Judaism on the treadmill

Author gleans insights from the Bible but shows little evidence of transformation | Marvin Olasky

The subtitle of A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (Simon & Schuster, 2007) shows both the strength and weakness of this sometimes-amusing work that ends in sadness.

Jacobs, a Jewish atheist, dances around what it means to follow the Bible literally. Is it following the ceremonial laws that the coming of Christ abrogated? Or, is it loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves? But he does mention one side effect of his picaresque quest: "I didn't expect to confront just how absurdly flawed I am."

Sometimes during his year-long quest he recognizes that. He writes after Day 91 that it's important not to be "so caught up in the regulations that you forget about the big things, like compassion and respect for life. The righteous idiot is what the Christian Bible calls a Pharisee—one of the sanctimonious legalistic scholars."

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April 05, 2008, Vol. 23, No. 7

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