year of living Biblically

I read the intro to the book The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. I thought I would share some pieces of it. I really like this paragraph: "The influence of the Bible--and religion as a whole--remains a mighty force, perhaps even stronger than it was when I was a kid. So in the last few years, religion has become my fixation. Is half of the world suffering from a massive delusion? Or is my blindness to spirituality a huge defect in my personality? What if I'm missing out on a part of being human, like a guy who goes through life without ever hearing Beethoven or falling in love? And most important, I now have a young son--if my lack of religion is a flaw, I don't want to pass it on to him."

So A.J. Jacobs gets the idea to follow the Bible literally from his (ex) Uncle Gil. ("The Bible says to bind money to your hand [Deuteronomy 14:25], so Gil withdrew three hundred dollars from the bank and tied the bills to his palm with a thread. The Bible says to wear fringes on the corners of your garment [Numbers 15:38], so Gil bought yarn from a knitting shop, made a bunch of tassels, and attached them to his shirt collar and the ends of his sleeves...")

He confesses that his first motive for reading the Bible and trying to follow it literally was to write the book. His second though, is that: "If I had what they call a God-shaped hole in my heart, this quest would allow me to fill it" (6).

And his third reason? To explore biblical literalism. "A literal intrepretation of the Bible--both Jewish and Christian--shapes American policies on the Middle East, homosexuality, stem cell research, education, abortion--right on down to rules about buying beer on Sunday" (6).

As we talk about in class, he says, "But my suspicion was that almost everyone's literalism consisted of picking and choosing...Not me. I thought, with some naivete, I would peel away the layers of interpretation and find the true Bible underneath" (6-7).

Everyone is worried about how this adventure will affect him. He says, "It's impossible to immerse yourself in religion for twelve months and emerge unaffected. At least it was for me" (7).

He reads it: "four weeks, five hours a day" (8). As he reads, he types up every rule and bit of advice he can find, ending up with "a very long list" (8).

He says, "This is going to be a monster project. I need a plan of attack." Um yeah... He notes that some of the rules (no lying, no coveting, no stealing, love your neighbor etc.) will make him a better person, while others will make him strange. "And a good number of the rules aren't just baffling, but federally outlawed" (8).

I learned that there are an estimated three thousand versions of the Bible in English alone.

He says: "To follow the Bible literally--at face value, at its wort, according to its plain meaning--isn't just a daunting proposition. It's a dangerous one" (9).

He makes some decisions. First, "I will try to find the original intent of the biblical rule or teaching and follow that to the letter" (10). He decides to devote the majority of his year (8 months) to the Old Testament because that is where the bulk of rules are (and many of the rules in the New Testament are similar). He decides to talk to some people: "rabbis, ministers, and priests, some of them conservative, some of them one four-letter word away from excommunication" (11). He decides to visit groups of Biblical literalists (Orthodox Jews, Amish etc.). But ultimately, "they won't be the final word. The Bible will" (11). He wants to discover the Bible for himself.

Interesting: his Orthodox Jewish Aunt says "You can't just obey the written law. It doesn't make sense without the oral law" (12). Apparently you need rabbis to explain what "rest on the sabbath" means. I thought that was interesting, and it points out the glaring fact to me that I don't know much about religious customs.

Also interesting: "Some conservative Christians were also baffled by my undertaking. They said I couldn't truly understand the Bible without accepting the divinity of Christ. They said that many of these laws--like the ones about animal sacrifice--were nullified by Jesus's death" (12). I guess this helps me understand Biblical literalism somewhat--I have a real hard time understanding why people FIGHT against evolution being taught in schools and think that creation ( or the "scientific" theory of the irreducibly complex) should be taught instead; or at the very least along side it...

Jacobs says he is nervous about his quest. I would be as well. He says, "I love my encyclopedia, but the encyclopedia hasn't spawned thousands of communities based on its words. It hasn't shaped the actions, values, deaths, love lives, warfare, and fashion sense of millions of people over three millennia" (13). Good point. Also points out how fantastically influential this single text is. Blows my mind to think of how much influence the Bible has today, let alone adding up its past as well. Amazing. How is it even possible that this one book has essentially controlled millions? For so long? Reminds me again, of complexity theory in science. Which basically would say that the Bible took hold, as opposed to any other text, by fluke. But once it gained momentum and power, its momentum and power kept growing. So the Bible take over has emergent properties: it took over because it took over...

Overall, I found the introduction to be an entertaining read. He is a descriptive writer, and he kept my attention (I hear that is difficult to do these days). Did I mention that he took a Biblical literature class in college?