I liked this one. I don't know exactly what it says about me, but the title alone made me want to read.
I appreciated the unapologetic way that the author expulses precisely his interpretation. It is also a refreshing and more relatable approach to dissecting Christ as a polarising figure in culture.

This was a DNF for me at about 10%.

Whilst the premise of the book is sound, discussing the humanity of Jesus, and what that would entail, it fell like a juvenile excuse to use as many terms for poo and rectum as possible.

As an atheist, I don't believe but I am intrigued by religion and belief systems but I found this approach too tedious to continue.

While the book is weirdly fixated on all sorts of bodily functions, it still is a good and informative read regarding Christianity, and it feels like adding a hefty dose of humor makes it more relatable, easier to understand, more easily digestible (LOL YES).

This book is a tough one. On the one hand Mr Perry is an academic who deconstructs complicated biblical ideas and events and makes them easy to read and understand. On the other hand, he seems to be truly obsessed with flatulence, poop and peoples bathroom habits to the point where I began to wonder if he had some sort of scatological complex that needs more analysis by professionals. It was hard to read this book at some points because he would make a cogent argument only to follow it up with some idea of feces that he had and extrapolate that out to the point of absurdity. I fully agree with original premise that when we humanize Jesus, yes he pooped, yes he grew up in squalor, we can see him in our own experiences and the world in which he existed. But Mr Perry diverges quite often into descriptions and language that makes the reader uncomfortable. If you want to hear about the author farting in quiet situations then please read, but I cant recommend this work with any sincerity

I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion

It piqued my curiosity: why does Simon Perry, a Biblical Scholar and Chaplain at the University of Cambridge, claim that if you cannot hear Jesus fart, you cannot hear his biblical voice?

Perry’s stated mission is to help us “rediscover Jesus in his native vulgarity”, because the farting of Christ might save the world from disintegration. His interpretation of the events from the life of Jesus, and from his own, are outrageously hilarious.

Is it going to unite us all and save the world? No, I don’t think so.

Is it a good read? Absolutely!!! I loved the I’ll-say-it-the-way-I-want attitude.

Five stars for a book about Jesus of Nazareth written by someone from the world of the portacabin!

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own

First I 100% agree that Jesus farted and got food poisoning a time or two, I never thought of it myself, but makes complete sense.

After chapter one you lost me mostly due to my fuzzy MS brain not retaining and processing the info. It was too philosophical in its approach. Although I do now believe I was created this morning and no one can change my mind

There's a meaningful book crawling around somewhere in "Jesus Farted: The Vulgar Truth of the Biblical Christ," a book by Biblical scholar and University of Cambridge chaplain Simon Perry that centers around the basic premise that if you can't hear, and potentially smell, Jesus fart then you cannot hear his biblical voice.

If the sentence I just wrote offends you, I can assure you right off the bat that "Jesus Farted" is not for you. It's bold. It's blunt. It's crass. It's potentially viewed as obscene.

And yeah, in an awful lot of theological ways it's also correct.

Did it offend me? Not in the least. However, it's worth noting that language many would consider to be obscene is used throughout "Jesus Farted" and it's absolutely unapologetic. I'm not sure there is actually any reason to apologize, of course, but it's worth stating again that this isn't a book that's going to be for everyone.

The idea, of course, is that we've sanitized Jesus. In fact, I'm not sure how anyone could argue against such an idea. While Jesus certainly went against the grain, he was still a young male who grew up in a highly patriarchal society with practices that are for the most part unheard of these days.

Jesus farted. Jesus probably peed in a river. He probably took a dump in the bushes. He most likely didn't have the beautiful table manners we witness in The Last Supper paintings everywhere. The odds are fairly strong he also hung around with people who were the same.

Perry is out to lodge what he sees as an unhealthy denial because in acknowledging the true, historical Jesus he becomes an even more dangerous political, polemical, economic, and ideological threat.

There is humor to be found throughout "Jesus Farted," though rest assured that it's a serious endeavor. With a theology that leans toward progressive, though not particularly the type of progressive one sees here in the U.S., Perry bluntly and relentlessly tackles our tendency to portray Jesus in a way that simply could not have been true.

It's an admirable effort and there were times in "Jesus Farted" when I found myself aligned with Perry.

However, I can't deny that there were also times, quite a few times, when I just plain got tired of it. It started to feel like a shtick. It started to feel like more "shock value" writing than anything of particular value. There were times when Perry's stated aims were blocked by the relentless need to use body fluid language - if you take a shot of whiskey for every time he uses "shi*" in the book, you'll likely end up in the emergency room. I have no problem with the language being used, but did it really create a better book?

In my opinion? Nope.

I never hated the book. In fact, there were moments when I genuinely enjoyed and appreciated it. There's no doubt the book has an audience. As someone who has dropped my share of F-bombs in my writing, I'm probably in that target audience. However, any language has to be used to support one's literary objectives and I'm just not convinced that's entirely successful here. I'll just own it - for me, it wasn't entirely successful.

And yet, there's a central theme here that's intriguing and Perry approaches it with enthusiasm and full-on engagement. Those who enjoy this book will likely really enjoy it.

The inability to truly take it seriously was amplified by the lack of sourcing of the material and certain claims (other than scripture quotes, of course).

Overall, I simply won't even think about trashing the book. There's some intriguing ideas here and it's clear that Perry takes these ideas seriously. However, I also can't give it a full thumbs-up because for me too much vulgar ultimately got in the way of theological truths.

The title intrigued me. I am not normally one to pick up a book on religion but I thought the premise of the book would be interesting. It is. It is also somewhat over the top, often funny and frequently quite rude.

It does make some interesting points with the argument that to make Jesus less than human, with all the human foibles and effluences would weaken his message. He makes some fascinating points about the way the scriptures have been sanitized from what was written originally in both the Old and New Testament. That Jesus had all the bodily inconveniences we all do allowed him to be closer to the real people that he wanted to touch. The poor, the downtrodden, the bottom of the heap who were so often marginalized or forgotten were his people. To lift him to an unattainable height loses the impact of his words.

The author says it is only in seeing him in the role of agitator, political and economic activist and general pain in the rump to those in power can the reader appreciate who the man truly was. I am no expert but I found his arguments persuasive and I am sure the book will lead to much heated discussion from various camps.

Four purrs and one paw up.