the Unabomber, a member of ZZ-Top, or a biblical prophet?

Two reports-- one from MSNBC (including a very interesting video interview--as much for Matt Lauer's questions than A.J. Jacobs' answers) and an article in USA Today-- on one man's attempt to live out Bible precepts "literally". (Hat tips to Chris Snider and Linda Christiansen.)

From MSNBC:

For a full year, the Esquire magazine editor-at-large followed the mandates of the Bible as closely as possible and wrote it about it in a new book, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.

The MSNBC cite has an excerpt from the book's intro. There, A.J. Jacobs describes his (scary-to-some) facial hair before moving to his thesis:

But I mean no harm. The facial hair is simply the most noticeable physical manifestation of a spiritual journey I began a year ago.

My quest has been this: to live the ultimate biblical life. Or more precisely, to follow the Bible as literally as possible. To obey the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love my neighbor. To tithe my income. But also to abide by the oft-neglected rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers. To stone adulterers. And, naturally, to leave the edges of my beard unshaven (Leviticus 19:27). I am trying to obey the entire Bible, without picking and choosing.

He then moves to a key sub-plot: what is biblical "literalism"?

[T]his project would be a way to explore the huge and fascinating topic of biblical literalism. Millions of Americans say they take the Bible literally. According to a 2005 Gallup poll, the number hovers near 33 percent; a 2004 Newsweek poll put it at 55 percent...

But my suspicion was that almost everyone's literalism consisted of picking and choosing. People plucked out the parts that fit their agenda, whether that agenda was to the right or left. Not me. I thought, with some naïveté, I would peel away the layers of interpretation and find the true Bible underneath. I would do this by being the ultimate fundamentalist. I'd be fearless. I would do exactly what the Bible said, and in so doing, I'd discover what's great and timeless in the Bible and what is outdated.

Yes and no. Certainly some of that happens. But at least three other principles are in play here. First, I've never met anyone who reads the Bible literally-- through and through. For example, Jesus is described as a lion and a lamb and it is said that the Lord has cattle on 1000 hills. Such references must be taken as metaphor, figurative language, etc. Although people can disagree over the extent to which the Bible should be read literally, the fact is that everyone does it.

Second, a claim to need to read literally is based on a flawed hermeneutic that ignores literary type. Prose is not poetry is not apocalyptic is not prophecy is not history is not narrative. Paraphrasing a scholar on the book of Revelation: reading John's Apocalypse like prose is akin to reading the phone book like a novel. (I understand that many Christians are wary of Scripture being diminished in terms of inspiration-- but this is unrelated to the incoherent claim that we should read the entire Bible literally.)

Third, Jacobs starts by interpreting the OT without benefit of the NT. Thus, he leaves behind the NT distinction between ceremonial law (which have been fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus), civil law (which related to the nation of Israel) and moral law (which is relevant for all time). Failure to observe this basic distinction leads to all sorts of misinterpretation out of ignorance (or shenanigans out of knowledge).

In any case, to the extent that his project was "biblical", it would be better to say that he tried to follow the Scriptures seriously or earnestly-- rather than literally.

From the USA Today interview, we get perhaps a better sense of his humor and the bigger-picture things he learned...

This [adventure] led him to:

•Wear white. "It was like always being dressed for the semifinals at Wimbledon or a P. Diddy party."

•Wear a robe and sandals. "Reactions varied from raised eyebrows, to people crossing to the other side of the street, to those who thought I was a tourist attraction and took pictures."

•Herd sheep. "It's very good for the ego. Sheep live up to stereotype — they're sheepish. It was a good entry-level job for patriarchs. First they were shepherds, and then they led people out of Israel."

•Eat crickets. "I chose to eat the chocolate-covered ones. They were crunchy."

The Manhattan-based Jacobs also went on field trips. He visited with Jehovah's Witnesses, Hasidic Jews, the Amish, Samaritans and evangelical Christians. Of these experiences, he says: "I learned to be more tolerant. Handling snakes doesn't seem as crazy when you're seeing it firsthand."

His biggest challenge? "That'd be no coveting, no lying, no gossiping. They're little sins, but they're killers. My year made me realize just how many of these sins I committed every day. And refraining from them for a year was really hard but completely transforming."

Biggest lesson? "Your behavior shapes your beliefs. If you act like a good person, you eventually become a better person. I wasn't allowed to gossip, so eventually I started to have fewer petty thoughts to gossip about. I had to help the less fortunate, so I started to become less self-absorbed. I am not Gandhi or Angelina Jolie, but I made some progress."

One rule he followed to the max: Be fruitful and multiply. During his year of living biblically, his wife, Julie, gave birth to twins, Zane and Lucas.

His next project? "I'm waiting for divine inspiration," Jacobs says.

I'd imagine that Jacobs' book would be an entertaining and insightful read. In any case, it's an interesting idea that wrestles with huge topics.