Much of the book is their quest to find Balthazar, Gaspar and Melchior – respectively, in Afghanistan, China, and India. The boys travel with their families to Jerusalem for high holy days, encounter Roman soldiers, meet Mary Magdalene -Maggie – and fall in love with her, and go in search of the three Magi who came to see Josh at his birth. The story is told in two timeframes: the life of Josh and the many adventures he and Biff have and Biff in the present time writing his Gospel of memories and adventures with Josh. The Gospels often portray Jesus in such conflicting terms, though I do realize they were written very much as propaganda to further the newly-hatched Christian religion, but for me, seeing the disparate elements of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John so seamlessly melded into Josh’s character made me relate even more to him. He’s pretty awesome.īeing raised Catholic and to believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ as opposed to his humanity, reading this book and seeing another version of Jesus as a man, with the same hopes, fears, desires, and cares, is truly beautiful. Biff, his best friend, is the opposite: loud, rabble-rousing, a total smart-ass, and a total womanizer. Josh – Joshua bar Joseph and who would later come to be known as Jesus Christ – is a serious-minded kid, as you’d guess. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, is the story of the life of history’s most famous person told by his best friend and sidekick. It is a fictional retelling, of course, but very much grounded in historical research and definitely holds to the details of Jesus’s life that are in the Bible. Though it’s a very irreverent re-telling of the life of Jesus, I didn’t find it at all disrespectful.
This is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read, and I’ve read it several times.
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