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jackbylund 's review for:
Much to the frustration of his wife, AJ Jacobs sets out to follow the commands of the Bible as literally and comprehensively as possible in this delightful book.
It’s not an easy process. Jacobs has to make judgment calls about what is literal and figurative. To maintain legitimacy, he consults with Jewish and Christian scholars and clergy.
Jacobs runs us through the rigors of his commitment. He wears clothing that doesn’t mix fibers. He grows a thick, Moses-level beard. He tours Jerusalem. What’s most fun, though, are the parts you don’t expect. Jacobs takes on an unpaid intern, the closest thing he can have to a modern slave. He throws tiny pebbles at adulterers so he can say he stones them. Our experimental writer does all this and more for a full year, continuing his work at Esquire and helping his wife while she’s pregnant with twins.
An agnostic himself, Jacobs discovers the value of faith and religion, and is careful to note how and when it has improved his life. And that’s the sort of insight I can really use right now. The book is often funny, but it’s frequently vulnerable and honest, too. Jacobs does not wash away the violence and fundamentalism that religion often invites, but he reaches an understanding of the joy faith has provided to billions of people all over the world.
It’s not an easy process. Jacobs has to make judgment calls about what is literal and figurative. To maintain legitimacy, he consults with Jewish and Christian scholars and clergy.
Jacobs runs us through the rigors of his commitment. He wears clothing that doesn’t mix fibers. He grows a thick, Moses-level beard. He tours Jerusalem. What’s most fun, though, are the parts you don’t expect. Jacobs takes on an unpaid intern, the closest thing he can have to a modern slave. He throws tiny pebbles at adulterers so he can say he stones them. Our experimental writer does all this and more for a full year, continuing his work at Esquire and helping his wife while she’s pregnant with twins.
An agnostic himself, Jacobs discovers the value of faith and religion, and is careful to note how and when it has improved his life. And that’s the sort of insight I can really use right now. The book is often funny, but it’s frequently vulnerable and honest, too. Jacobs does not wash away the violence and fundamentalism that religion often invites, but he reaches an understanding of the joy faith has provided to billions of people all over the world.