I first encountered this book about a decade ago. At the time, I was very Mormon and very anxious; I was aware of a lot of the problems in my lifelong faith, but terrified to face them head-on. Lamb was in the Librarian’s Choice display at the local library, and the cover art reminded me a little bit of the Discworld books, so I picked it up. As I skimmed, I was equally intrigued and horrified. A fictional book about Jesus? A comedic book about Jesus? With swears and sexual content? I read about half of it, feeling guilty the whole time, but wasn’t brave enough to check it out. Ten years later, no longer Mormon and considerably less anxious, I decided to pick up Lamb again, for reals this time.
Lamb tells the story of the life of Christ from the perspective of Levi bar Alphaeus, aka Biff, his childhood best friend. Biff is a sarcastic, self-deprecating, cynical narrator, whose loyalty to his best friend Joshua (the Hebrew form of the Greek name “Jesus”) takes him from Nazareth to the Himalayas, from India to Calvary. The narrative mostly covers the “lost years” of Joshua’s life, from age twelve until he begins his ministry at 33, as Biff and Josh misadventure through the ancient world, encountering sorcerers, courtesans, and the Yeti. It also answers the all-important question, “What if Jesus was a kung fu master?”
I was expecting this book to be funny, and it was (one scene sees Josh and Biff workshopping an early draft of the Beatitudes, with Josh gunning hard for “Blessed are the dumbfucks” to be included). What I didn’t expect was for it to be sincere, emotionally affecting, and inspiring. Moore has clearly done the background research to make the various settings of the book feel richly grounded in history, and while he is deliciously irreverent in his approach to the biblical text, he unfailingly presents Joshua as a truly good person with pure intentions, trying his best to fulfill what he sees as a divine destiny. Josh is a guy I would love to hang out with, a far cry from the vengeful, judgmental Jesus of my childhood.
I will be honest and say that I’m not sure who I would recommend this book to. I don’t know if readers without any experience in Christianity would enjoy it, since half the fun for me was catching all of the Biblical Easter eggs. Devoutly religious readers might be offended by the satirical treatment of their sacred texts. For ex-Christians the subject matter might be triggering. Nevertheless, it was a well written, surprisingly wholesome book that healed just a tiny bit of my religious trauma.
Notable quotes:
On the savior as a 6 year-old: “The first time I saw the man who would save the world he was sitting near the central well in Nazareth with a lizard hanging out of his mouth.”
On walking on water: “‘I just ate,’ Joshua said. ‘You can’t go into the water for an hour after you eat. You could get a cramp. What, none of you guys have mothers?'”
On meekness: “Blessed are the meek, for to them we shall say, ‘attaboy.'”