Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
God has decided it’s time for a new Gospel, and wants Levi, Christ’s best friend, to write it. The angel Raziel summons Levi back to life to write the truth–the whole truth–about Christ’s life and death. While Raziel watches soap operas, Levi begins his holy task….
Levi first meets Joshua bar Joseph — better known these days as Jesus Christ — as a six-year-old resurrecting lizards as fast as his brother bashes them to death. From this promising beginning grows a strong friendship which survives, among other things, puberty, rivalry for the affections of the lovely Mary of Magdala, and Joshua’s endless quest to learn whether he’s the Messiah or not.
Although Lamb retells the life of Christ, it’s not a historical novel, and is not intended as an accurate recreation of life in biblical times. It’s a comic fantasy, and mostly pretty damn funny, if rather overlong for its material. If you are offended by humorous portrayals of Christ, don’t read this book; I can’t make it clearer than that. But please remember that if God didn’t like a good laugh, He wouldn’t have invented the platypus.
