Lamb by Christopher Moore

 

Considering how big a fan I consider myself to be of Christopher Moore, it's taken me a distressingly long time to get around to reading this. It's really, really good, and might be one of the novels that marks his turn toward writing novels with more serious ideas (or at least that address more serious ideas) at their core. Moore's Jesus is a remarkably syncretic one, and is exposed to Confucianism, and Buddhism (complete with Shaolin monks) and Hinduism; and he brings back elements of all those things when he returns to Galilee. As the Afterword says, that's more reflective of something like commonalities than of actual influence. There are laugh-out-loud-funny bits in the book, but it doesn't make inordinate fun of Christ, or Christianity, or its characters (well, except for some louts who really deserve it). I might have Moore I like better, but this is really strong.