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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Final Testament of the Holy Bible by James Frey (view source)
Revision as of 11:12, 28 September 2020
, 11:12, 28 September 2020no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=The Final Testament of the Holy Bible
|sort= Final Testament of the Holy Bible
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=400
|publisher=John Murray
|isbn=978-1848543171
|website=http://www.james-frey.com/
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The Rabbis say that all the signs are there from the birth of Ben Zion Avrohom that he is the Messiah. That's a lot of anyone to cope with and, like Jesus, there's much of Ben's early life that is untold here. When he is involved in an horrific accident on a building site that he miraculously survives, albeit with terrible scaringscarring, the prophecies appear to be true. He develops a form of epilepsy during which he appears to speak to God. He is fluent in ancient languages despite never learning them, knows all the Holy books by heart and yet distains all forms of religion, instead spreading his message of love to all who meet him in modern day New York.
As a rule, a book should be judged solely on its own merits without reference to the person who wrote it. Yet here the publishers fill the cover blurb with statements about Frey himself. He has, we are told, himself been called a 'saviour. A revolutionary, A genius' as well as 'a liar. A cheat, A con man'. To many a British reader, the furore surrounding Frey seems a bit overblown but the fact remains that, these days, he comes with a lot of 'baggage' and preconceptions. Since the publishers concentrate on this, it is perhaps on, this occasion, worth considering the background to the book.
Our thanks to the good people at John Murray for inviting The Bookbag to review James Frey's latest offering.
For more recent fictional challenging of religion, you might also enjoy [[36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Goldstein]]. You might also appreciate [[The Music Room by William Fiennes]] or [[The Instructions by Adam Levin]] although we weren't keen on that one.
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