''The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible'' is a book by A. J. Jacobs, an editor at ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' magazine, published in 2007. The book describes a year that the author said he spent trying to follow all the rules and guidelines he could find in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, which turned out to be more than 700.

Summary

In the book, Jacobs discusses biblical rules, both the obscure and the well-known, and tries to follow them as

literally ''Literally'' is an English adverb meaning "in a literal sense or manner" or an intensifier which strengthens the associated statement. It has been used as an intensifier in English for several centuries, though recently this has been considered ...

as possible. He even attempts to stone an adulterer and to offer animal sacrifice. He also goes to visit numerous religious groups in order to show their particular views on the Bible, as well as their methods of worship. Some of the people Jacobs meets and talks to in the book: * An

Amish The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church fellowships with Swiss people, Swiss and Alsace, Alsatian origins. As they ...

family in

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County (; ), sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States ...

Ken Ham Kenneth Alfred Ham (born 20 October 1951) is an Australian Christian fundamentalist, young Earth creationist, apologist and former science teacher, living in the United States. He is the founder, CEO, and former president of Answers in Genesis ...

of the

Creation Museum The Creation Museum, located in Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky, Petersburg, Kentucky, United States, is a museum that promotes the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific Young Earth creationism, young Earth creationist (YEC) explanation of the or ...

in Petersburg, Kentucky *

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Robbie Harris of the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism as well as a hub for academic scholarship in Jewish studies ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

* A proselytizing

Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co- ...

* Hassidic Jews in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

* Members of the New York City Atheists * Dean Hubbard of

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

who is working on growing the

Red Heifer The red heifer () was a reddish brown Cattle, cow sacrificed by Temple priests as a ritual purification, purification ritual in biblical times. Ritual in the Torah The red heifer offering is described in Book of Numbers, Numbers 19. The Tora ...

in cooperation with Chaim Richman of the

Temple Institute The Temple Institute, known in Hebrew as Machon HaMikdash (), is an organization in Israel and the Palestinian Authority focusing on establishing the Third Temple. Its long-term aims are to build the third Temple in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount� ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

* A

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

shepherd in the

Negev desert The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

* Benyamim Tsedaka of the

Samaritan Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...

community in

Holon Holon (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. In , it had a population of , making it the List of cities in Israel, tenth most populous city in Isra ...

, Israel * A

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

Jerry Falwell Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch ...

's Thomas Road Baptist Church in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

* Ralph Blair of Evangelicals Concerned, an organization for gay and gay-friendly evangelicals * Pastor

Tony Campolo Anthony Campolo Jr. (February 25, 1935 – November 19, 2024) was an American sociologist, Baptist pastor, author, public speaker, and spiritual advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton. Campolo was an influential leader in the evangelical left. ...

, leader of the

Red-Letter Christian Red-Letter Christians is a non-denominational movement within Evangelical Christianity. "Red-Letter" refers to New Testament verses and parts of verses printed in red ink, to indicate the words attributed to Jesus without the use of quotation ma ...

movement * Pastor Jimmy Morrow of the Church of God with Signs Following in

Del Rio, Tennessee Del Rio is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community in Cocke County, Tennessee, Cocke County, Tennessee, United States. Although it is not a census-designated place, the ZIP Code Tabulation Area for the ZIP Code (37727) that ...

, who practices

snake handling Snake handling may refer to: * Snake handler, a person who professionally handles snakes * Snake handling in Christianity, the religious practice involving handling snakes {{Disambiguation ...

in his sermons

Adaptation

In 2007 it was reported that the book was being adapted into a feature film to be produced by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

and

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

's Plan B production company and directed by

Julian Farino Julian Farino (born 12 December 1965) is an English film and television producer and director. He is most well-known for directing much of the first three seasons of the HBO series '' Entourage''. Career Farino was born and raised in London a ...

. But in late October 2015 it was announced that

CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

secured the rights and will begin production on a TV series. In May 2017,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

picked up a TV series based on the book with the working title ''By the Book.'' Under title ''

Living Biblically ''Living Biblically'' is an American television sitcom created by Patrick Walsh and executive produced by Walsh and Johnny Galecki, with co-executive producers Andrew Haas, Spencer Medof, and director Andy Ackerman. The series was based on A. J ...

'', the series began airing on CBS on February 26, 2018, but was canceled after its first season, with 13 episodes airing.

References

External links

The New York Times review

The Year of Living Biblically
Author's site

TED video. Filmed December 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Year of Living Biblically 2007 non-fiction books Comedy books American memoirs Bible in popular culture Books by A. J. Jacobs

Summary

Adaptation

See also

References

External links