NILS VON KALM reads Rachel Held Evans’ latest book about her own personal wrestle with the truths of the Bible…
Rachel Held Evans
Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again
Thomas Nelson, US, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0718022310
“This book is a personal story, which makes it so attractive. We are invited to sit and listen as Evans leads us on her journey from doubt back to a love of the Bible which has formed much of the background of her faith.”
Inspired is Rachel Held Evans’ story of how she came to love the Bible again after spending time in the spiritual wilderness wondering what faith was all about.
Evans grew up in the American Bible Belt. In fact, being from Dayton, Tennessee, you could say she is from the buckle of the Bible Belt. Dayton is where the famous Scopes Monkey Trial took place in 1925. This was the trial which decided whether or not ‘modern science’ should be taught in schools.
Growing up in a fundamentalist tradition, Evans was taught that the Bible was an instruction manual for life, was inerrant and was to be taken literally.
After beginning to question many of the stories in the Bible, particularly many in the Old Testament, Evans started to wonder about the truth of not only what she had been taught but how she had been taught. What do you do with the stories of weird events like Balaam’s talking donkey? And what about the creation story? Was the whole universe really created in just six days? Did the flood really cover the whole earth? Then there were the really troubling stories, those ones where God ordered the complete slaughter of whole people-groups? What type of God would do that, and why is that God so different to Jesus?
These are the questions that Evans began to wrestle with. She was forced to face the horrible realisation that if she was going to believe everything she was taught and how she was taught it, she would have to deny what else she was being taught in school about the world.
Evans is a wonderful storyteller, and this is what gives this book such creativity and interest. Personal stories are always powerful, and Evans tells hers in a way that is easily relatable. She brings both depth, intelligence and humour to her tale, describing her doubts and how she has dealt with them. She does this primarily through retelling the Bible stories that caused her such angst, but retelling them in a way that they can be reinterpreted as perfectly legitimate and in line with the character of God as seen in the overall Biblical narrative and most fully in Jesus.
One of the ways Evans retells these Biblical stories is by giving background to the context in which the stories took place. This is a good lesson for anyone reading the Bible, and Evans’ storytelling prowess gives us a good example. She brings stories to life with details you may not be aware of, such as why Ezekiel lay on his side for 390 days, or that the most subversive aspect of the prophetic critique we see in the Bible is that of hope.
This book is a personal story, which makes it so attractive. We are invited to sit and listen as Evans leads us on her journey from doubt back to a love of the Bible which has formed much of the background of her faith.
Inspired is an honest story; it is brave, delightful and one that many readers will be able to relate to. As you read, you will learn much about what the Bible is and what it isn’t. You may be challenged, encouraged, made to feel uncomfortable, or all three! If so, Evans’ purpose in writing the book will have been served. You will find out if the Bible is supposed to be an instruction manual for all of life, a set of laws, or if it is a series of stories, poetry, song and wisdom all rolled into one great, big narrative.
If you have found yourself questioning what you see in the Bible, this is a good guide to help you on your own journey. You may be at the point of throwing out all you believe because you can no longer accept what you see in the Bible and how you have been taught about it, or you may be struggling to see how you can keep your faith while being able to trust the Bible. Either way, Evans’ story will be one that you will find helpful.
I recommend this book, as you read it, sit back, listen and let yourself fall in love with the Bible all over again, maybe in a way that you never have before.
