{"id":545,"date":"2010-06-22T07:27:52","date_gmt":"2010-06-22T07:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/06\/interview-with-rachel-held-evans-part-1.html"},"modified":"2010-06-22T07:27:52","modified_gmt":"2010-06-22T07:27:52","slug":"interview-with-rachel-held-evans-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/06\/interview-with-rachel-held-evans-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Rachel Held Evans (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RachelHeldEvans.jpg\"<\/span>New author<\/b> Rachel Held Evans<\/a> and I are kindred spirits. We share a publisher, we both grew up in
\nintensely religious home environments and were on-fire-for-God kids, and
\nwe both have come out of the closet as Christians who struggle with
\nuncertainty about our faith. Though each of us approaches doubt from a different
\nangle (keep reading), we’re doing it from the same place. We both
\nrealize how important community is in this process, so I’m thrilled to
\nhave gotten to know her over the last year, and I’m also excited to introduce you to her new book, Evolving
\nin Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the
\nQuestions<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nutshell:<\/b> if you read and enjoyed O Me of Little Faith,<\/i><\/a> you’ll love Rachel’s debut, too. Here’s a sample passage…<\/p>\n

What my generation is learning the hard way is that faith is not about defending conquered ground but about discovering new territory. Faith isn’t about being right, or settling down, or refusing to change. Faith is a journey…<\/p>\n

I’m no longer ready to give an answer about everything. Sometimes I’m not ready because I feel that an answer does not do justice to the seriousness or complexity of the question. Sometimes I’m not ready to give an answer because I honestly don’t know what the best one is. Sometimes I’m not ready to give an answer because I can tell that the person asking doesn’t really want one anyway.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Evolving in Monkey Town<\/a>,<\/i> p. 220-221]<\/p>\n

I’ve interviewed Rachel<\/b> in the past<\/a>, but now that the book has released, I took the opportunity to ask her a few more questions. Hop aboard the train to Monkey Town.<\/p>\n

—————-<\/p>\n

JB: Both of our books are about doubt and questions and come from the
\nsame publisher. You endorsed me. I endorsed you. Clearly we two are
\nslathered in bias. But having read both of our books, how would you
\ncompare them? From your perspective, what does Monkey Town<\/i> offer that
\ndiffers from my book?<\/p>\n

RHE: <\/b>Wow, “slathered in bias” sounds kind of messy…but yeah, we do have a
\nlot in common. We both talk openly about doubt. We both ask tough
\nquestions. We both seem to have an affinity for animal metaphors (you,
\nturtles; me, monkeys). But I think our voices are different enough and
\nour experiences unique enough to make our books resonate in different
\nways with different readers.<\/p>\n

In Evolving in Monkey Town<\/i> I spend a little more time wading through
\nsome of the theological questions that led me to doubt. [Those who
\nhave read O Me of Little Faith<\/i> will understand what I mean when I say
\nthat Jason had the good sense to start with the bottom turtle while I
\nhad to go knocking all the little guys off the top.] And of course,
\nmy story comes from small-town Southern America, where asking pesky
\nquestions about religious pluralism, biblical inerrancy, conservative
\npolitics, and evolution can get you into some trouble!<\/p>\n

Both of us grew up in religious subcultures that haven’t always
\nbeen open to questioners. How did you find the freedom to break out of
\nthat mindset? Why is it important for Christians to ask hard
\nquestions?<\/b><\/p>\n

I never really set out to be a questioner. It just sorta happened when
\nthe answers I’d memorized all my life didn’t make sense to me anymore.
\nOf course, not everyone is thrilled with my story. But I’m really
\nfortunate in the fact that the people closest to me–my parents, my
\nhusband, even my pastor–have left enough room within their view of
\northodoxy to allow someone like me to wrestle and grow. Still, it’s
\ntaken me a while to accept that not everyone is going to struggle with
\ndoubt like me, that not everyone is going to ask hard questions about
\ntheir faith. But I think it’s important for Christians who do have
\nquestions to ask them honestly and without fear to avoid living a sort
\nof “fake faith.” In the book I put it this way, “If there’s one thing
\nI know for sure, it’s that serious doubt–the kind that leads to
\ndespair–begins not when we start asking God questions but when, out of
\nfear, we stop.”<\/p>\n

Evolution plays a big role in your book and your “conversion” from
\na too-certain believer to a doubter. Especially since you live and
\ngrew up in Dayton. It’s such a hot-button issue for believers today,
\nmany of whom fear that an acceptance of evolution means starting down
\na slippery slope where you end up not being able to believe the Bible
\nat all. How do you respond to that?<\/b><\/p>\n

It’s a good question, and I can relate to the people who ask it. But
\nthe challenge of “where do you draw the line?” is not one that only
\nevolutionary creationists have to be able to respond to, for most
\npeople would distance themselves from an interpretation of Scripture
\nthat would require continued belief in a solid firmament above that
\nholds back the waters (Genesis 1:6-8) or a stationary earth (1
\nChronicles 16:30; Psalm 93:1). We all face the challenge of drawing a
\nline when we are interpreting an ancient text. It really comes down to
\ngenre–and I interpret the creation account of Genesis to be a much
\ndifferent genre than say, the gospel of John or the letters of Paul.<\/p>\n

You’ve described yourself as “a girl who learned to ask the
\nquestions.” What religious questions are you asking now? Which one
\nbothers you the most?<\/b><\/p>\n

Right now I’m wrestling with that awful, nagging question that always
\nseems to return–What if this is just wish-fulfillment? What if I’m a
\nChristian simply because I desperately want my life to have meaning…or
\nbecause I’m afraid of death? What if religion is just humanity’s way
\nof coping with our fears surrounding life’s mysteries?<\/p>\n

—————-<\/p>\n

Come back tomorrow for part two of the interview,<\/b> in which Rachel parses the phrase “Christian skeptic,” talks about how her personal faith has evolved since she finished writing, and tells how a first-time writer from a small town got a national book deal.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, what do you think about Rachel’s thoughts about biblical inerrancy and the theory of evolution? Where do YOU draw the line when it comes to applying an ancient text in a modern context?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New author Rachel Held Evans and I are kindred spirits. We share a publisher, we both grew up in intensely religious home environments and were on-fire-for-God kids, and we both have come out of the closet as Christians who struggle with uncertainty about our faith. Though each of us approaches doubt from a different angle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"yoast_head":"\nInterview with Rachel Held Evans (Part 1) - O Me of Little Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/06\/interview-with-rachel-held-evans-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview with Rachel Held Evans (Part 1) - O Me of Little Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New author Rachel Held Evans and I are kindred spirits. 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