Ed Dobson, author of this book and Dean of Spiritual Formation at Cornerstone University, decided to take the year of 2008 and try to live like Jesus for a year. He then decided to write a book about his journey. The first 6 months he tried to record his every day musings and Jesus-like actions on this topic, but by July he gave up and just recorded monthly epiphanies. Some of these Jesus-like activities included growing an extremely long beard, reading through the Gospels every day on his iPod, praying the rosary, praying the Eastern Orthodox version of the rosary, going to the synagogue for Jewish festivals, not turning on the lights on the Sabbath (Shabbat, for those Jewishly inclined), and wearing the tallit (the long tunic with strings on the end to remind the Jewish wearer of the Torah).
I felt very strange reading this book, for several reasons. One, I was strangely fascinated by how this former pastor and director for Jerry Falwell's ministry interpreted Jesus' actions and dress. But I was also supremely confused by some of his conclusions. If Jesus lived on this earth in 2009, would Jesus pray the rosary, recite Eastern Orthodox prayers, AND go to the synagogue to celebrate the Jewish feast days? Some might say he's missing the point.
I got the sense that Mr. Dobson really wanted to live like Jesus, but he figured since Jesus was perfect, that he tried to make his journey more for appearances than for actual Jesus-like belief. For instance, he encountered a gay friend of his, and he wrote that he was relieved that Jesus never spoke about homosexuals. Yet, if he's trying to follow the Torah through beard and tallit wearing, I'm pretty darn sure the same Torah isn't too tolerant of homosexual activity. Something about stoning...?
A. J. Jacobs, bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically, wrote the foreward of this book. Yet I'm pretty sure he tried to stone a few people in his zeal for living Old Testament style. (I can't say for sure, since I haven't read it, yet I've heard enough people who have quote that part.)
Ed Dobson admitted that he liked wearing the beard because he liked to be different from everyone else in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Apparently, the only people who wore long flowy beards are bikers up there.) Perhaps I'm being too harsh on a man who really did try to be like Jesus, being more than just a little bit human and sinful, not to mention that he suffers from ALS, which is a debilitating terminal disease also known as Lou Gherig's. However, this book has the potential to impact a lot of people who don't have Ed Dobson's certain limitations, and so my opinions may seem to be quite harsh. You be the judge.
I believe Ed Dobson wanted his readers to come away with this principle: Jesus loved everyone, so we need to do the same. A great point, and one many Christian evangelicals need to hear, by all means. And yet--we come back to the grace and truth paradox--love at the expense of sin? Does loving like Jesus mean doing things completely differently from every Christian Protestant American Evangelical? Does loving like Jesus mean having more than a few beers at the bar because Jesus was called a drunkard by the Pharisees and scribes? Again, you be the judge. And may God bless Ed Dobson, for causing us to think about Jesus from a new perspective.
always, in sincere love in Christ,
Joy
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