Book Review

Evolving in Monkey Town by: Rachel Held Evans

A taste of the book: "evolution within the souls of individuals happens everyday, when we adapt our faith to change. Evolution means letting go of our false fundamentals so that God can get into those shadowy places we're not sure we want Him to be. It means being okay with being wrong, okay with not having all the answers, okay with never being finished.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"as soon as you're able to step into someone else's shoes or look at the world from a different perspective, everything you believe becomes less certain, or at least less black and white"

" I never realized how important hope is to belief"

"we don't choose our world views they are chosen for us"

"Being a christian, it seemed, isn't about agreeing to a certain way; it is about embodying a certain way, It is about living as an incarnation of Jesus, as Jesus lived as an incarnation of God. It is about being Jesus..in tennis shoes"

"And yet the widows and orphans I met in India were actually less angry with God than I was. In fact, they loved him in a way I couldn't quite understand."

"It's not up to some politician to represent my Christian values to the world; it's up to me"

"Love is bigger than faith, and it's bigger than works, for it inhabits and transcends both."

"Love, It's that simple and that profound. It's that easy and that hard"

Am I glad I read it? Yes

Would I recommend it to you? Yes

Often the process of faith is hard and leaves me in midsts of doubt and with more questions than I have answers. Often shaking up everything I thought I knew and when the dust settles a new view has appeared. That is what monkey town is about. Coming to place that calls in question if Jesus is in my head or my heart.