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Loading... The Year of Living Biblicallyby A. J. Jacobs
 melissarochelle | Apr 13, 2013 |  I'm not sure why I decided to read this, but I quite enjoyed A.J. Jacobs' account of his year-long attempt to grasp religion. It is generous and fair-minded but also honest and critical. Worth reading just for Jacobs' investigations of literalism, Jewish and Christian. And, he's funny--not strange, humorous funny. (  ) nmele | Apr 6, 2013 | I liked this book quite a lot, but did find towards the end that it started to drag slightly as the pace didn't vary much. Still, apart from the impressive madness / explanations of some of the weirder rules, and the fact that he did try a heck of a lot, what stuck with me was how in the end this feat did change him, to some extent. He ended up still agnostic, but as he refers to it a "reverent agnostic" - someone who pays care and attention to the world and the people around him, not just to his own thoughts and worries. (  ) comixminx | Apr 5, 2013 | I think I'd actually give this book 4.5 stars if that were possible. This memoir impressed me a lot, partly because A. J. Jacobs managed to write a book that seriously discusses the Bible, Biblical history, religion, and ethics that also manages to be honest and laugh-out-loud funny. I learned a lot about religion reading this book. Although there were times that I was a little annoyed because A. J.'s experiment seemed artificial to me, I do feel he genuinely took some life lessons and became a better and more spiritual person in spite of it. Also worth noting -- I heard the author speak two days before finishing this book -- and he is funny in person as well. Some quotes I really liked: p. 172 "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. 220 "I'd always found the praising-God parts of the Bible and my prayer books awkward....It's so over the top....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. 316 "The Bible may not have been dictated by God, it may have had a messy and complicated birth, one filled with political agendas and outdated ideas -- but that doesn't mean the Bible can't be beautiful and sacred." p. 328 "This year showed me beyond a doubt that everyone practices cafeteria religion. It's not just moderates. Fundamentalists do it too." p. 329 "I now believe that whether or not there's a God, there is such a thing as sacredness. Life is sacred. The Sabbath can be a sacred day. Prayer can be a sacred ritual. There is something transcendent, beyond the everyday. It's possible that humans created this sacredness ourselves, but that doesn't take away from its power or importance.” (  ) JillKB | Apr 4, 2013 | This was a solid book - 3 1/2 stars, if possible. I love the book's premise, and was engaged throughout, but hoped to see more of the author's conversations with various religious "pros". But it left me feeling my brain had expanded and wanting to know more. I heartily recommend giving it a looksee. ( ) annmariestover | Apr 4, 2013 |
 Performance art or not, this is a well-researched, informative and entirely absorbing read.  Jacobs's discussions with his advisers and with men representing other religions make up the most thoughtful and insightful sections of the book. The author's determination despite constant complications from his modern secular life (wife, job, family, NYC) underscores both the absurdity of his plight and its profundity. If he starts out sounding like an interminable Ira Glass monologue, smarmy and name-dropping, he becomes much less off-putting as the year progresses, for he develops a serious conscience about such quotidian failings as self-centeredness, lying, swearing, and disparaging others. Throughout his journey, Jacobs comes across as a generous and thoughtful (and, yes, slightly neurotic) participant observer, lacing his story with absurdly funny cultural commentary as well as nuanced insights into the impossible task of biblical literalism.
References to this work on external resources.
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Wikipedia in English (2)
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1. Give wine to depressed people.
2. There are extremists everywhere.
3. The Bible is all about interpretation. No one agrees on anything when it comes to the Bible.
4. Samaritans are real and have a similar belief system to Judaism.
5. Thomas Jefferson wrote his own version of the Bible...he edited away all the supernatural stuff and just kept Christ's moral teachings.
6. There are more versions of the Bible than would ever fit on my bookshelves.
7. The Bible is anti-winking...people that wink are apparently planning perversities...and winking is kind of creepy.
Groups I want to learn more about:
1. Answers in Genesis
2. Red-letter Christians
3. Evangelicals Concerned (