03-03-2026, 02:14 PM
#11: Lamb by Christopher Moore. The subtitle of the book is “the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal.” Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give you a little but of the birth story, running away to Egypt, a tale of Jesus teaching in the Temple at age 12, and that’s about it until he’s 30 and starts preaching to crowds. In this book “Biff” (a nickname for Jesus’s BFF, Levi bar Alphaeus) provides the missing details from their childhood and young adulthood. Briefly, after determining that the local jobs of their fathers (stonecutting, carpentry) are not particularly attractive, and with “Josh” (Yeshua bar Joseph) questioning his unique abilities, actual parentage, and destiny, they decide to make a pilgrimage to the East to track down the Magi that came when Yeshua was born, and to learn from them, which is how he learns about yoga, meditation, the wisdom of Lao Tzu, and kung fu, among other things. It’s funny, it’s a wild stretch of the imagination, and overall was entertaining. I like Moore’s biting, sarcastic style, and his style reminds me a bit of a less British Neil Gaiman and/or Terry Pratchett, so I may check out other books he’s written.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
