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Lamb is not the first revisionist and humorous retelling of the Biblical stories I've read/watched, but it may be the best one of the lot. Among my favourites are the movies Dogma by Kevin Smith and The Life of Brian by the Monty Pythons, the novel Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. What puts Lamb above the crowd for me was the surprising fact that this is not actually a lampooning of religion but a genuine attempt to capture the spirituality and the fervour of the original Gospels. It is also a proof that, despite claims from Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter fans, the Life of Jesus remains The Greatest Story Ever Told, able to capture the imagination and the hearts of readers two thousand years after it was first copyrighted. As to why Moore has chosen comedy in order to tackle such an important subject, the answer may be found in the Voltaire quote he has put on the first page of the book:

God is comedian playing to an audience that is afraid to laugh.

In the dispute between the theories that we are put on Earth to learn about suffering or that we are supposed to enjoy the brief time in the sunlight, Moore votes emphatically on the later.

There’s a framing story of sorts, presenting Raziel, the stupidest angel that fans of Moore might recognize, being sent back to Earth to resurrect the Levi named Biff and to supervise him as he writes down his recollection of the years spent as Joshua’s best childhood friend and faithful companion during the lost years � the thirty odd years between the birth and the start of preaching. In order to focus solely on the project the angel locks himself with Biff inside a modern motel room with only a television set for entertainment. ( It’s like that now. Talk shows featuring the screaming ignorant, soap operas, and wrestling. And the angel guards the remote control like it’s the Ark of the Covenant. ) The setting serves a double scope in underlining the shallowness of popular entertainment and the need of the younger generations to be presented with adequate role models. Raziel dreams of becoming Spiderman and righting all the world’s woes while jumping from rooftops in bright red leotards, yet Biff muses:

What hero could touch these children anyway, with their machines and medicine and distances made invisible?

For Biff the answer can be only one, his childhood friend Joshua, the boy who conquered his young heart in the dusty street of Nazareth:

I don’t know if now, having lived and died the life of a man, I can write about little-boy love, but remembering it now, it seems the cleanest pain I’ve known. Love without desire, or conditions, or limits � a pure and radiant glow in the heart that could make me giddy and sad and glorious all at once.

Biff and Joshua are inseparable urchins when we first meet them, they complete each other with Biff’s exuberance and irreverence playing up to Joshua’s straight man seriousness, allowing Moore to put the words of wisdom in the mouth of fools while preserving (most of the time) the reverence due and the dignity inherent in the Son of God. Biff is lecherous, assertive and impulsive where Joshua is idealistic, self-doubting and contemplative. They complete each other like the Chinese ying and yang symbols, but I am getting ahead of the story, it will be some years before they reach China.

The plot in the opening chapters and in the last chapters is surprisingly close to the original Gospels, and the setting is convincing and rich in details, not only geographical, but also political and ethnographical, showing us how serious was the author in his research for the novel (Moore went to Israel to get a better impression of the country and of its people). The point where the novel diverges sharply from the established Gospels is in the theory that Joshua needed to learn how to become a Messiah and so he set out in search of knowledge from the three wise men that have reportedly showed up at his birth. Biff and Joshua leave Nazareth, after some trouble with the Roman occupiers and after some romantic complications with Maggie (aka Mary Magdalene, who starts by delivering the memorable one liner: “So, have you two been playing with any snakes lately?�), and head eastward into the great unknown. For twenty years the duo will travel from one wise man to another, apprenticing themselves first to Magician Balthasar who keeps a demon locked in his mountain fastness and prolongs his life by sleeping with beautiful young maidens. Biff offers to give Balthasar a helping ‘hand� in dealing with the young ladies.

The three jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation, and humility. Balthasar said compassion leads to courage, moderation leads to generosity, and humility leads to leadership.

The next of the wise men lives also on a sacred mountain, close to the Great Wall of China. The lessons of Gaspar deal with the wisdom of Buddhism, but they also teach an early version of Shaolin style kung-fu to the duo, and gives Joshua an opportunity to learn about mercy and tolerance towards others, towards strangers and towards diverging opinions. An episode with a Yeti is among the most humbling and emotional passages in the novel. Of course, Biff goes his own way and still gets in trouble with women even when locked in a monastery with only a hairy yak for company.

The last Magi is to be found in India: Melchior is Hindu yogi who teaches the value of renouncing the materialistic world and releasing the power of the mind, including how to make yourself invisible and how to multiply a grain of rice or a loaf of bread. Biff has his own separate lessons, studying the Kama Sutra page by page with a temple prostitute. (“Park your elephant in the back!� is though not one the positions he missed by two pages stuck together; you need to read the novel for the actual relevance, I’m not going to spoil it for you). This section of the picaresque oriental adventures of the duo also touches on poverty, the social destructive caste system and the danger of worshipping blood thirsty deities who demand human sacrifices (Kali).

I may have gone too fast through the twenty years Biff and Joshua spent travelling, learning and having wonderful adventures, so I will let the author put the whole journey in perspective. From the afterword:
My sending Joshua and Biff to the East was motivated purely by story, not by basis in the Gospel or historical evidence. While there are indeed astounding similarities between the teachings of Jesus and those of Buddha (not to mention those of Lao-Tzu, Confucius, and the Hindu religion, all which seem to have included some version of the Golden Rule), it’s more likely that these stem from what I believe to be logical and moral conclusions that any person in search of what is right would come to, e.g.: that the preferable way to treat one another is with love and kindness; that the pursuit of material gain is ultimately empty when measured against eternity; and that somehow, as human beings, we are all connected spiritually.

I’ve left out the last part of the novel, the one dealing with Joshua’s return to Israel, gathering around him some trusted followers and putting in practice the lessons of the East, demonstrating he has finally learned how to be a Messiah. I decided on this not because it is not as important or as well rendered as the rest of the novel, but because the events and the characters should be familiar to most readers from the New Testaments. Moore manages to make the 15 Apostles (according to Biff) human and funny and vulnerable and earnest, infusing fresh blood in a story that has been twisted and turned around already by various branches of later Christianity according to their own political agendas or deep seated prejudices. Moore’s Joshua inspires me on the one hand not to reject religion out of hand, and on the other to think for myself and liberate my mind ( Any freedom that can be given can be taken away. )

Some readers might still feel outrage at the irreverent and unorthodox treatment of the events in the New Testament and about a new Gospel aimed at the 21st century audience. To them I offer the last quote of Biff, following one of his particularly risque repartees (fans of Monty Python might recognize the reference):

Joshua and Judah were still staring at me as if they’d both been smacked in the face with a large fish. “W³ó²¹³Ù?â€� I said. “How long have you guys known me? Jeez. Grow a sense of humor.â€�