{"id":546,"date":"2010-06-23T07:57:18","date_gmt":"2010-06-23T07:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/06\/interview-with-rachel-held-evans-part-2.html"},"modified":"2010-06-23T07:57:18","modified_gmt":"2010-06-23T07:57:18","slug":"interview-with-rachel-held-evans-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/06\/interview-with-rachel-held-evans-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Rachel Held Evans (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday<\/b> Rachel Held Evans and I began discussing<\/a> her new book, Evolving
\nin Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the
\nQuestions<\/i><\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"monkeytown.jpg\"<\/span>Here’s the second part of the interview. Make sure you stick around to the end for an opportunity to win a free copy of the book.<\/p>\n

—————<\/p>\n

JB: <\/b>We’ve discussed this before<\/a>, but a big part of your book is the
\nidea that, in order to survive, faith must adapt and evolve. The book
\ndiscusses your faith evolution, of course, but I’m wondering how your
\nfaith has evolved since you finished writing? And where do you see it
\nheaded in the future?
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

RHE: <\/b>Good question! Since writing the book, I’ve become a little more comfortable with my views about evolution, having found some cool resources like the BioLogos Foundation<\/a> that help me work through a lot of my questions. I’m also settling into a new way of reading the
\nBible that embraces the fact that it doesn’t exist to answer all of my
\nquestions. I suspect my faith will continue to change and evolve
\nthrough the years; I just hope that, overall, I change to look more
\nand more like Jesus. Right now there are good days and bad days when
\nit comes to that.<\/p>\n

Big picture: How do you see Christianity as a whole adapting in our
\nlifetime? Where do we need to go in order to remain relevant?<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m actually really optimistic about the future of Christianity
\nbecause throughout history it has shown a remarkable ability to thrive
\nin new cultural environments. There are a few things that make me
\nespecially hopeful: I see more and more people from my generation
\nchoosing to pledge allegiance first and foremost to the Kingdom of
\nGod, not to any political party or platform of this world. I see
\npeople willing to engage in tough conversations about how to embrace
\nboth science and faith. I see my friends and family taking a more
\nloving posture toward the gay community. And I see Christians around
\nthe world re-prioritizing Jesus’ command to care for “the least of
\nthese.”<\/p>\n

Is “Christian skeptic” an oxymoron?<\/b><\/p>\n

It’s only an oxymoron if we buy the lie that being a Christian means
\nagreeing to a set of propositional statements. But if being a
\nChristian means following Jesus Christ, I think it’s entirely possible
\nto be curious and intellectually engaged while simultaneously caring
\nfor the poor, forgiving enemies, and sharing the good news. My friend
\nDavid put it this way, “The line between faith and doubt is the point
\nof action. You don’t need certainty to obey, just the willingness to
\nrisk being wrong.”<\/p>\n

You come from a journalism career, but you got this book deal out
\nof nowhere, it seems. What are three pieces of advice you would give
\nto aspiring writers?<\/b><\/p>\n

1. Read everything you can get your hands on — fiction, non-fiction,
\npoetry, song lyrics, magazines, newspapers, science, theology,
\nprayers, children’s books, the backs of cereal boxes, whatever — and pay
\nattention to how the words are put together.<\/p>\n

2. Start a blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Write a kick-ass book proposal.<\/p>\n

In your opinion, who are the three most significant monkeys and\/or
\napes in popular culture? (You are not allowed to cite the one on the
\ncover of your book.)<\/b><\/p>\n

#3: Curious George<\/p>\n

#2: Donkey Kong<\/p>\n

#1: King Kong<\/p>\n

(Other
\ncontenders include Bubbles the Chimp, Koko the Gorilla, and the evil
\nmonkey living in Chris’ closet in “Family Guy.”) <\/p>\n

I’d love to hear what
\nyour readers have to say!<\/p>\n

—————<\/p>\n

Me, too. <\/b>Our publisher, Zondervan, has graciously agreed to give away two free copies of Evolving in Monkey Town<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

So here’s what you have to do to become eligible for the giveaway: Leave at least one comment on this post. That’s it. We’ll pick a random winner from among the commenters. List your own suggestion for culturally significant monkeys, discuss how your own faith has evolved, or ask Rachel a question. (She’ll be stopping by, and is a pro when it comes to meaningful interaction with readers.)<\/p>\n

In the meantime, check out Rachel’s blog<\/a> and follow her on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: <\/b>The comment to win giveaway ends at 11:59 pm CT on Thursday, June 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday Rachel Held Evans and I began discussing her new book, Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions. Here’s the second part of the interview. Make sure you stick around to the end for an opportunity to win a free copy of the book. —————…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nInterview with Rachel Held Evans (Part 2) - 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-2.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 2) - O Me of Little Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday Rachel Held Evans and I began discussing her new book, Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions. 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