Alright so I have semi-mixed feelings on this book. While I adore its dedication and exploration of the bible, I'm too much in love with faith in God to see how this secular Jewish man can keep such a guard up to believing. Eh... maybe its how we grow up. At least he's open minded and that's where many people fail to understand that in keeping an open mind we can see all the view points and more fully come to know why we believe what we do.

His conclusion is interesting. While I've been told in church not to be a "Cafeteria Catholic" (and I agree with not being such within Catholicism because to embrace your confirmation as such you should believe in the teachings of your faith.), his view is that practically every sect of christianity and judaism has a Cafeteria grasp on the Bible. Which after reading it is basically true... you can't really embrace every minute detail and expect it to work out, in fact the contradictions in the Bible make it near impossible. Old Testament laws weren't "abolished" by Jesus' coming, and yet as a christian we hardly follow most of the old ritual laws... this book helped give me a better understanding of the rituals of Judaism and their meaning. But do these contradictions and very varied interpretations (is everything literal or is most of it figurative?) that make the bible any less sacred? No, at least in my opinion.

This book is thought-provoking, hilarious, and humbly truthful. You'll probably be saying hey I've thought that or Hmm, never thought of it like that before. But whatever your spiritual walk in life is right now agnostic to mormon... this book is a nice refreshing read. :-)

Labels: A.J. Jacobs, book review, lmu homework, The Year of Living Biblically