A year of taking the Bible literally

Former Esquire editor A. J. Jacobs, a secular Jew from New York City, decided to spend one year, living out all the Old Testament laws and many of the New Testament ones too as literally as possible, (when it wasn't illegal or impossible to do so, as was the case with the law to "kill magicians").

According to this article, it seems to have started out as a tongue-in-cheek, try-it-just-for-fun experiment (before this, he spent a year reading an entire encyclopedia) ... but it became for Jacobs a true year-long spiritual pilgrimage that ultimately transformed his views in surprising ways. (Well, maybe it isn't that surprising .... I say that, not because I believe that the Bible should be taken so literally, but because I do believe that sacred ritual truly is transformative.)

I'm interested in buying the book.

Palestine

Condi: "It's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state."

It was actually "time" half a century ago ....