Today, I report for jury duty. I called the phone number last night and they said that people that were supposed to report to High Point are excused, but those of us going to Greensboro still need to report.
I've got my iPod, a copy of Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, and my phone (so that I can check in with work from time to time). I wonder if I'll have to leave my phone in the car --
drjekyll reminded me that a lot of courthouses don't take too kindly to cell phones, especially those that have cameras. We'll see what happens. I'm leaving my pocketknife and all my change on the night stand, in order to make it easier to get through the metal detector at the courthouse. It probably won't matter -- I tend to set off metal detectors simply by looking at them.
It should prove to be an interesting day.
I've got my iPod, a copy of Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, and my phone (so that I can check in with work from time to time). I wonder if I'll have to leave my phone in the car --
drjekyll reminded me that a lot of courthouses don't take too kindly to cell phones, especially those that have cameras. We'll see what happens. I'm leaving my pocketknife and all my change on the night stand, in order to make it easier to get through the metal detector at the courthouse. It probably won't matter -- I tend to set off metal detectors simply by looking at them.It should prove to be an interesting day.
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And I ended up hoping I never got on a civil jury, because that would suck (some of the jurors told me about their experiences -- civil trials tend to last much longer than criminal ones, and most of the time the jury ends up getting dismissed part way through the trial because the parties settle out of court.)
Here's what I thought: it was hilarious. I rarely laugh out loud when reading a book, I laughed out loud several times with this one. Did it "send up" Christianity? I didn't think so. Obviously, the author did some decent research to make the story match (close enough for fiction) what is historically and theologically known about Christ, which I appreciated. Several times during the reading, I found myself thinking about my faith in a slightly different way, which I also appreciated. Opportunities to review and strenthen my faith are usually welcome.
I think it's the kind of book that a reader will get out of what they expect. If I went into the book looking to be offended, boy would I have been offended -- there is a lot of offensive stuff in there. If I went into it looking to make fun of Christianity (or Judiasm), I would have found plenty of fodder to fuel my mockery. If I went into it looking to "fill in the holes" for what I believed about Christ, I could have conceivably done so -- that would be ill-advised, but it would have been possible. I went into it looking to be entertained, and I was.
Anyway, what did you think? If you'd like to have an intelligent discussion at more than a surface level, or mor than an entertainment level, I'm game.
The whole idea of "Biff" is cool, too -- when I read the Bible, the concept of "village idiot" rarely enters my mind, but all societies in all times have their own version of village idiot. It's nice to think about history/theology from Biff's standpoint.
My biggest complaint is that I thought the ending was a cop-out. No, I don't have a suggestion on how to improve it, but it just kinda fell flat as far as I'm concerned.
Well, OK, those last three years could be really different from Mary's perspective, but I don't think it would have been enough for the author to get a successful story out of.