
Fantasy · Comedy
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Mood
Wry, Tender
Protagonist
Biff
Parental Rating
R
Pace
Moderate
The angel Raziel raises Biff, born Levi bar Alphaeus, from a two-thousand-year sleep and installs him in a modern hotel with orders to write a fresh gospel. Biff was Joshua's childhood best friend, and his account fills the gap the four canonical gospels skip: the decades between the nativity and the ministry. The two boys grow up together in Nazareth, then set out across the ancient world to find the three wise men who attended Joshua's birth, hoping to teach the young messiah how to be the messiah. Along the way Joshua learns from a magician, a monk, and a yogi, while Biff samples every vice his friend has sworn off. Moore builds a warm, filthy, funny portrait of friendship, faith, and the very human boy behind the legend.