Inspired (by Rachel Held Evans)

(Amazon UK link)

I so enjoyed Rachel Held Evans’ book ‘Searching for Sunday’ a few years ago that I put her newer book ‘Inspired’ on my wishlist earlier in the year. I was given it for my birthday in April - and then learned, from her blog, that she was in hospital in an induced coma, after some seizures. A couple of weeks later, tragically for someone so young with two small children, she died.

I only knew of the author through sporadic reading of her blog, and from the biographical nature of the first book. But I was shocked, as were so many in the Christian world. It took me a while before I could bring myself to start what turned out to be her final published book. I have been reading a few pages each day for about a month, and have just finished it.

The subtitle of ‘Inspired’ is: ‘Slaying giants, walking on water and loving the Bible again’. It’s an honest exploration of the Bible, and the author’s own struggles with it. She gives brief anecdotes from her life, growing up in the evangelical tradition, and mentions some of the Bible stories she heard as a child. As with so many young people, she heard stories of heroes and villains, without much indication of timeline. Worse, she had no explanation as to why God in the Old Testament seemed to send his people into battle, telling them to slaughter thousands, as stark contrast to Jesus, in the Gospels, telling us to love our enemies.

Rachel Held Evans went from believing everything in the Bible to doubting it all as she discovered inconsistencies. Gradually she realised that the Bible contains sixty-six individual and quite diverse sets of writings. Much of the New Testament consists of letters, written to a specific audience. The Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) is a mixture of historical books, painstakingly written down by scribes, stories passed down by oral tradition and eventually transcribed, prophecies, proverbs, and more. It’s an astounding collection of ancient documents, and contains a great deal of wisdom. But while undoubtedly inspired, the Bible was written down (and later translated) by fallible humans.

I found the book extremely thought-provoking. In part this is because the author’s journey from blind belief through skepticism to a healthier understanding mirrors my own changing view of the Bible over the past few decades. But there’s a lot more besides. The writing is good, with some mild self-deprecating humour.

The explanation/exposition sections alternate with some shorter sections where the author rewrote short sections of the Bible in modern language from differing viewpoints. We see Job’s comforters sitting in a canteen, for instance, the text written as if it were a play. And there’s a very moving chapter, exploring how people might have felt when one of Paul’s letters was read aloud for the first time. We see a mixture of cultures, rich and poor, slaves and owners, men and women… and I could see afresh just what some of the familiar passages must have meant to those from the original churches, meeting in ordinary homes.

While there wasn’t much that was new to me, the style of writing made me think again, to see differing viewpoints. Rachel Held Evans emphasises the importance of story-telling, both ancient and modern. As she points out, stories change in their telling, even details of personal anecdotes are adjusted, depending on the audience. And when they’re passed into family lore, they may change beyond all recognition - other than the message, the point of the story. And that’s what matters.

We’re encouraged to think about the Bible at a meta-level. What do the stories teach us? When we look at some of the prohibitions or commandments in the Bible, what were they intended to say to the people at the time? Many issues, as the author points out towards the end of the book, are not so much, ‘Is it right or wrong to do this thing?’ but, ‘Is doing this thing helpful or harmful towards the spread of the gospel?’

Rachel Held Evans raised questions that many people think and don’t dare to express. She makes some excellent points, and her research and understanding were superb. Some conservative evangelicals might denounce the book ‘Inspired’ as heresy, but I would recommend reading it anyway, with an open mind.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews