58 pages • 1 hour read
Christopher MooreLamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Joshua
Content Warning: This section of the novel discusses suicide.
Joshua serves as the novel’s compassionate and gentle yet brave protagonist. When Biff first meets his best friend and the future savior of the world, he notes that Joshua has “blue-black curls” and eyes “like dark honey” that shine with “a light older than Moses” (7). His warm, ancient eyes reflect his kind personality and divine nature. Throughout the novel, Joshua demonstrates compassion for everyone around him. He even weeps over bandits and gives a demon a moment of free will. Joshua is also exceptionally gentle. He’s born into a world that operates on the principle that might makes right, yet he refuses to use his power for self-gain. His people expect the Messiah to be a military leader who will overthrow the Romans. Instead, Joshua performs miraculous healings and preaches that he “can’t cast the Romans out of the kingdom because the kingdom is open to all” (393). Of course, Joshua’s kindness and gentleness don’t diminish his defiant courage. As a child, he briefly brings a woman back to life to show the Romans and the Temple priest “who the Temple belongs to” (32). In his ministry, he fearlessly defends the vulnerable and works miracles on the Sabbath despite threats from the Pharisees. At times, Joshua’s courage becomes obstinacy, such as when he ignores Biff’s warnings and deliberately provokes the Temple priests to ensure his execution. In his greatest act of courage, Joshua offers his life as a sacrifice to change the world. In many ways, therefore, Joshua’s life traces that of Jesus, yet Christopher Moore deviates from biblical sources with new physical and emotional qualities, particularly by introducing demons and the supernatural.
Over the course of the novel, Joshua goes from a young boy who is uncertain about his destiny to a savior prepared to die for his convictions. His journey shapes the plot and develops the novel’s themes. Moore emphasizes the Messiah’s humanity by focusing on the Friendship and Loyalty that he inspires in those around him, particularly Biff. Moore also humanizes Joshua by showing his struggles with self-doubt, such as his uncertainty as to whether he is the savior and what he is meant to do. For example, a 10-year-old Joshua confides in Biff: “I can feel that I am supposed to do things, but I don’t know what. And I don’t know how” (36). His uncertainty highlights the dramatic irony with which Moore structures the text, since the reader knows the events of the life of Jesus. From age 13 to 30, Joshua’s search for his destiny leads him to study Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism under the three wise men. He exhibits Commingling of Religious Beliefs with Judaism to create a message of compassion for all. As a champion of Resistance to Injustice, Joshua defies corrupt authority figures and sacrifices himself to prove to his divine parent that things must change.
Biff
The irreverent, inventive, and protective Biff is the novel’s narrator and deuteragonist. From the moment that he appears in the Prologue, Biff demonstrates a penchant for the sacrilege and sarcasm. Moore uses Biff’s irreverent attitude to give the satire much of its humor. His irreverence also connects to his diegetic function as Joshua’s protector. Biff explains to Maggie: “If I was basking in the light of his holiness all of the time, how would I take care of him?” (77). Biff meets Joshua when the boys are six, and he spends the rest of his life looking after his messianic friend: “[F]rom the beginning, Joshua filled me with divinely inspired worry” (36). Biff’s scheming nature helps to balance Joshua’s guileless purity; while he is not a foil for Joshua, Moore uses elements of this device to highlight Joshua and Biff’s sometimes-contrasting qualities. When Joshua’s moral compass leads him into danger, Biff uses his ingenuity to concoct daring plots. For example, the disguises and explosives that he crafts enable the two Israelites to rescue the captive children at Kalighat. At the end of the novel, Biff conceives of one last plan in an attempt to save Joshua’s life. Biff provides comic relief with his irreverent sense of humor, but he is serious about protecting his friend, meaning that the satire of the novel is always underpinned by earnestness.
Biff plays a vital role in developing the protagonist’s character and the novel’s major themes. Biff helps the reader to understand Joshua in a new light by showing them the Messiah’s lost years through the lens of his best friend’s experiences. In addition, he helps Joshua to understand human nature. Joseph explains Biff’s role in Chapter 1 when he says that his stepson “needs a friend to teach him to be human” (17). In addition to helping Joshua and humanity—and, by extension, Joshua and the reader—to understand one another, Moore develops the themes of Friendship and Loyalty and Resistance to Injustice through Biff. He sees his friendship with Joshua as his “anchor, [his] reason for being, [his] life” (421). His identity is so bound up with his loyalty to his best friend that he dies by suicide almost immediately after Joshua’s death. Biff’s efforts to avert his friend’s sacrifice also connect to resisting injustice. Biff doesn’t care that Joshua’s death is predestined or that his sacrifice will allegedly save the world. He wants no part in salvation won by the suffering of his innocent friend. Biff offers a humorous yet tragic model of true Friendship and Loyalty.
Maggie
The courageous, devout, and spirited Mary of Magdala acts as a love interest to both Joshua and Biff. For Biff, meeting Maggie is love at first sight, as evidenced by his description of her: “Her skin shone like copper and she had the light blue eyes of the northern desert people. Wisps of reddish-brown hair showed at the edges of her purple shawl” (24). When Maggie first appears in Chapter 2, she demonstrates courage and defends Joshua by approaching a cobra and standing up to Jakan; Moore hence immediately subverts expectations of romantic plots by having Maggie protect Joshua. When Maggie is forced to wed Jakan, Biff fears that the marriage will break her spirit. However, she endures, and her animated portrayal of possession in Chapter 27 emphatically demonstrates her defiant spirit. From an early age, Maggie believes that Joshua is the Messiah, and she remains devoutly loyal to Joshua throughout her life. She tells Biff, “I think about him all of the time. I pray for him all of the time” (77). In this way, she represents Christian faith. Both Biff and Joshua fall in love with Maggie, and she develops feelings for both of them as the novel continues. Biff considers Maggie “the strongest of us all” because she spends her whole life pining for someone whom she knows she cannot have (26). While she never stops loving Joshua, she does reconcile her complex feelings enough to enjoy a happy ending with Biff. Maggie’s unbreakable spirit, devout loyalty, and dauntless courage win both Biff and Joshua’s hearts.
Maggie adds nuance and conflict to the novel’s characters. She helps to humanize Joshua by causing him to fall in love. This allows Moore to expand Joshua’s emotional range to include jealousy, heartache, and romance even though Joshua doesn’t permit himself to act on his feelings for Maggie. In addition, the complex relationships between Biff, Maggie, and Joshua develop the theme of Friendship and Loyalty. Maggie offers Joshua unfailing loyalty, and Biff stays steadfastly true to his friend despite how much it pains him that Maggie loves Joshua more. Through Maggie, Moore also drives the plot. For example, her insistence that Biff find a way to protect Joshua adds to his desperation to save his friend and intensifies his despair when his plan fails.
Justus
The Roman centurion, Gaius Justus Gallicus, stands for order, integrity, and faith. Justus makes his first appearance in Chapter 3 when a 10-year-old Joshua resurrects a priest’s mother. Biff offers the following description: “He was older than the other soldiers, gray-haired, but obviously lean and strong, and totally unconcerned with the histrionics of the crowd” (34). This description highlights Justus’s experience, level-headedness, and control amidst chaos. Justus is stationed in the fortress of Sepphoris near Nazareth, and he maintains order through vigilance, intimidation, and military force. He therefore represents the version of strength that people expect from Joshua throughout the novel. Justus is in Israel to uphold Roman authority, but he also protects the limited rights of the Jewish people, including religious freedom. For example, he defends Biff and Joshua from the Greek homeowner’s attacks after the boys refuse to touch a statue of the god Apollo: “[T]he Greek was lying on his back in the dirt [...] The whip was extended out behind him, and on its tip stood the armored hobnail boot of Gaius Justus Gallicus” (53). The centurion demonstrates his integrity by protecting the Israelite boys from someone who possesses considerably more wealth and influence. After Biff and Joshua return from their quest for the Magi, their paths cross Justus’s again. The centurion shows great faith by humbling himself and asking Joshua to heal his friend: “Justus dropped to his knee and kneeled in front of Joshua, something I never saw any Roman do to any Jew, before or since” (344). The centurion sets aside his pride for his friend’s sake and believes that Joshua can perform miracles even from afar. Although the Roman Empire as a whole is an oppressive force in the novel, Justus is a model of integrity and faith.
Justus’s development over the course of the novel contributes to the themes of the Commingling of Religious Beliefs and Resistance to Injustice. When Joshua is a child, Justus warns him that those who defy Rome suffer crucifixion. During Joshua’s ministry, the centurion keeps him apprised of Jakan’s plots against him. These warnings offer foreshadowing that connect to the theme of Resistance to Injustice. Justus also develops the theme of the Commingling of Religious Beliefs by coming to believe in Joshua. In Part 6, he agrees to help Biff because he has faith that Joshua can rise from the dead. Biff doesn’t live to see the resurrection or the spread of Joshua’s teachings, but Justus’s growth shows that Joshua’s message will reach across cultures and endure.
Jakan
Jakan is the novel’s domineering, dupable, and cruel antagonist. He grows up in Nazareth with Joshua and Biff, and he is “well on his way to mastering cruelty” by the time he’s 12 (23). As the son of a Pharisee, Jakan enjoys throwing his father’s influence around. For example, in Chapter 2, he sees Joshua with a cobra, accuses him of consorting with demons, and threatens, “I will tell my father of this and you’ll be stoned” (24). On this occasion, Maggie’s quick thinking leads Jakan to drop the accusations. Years later, she succeeds in duping him again with Biff’s help. Jakan decides to divorce Maggie after she feigns demonic possession. However, despite his occasional gullibility, Jakan proves to be a formidable adversary and a cruel schemer. He becomes a member of the Sanhedrin, who, apart “from the Herods and Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor” are “the most powerful men in Israel” (318). When Joshua and Biff return to Israel after their adventures in the East, Biff is startled to see a change in Jakan: “The most frightening and perhaps the most surprising thing about him was that there was a spark of intelligence in his eyes. That hadn’t been there when we were children” (353). Jakan uses this spark to instigate plots against Joshua, and he demands that Pontius Pilate sentence Joshua to death. Moore develops Jakan’s character in the sense that he goes from Joshua’s childhood bully to the prosecutor at his trial, but his cruel, power-hungry nature remains consistent.
As the novel’s antagonist, Moore uses Jakan to drive the plot, increase the suspense, and explore the theme of Resistance to Injustice. For example, Maggie’s betrothal to the odious Jakan is one of the first moments in which Moore establishes that Joshua’s power is limited. Reflecting back on Joshua’s reaction to the betrothal, Biff finds that he “didn’t realize how much he was hurting inside, or how much he wanted to do something” (82). Jakan’s marriage to Maggie adds to the novel’s suspense because he might use his power to harm her. Maggie’s sister, Martha, warns Biff that Jakan would “have her stoned, just to prove that he could do it” (334). This abuse of power connects to the theme of Resistance to Injustice. Noting how the occupying Roman force uses the Pharisees as mouthpieces, Biff observes that “[w]ith influence comes power, with power, abuse” (23). By leveraging his power against his fellow Jewish people, particularly Joshua, the cruel and power-hungry Jakan embodies the Pharisees’ corruption.
