The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
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A.J. Jacobs came on my radar from an interview promoting his latest book The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life. He first got on the NYT Best Seller List in 2004 with his book The Know-It All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, which chronicles his experience reading all 32 volumes of the Encyclopædia Britannica. So, he’s been on a lot of ~quests~. LOTR vibes.
Clearly, he likes ambitious, immersive projects. Because of my religious upbringing, I was particularly intrigued with his book The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. I quickly learned that he is extraordinarily committed to these quirky endeavors. In the beginning, he made a spreadsheet of all of the rules from both the Old and New Testament; then he sought to follow them for a year, being as observant as possible but emphasizing certain types of rules on specific days so that he could deep dive into both the intent behind the rule and the practical implications in this day and age.
Throughout the project, he interviews several faith leaders and institutions, including the Creationist museum, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Red-Letter Christians, the New York City Atheist organization, etc. I’ve read the Bible a lot (not to brag) and I still learned so much from this book. One thing that I appreciated was his sincerity in approaching the Bible. Like Kevin Roose in The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University, Jacobs had the perspective of a secular person earnestly seeking to learn. He wanted to know what the religious hubbub was about and he resisted the temptation to write all the rules off as nonsense, even if they seemed silly af.
This led to some funny moments as the rules penetrated his day-to-day. For example, when talking to his wife about the U.S. Open, he avoids mentioning Venus Williams because she’s named after the Roman goddess of love, which would violate Exodus 23:13 (make no mention of other gods). And his wife is truly a character, testing his discipline in all sorts of ways, especially the more sexist rules. I love the vulnerability of Jacobs’ writing; I feel like I’m intimately aware of his relationship with his wife and his children after reading this.
Overall, this book receives 5 out of 5 flames. Aside from the learning and the laughs, I gained a lot from the insights that he gleaned through this project. Personally, I’m able to better articulate what I do and don’t appreciate about the Bible. Like Jacobs, I believe that following the Bible is necessarily a selective enterprise for both moderates and Fundamentalists; however, that’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as you’re selecting the aspects that make for a better world.
