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The Year of Living Biblically
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The Year of Living Biblically (2007) (edit title/settings)

One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

by A. J. Jacobs (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

From the bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible. Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as... read more

Summary edit see section history

From the bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible.

Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

From the bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible.

Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.

The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.

Jacobs's quest transforms his life even more radically than the year spent reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for The Know-It-All. His beard grows so unruly that he is regularly mistaken for a member of ZZ Top. He immerses himself in prayer, tends sheep in the Israeli desert, battles idolatry, and tells the absolute truth in all situations - much to his wife's chagrin.

Throughout the book, Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally. He tours a Kentucky-based creationist museum and sings hymns with Pennsylvania Amish. He dances with Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and does Scripture study with Jehovah's Witnesses. He discovers ancient biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the twenty-first-century brain.

Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected epiphanies and challenges. A book that will charm readers both secular and religious, The Year of Living Biblically is part Cliff Notes to the Bible, part memoir, and part look into worlds unimaginable. Thou shalt not be able to put it down.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Your next action could change the world, so make it a good one.”
    Gershon
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • ACTS. A for adoration (praising God). C for confession (telling God your sins). T for thanksgiving (being grateful to God for what you have). S for supplication (asking God to help you).
    Highlighted by 165 Kindle customers
  • Unconditional love is an illogical notion, but such a great and powerful one.
    Highlighted by 142 Kindle customers
  • “Your next action could change the world, so make it a good one.”
    Highlighted by 142 Kindle customers
  • That’s the paradox: I thought religion would make me live with my head in the clouds, but as often as not, it grounds me in this world.
    Highlighted by 142 Kindle customers
  • 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.
    Highlighted by 128 Kindle customers
  • “It’s a different way of looking at the world. Your life isn’t about rights. It’s about responsibilities.”
    Highlighted by 126 Kindle customers
  • “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
    Highlighted by 116 Kindle customers
  • Both read the Bible day and night, But thou read’st black where I read white
    Highlighted by 114 Kindle customers
  • “C. S. Lewis said the distinction between pretending you are better than you are and beginning to be better in reality is finer than moral sleuthhounds conceive.” In short, pretending to be better than you are is better than nothing.
    Highlighted by 108 Kindle customers
  • “Remember what Micah said. He said that the animal sacrifices weren’t important. The important thing is to ‘Do justice. And to love mercy. And to walk humbly with your God.’”
    Highlighted by 92 Kindle customers
Show all 11 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

As I write this, I have a beard that makes me resemble Moses.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Introduction
Month One: September
Month Two: October
Month Three: November
Month Four: December
Month Five: January
Month Six: February
Month Seven: March
Month Eight: April
Month Nine: May
Month Ten: June
Month Eleven: July
Month Twelve: August (and some of September)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. A. J. Jacobs (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2007
ISBN: 0743291476
Page Count: 400

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: BS 511.3 .J33 2007
  • Dewey: 220

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

I wouldn't go too young on this, because it is non-fiction. Some younger children might like this, though.

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Know-It-All

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history

   
  • Coming Back to Earth
  • The Maker's Diet
  • The Battle for God
  • The Great Transformation
  • A History of God
  • Thy Kingdom Come
  • The Oxford Bible Commentary
  • Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange, and the Substance of Faith
  • The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible, Third Edition
  • The Kregel Pictorial Guide to the Temple
  • Radical Honesty
  • Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine
  • The Book of J
  • The Missing Gospels
  • Reading the Bible Again for the First Time
  • Daily Life in Biblical Times
  • The Myth of a Christian Nation
  • Religion Explained
  • How to Read the Bible
  • Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
  • Ideas and the Man
  • Our Endangered Values
  • Sources of Strength
  • Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography
  • Letters To A Young Doubter
  • The Language of God
  • Finding God
  • Serving the Word: Literalism in America from the Pulpit to the Bench
  • Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister's Wife Examines Faith
  • Don't Know Much About the Bible
  • The God Delusion
  • Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition, and Practice
  • Kregel Pictorial Guide to Everyday Life in Bible Times
  • Misquoting Jesus

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