. He never realized it's really about having a two-way friendship with God.