The Englewood Review of Books
Best Books of 2021
Advent Calendar
December 21
The Englewood Review of Books
Wholehearted Faith
Rachel Held Evans with Jeff Chu
Hardback: HarperOne, 2021
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[Rachel Held Evans] writes about the vulnerability of God and how it welcomes and makes sense of the vulnerability in human beings. She writes of still being a Christian but without any hint of triumph. She writes of “the days when I believe” and the days when she does not. She writes of grace — gifted, unearned love and acceptance — and how differently it is often talked about in the churches of her youth.
She writes about how she doesn’t know everything about God and faith, nor does she pretend to. She writes of how she has had to learn how to have a thick skin and a tender heart.
She takes on some of the hot-button issues of Christian evangelicalism, suggesting — always with humor and generosity — another way forward. She refers often to her own struggles and sin (she definitely still uses traditionally Christian words like “sin” — see the excerpt accompanying this review) and doesn’t ever separate herself from others in the way that both conservatives and liberals tend to do that to each other.
This is a most generous book from a most eloquent Protestant Christian writer. We are fortunate to have it as her last word.
- From a review by ERB contributor Jon M. Sweeney
[ READ the full review ]
READ an excerpt from this book…
LISTEN to an NPR interview with Jeff Chu about this book…
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