Inspired by Rachel Held Evans
(Format used for this book: print–paperback)
Not too long ago I had the realization that I viewed my faith and my Bible (and actually my entire world) thru a very narrow and limited lens. And a lot of what I thought I “knew”…I really didn’t.
I started researching and reading and having tough conversations with others and my own self…and have just begun to enter into a new understanding of Scripture and Christianity that I’ve never had before…and quite honestly I’ve never been more excited to keep learning and digging in.
My reading list has grown immensely thanks to many friends and teachers and I’ve got a lot to take in…God is pretty awesome like that!
(I could expound on alllllll kinds of things about that but this is just a book review…so not the time or place for that 🤣 If you want to know more let’s go have a coffee or an adult beverage sometime!)
I have had this book on my shelf since Christmas but with the recent passing of Rachel Held Evans I thought what better way to honor her than to read her last published work.
Here is a summary:
“If the Bible isn’t a science book or an instruction manual, then what is it? What do people mean when they say the Bible is inspired? When Rachel Held Evans found herself asking these questions, she began a quest to better understand what the Bible is and how it is meant to be read. What she discovered changed her–and it will change you too.
Drawing on the best in recent scholarship and using her well-honed literary expertise, Evans examines some of our favorite Bible stories and possible interpretations, retelling them through memoir, original poetry, short stories, soliloquies, and even a short screenplay. Undaunted by the Bible’s most difficult passages, Evans wrestles through the process of doubting, imagining, and debating Scripture’s mysteries. The Bible, she discovers, is not a static work but is a living, breathing, captivating, and confounding book that is able to equip us to join God’s loving and redemptive work in the world.”
I dog eared so many pages in this book of things I wanted to remember or resources I wanted to look up.
There’s a lot of different things in here…creative writing, research, history, facts, feelings and opinions.
I enjoyed this book even more than the other two that I have read…and I liked those a whole lot.
I have sat here looking thru the pages I marked for just the perfect bit of words to share with you…and I honestly just can’t narrow it down…I want to type out everything!
A review from her friend Nadia Bolz-Weber sums it up well:
“Inspired is a love letter to scripture. Evans takes what has been weaponized against so many of us and she beats it into a ploughshare. She shows us how to love the Bible; how to see its flaws, beauty, strength, and spirit at the same time. That’s love.”
*For another review on a Rachel Held Evans book, click here to see what I thought about her book “A Year Of Biblical Womanhood” https://brainglitterwithdani.com/a-year-of-biblical-womanhood/ )