The Year of Living Biblically

This is not some new project I have for my life. It's actually the story of another man's journey. Author A.J. Jacobs published this book in 2007 about his quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible. I just finished reading it last night and I would definitely recommend it. You should know that A.J. isn't a Christian. He is a Jew by ancestry, but not practicing by any means. Basically, A.J. is a man who decided to study the Bible - including all of the random laws - and find out what it's all about. I actually got to meet him last November in Houston. He even autographed my book!

A.J. is a very engaging author. Whenever I would pick up the book, I would get lost in his story-telling because it was so real and true to life. He's also very funny. There are some great stories in the book about different experiments he tried, his wife's response to some of the crazy things he was doing and just observations he made along the way.

It was really neat to read a book from a non-Christian and see his observations about the scriptures that many of us live by. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

p. 72 "That's the paradox: I thought religion would make me live with my head in the clouds, but often as not, it grounds me in this world."

p. 176 (after eating some bugs - alhough I can't remember why he did it!) "More and more, I feel it's important to look at the Bible with an open heart. If you roll up your sleeves, even the oddest passages - and the one about edible bugs qualifies - can be seen as a sign of God's mercy and compassion."

p. 220 "'Praise the Lord,' I say out loud. I'd always found the praising God parts of the Bible and my prayer books awkward. The sentences about the powerful, almighty, all-knowing, the host of hosts, He who has greatness beyond our comprehension, I'm not used to talking like that. It's so over the top. I'm used to the understatement and hedging and irony. And why would God need to be praised in the first place? God shouldn't be insecure. He's the ultimate being. Now I can sort of see why. It's not for him. It's for us. It takes you out of yourself and your prideful little brain."

P. 275 (about the story of the prodigal son) "Unconditional love is an illogical notion, but such a great and powerful one."

I won't tell you his conclusions after living a whole year as closely to the Bible as possible, you'll just have to read it for yourself. But I will say that it is a very thought-provoking book and I highly enjoyed. I'm looking forward to trading with my sister Lorin next time I see her and reading his first book "The Know It All" about his year reading the Encyclopedia from A to Z.