There are plenty of other bit players, but the jest helps us ponder how out of place it might be for a young boy to possess the power of the Messiah in a land where people are normally put to death for such a thing. The first 100 pages or so introduce several supporting players, including Mary, Joseph, Mary of Magdalene (Maggie), Bartholomew (the village idiot), and John the Baptist. But unlike previous authors, Biff has been given the gift of tongues in order to tell his story with all the trappings of modern English. The Gospel According to Biff Is A Raunchy, Ridiculous, And Sometimes Enlightening Farce.īiff, a childhood friend of Joshua, is freshly resurrected after 2,000 years and is immediately sequestered in a hotel room and ordered by the angel Raziel to write a new Gospel. The book is satirical, but not so much a satire of Joshua as it is of the storyteller, his times, and everything around him. In truth, Christopher Moore is surprisingly protective of Jesus (called by his Greek translation, Joshua, throughout the book) as he fills in the missing years of Joshua through the eyes of 'Levi bar Alphaeus,' who is called Biff.

I did find ample evidence that many people expected others to find it blasphemous.

And, I didn't find much evidence to support that anyone really saw it as such.

It's so malleable, in fact, many reviews warn away fundamentalists because they assume people with faith will find it blasphemous. What readers get out of Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal has much more to do with what they bring into it than what is actually there. It's not designed to change anyone's beliefs or worldview, unless after reading it you've decided to be kinder to your fellow humans (which is okay) or you decided you really would like to try to teach yoga to an elephant, in which case, please get videotape.' - Christopher Moore

Lamb christopher moore review