Lamb by Christopher Moore
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
Christopher Moore’s Lamb is the written as a new gospel written by Levi who is called Biff, who grew up with Jesus and spent the lost years with him. The action of the book is mostly concerned with the years between Jesus’s birth and the beginning of his ministry in his early thirties. The real New Testament makes almost no mention of Jesus’s life during this time, and according to Biff it is because it was during this time that he an Jesus traveled the world.
Moore writes a hilarious account of young Jesus and Biff tracking down the three wise men. Although I didn’t find it offensive at all, some with more delicate religious sensibilities might.
While trying to get answers about who he really is and if he is the messiah, Jesus and Biff track down the three wise men. They first find Balthazar in Afghanistan and learn from him the tenets of Taoism and the teachings of Lao Tzu. They also find a nasty secret that Balthazar has been keeping (which although I’ve not read other books by Moore, seems to be a recurring character).
After leaving Balthazar, Biff and Jesus travel to Tibet to study with with Melchior and learn the teachings of Buddhism. Biff, not being a great student, learns to shave yaks. They also meet the abominable snowman and learn Kung fu ( or “Jew do”).
Upon leaving Tibet they travel to India and learn yoga from Gaspar. Afterwords they travel back to Israel and begin Jesus’s ministry. Although it si told a bit differently from Biff’s point of view.
I really enjoyed this book. Not only was it very funny, but it was shot through with some if not exactly sad, then melancholy scenes. Especially between Jesus and his father Joseph. Although this was the first Christopher Moore, it won’t be the last.
