Wholehearted Faith

Wholehearted Faith 

 By Rachel Held Evans with Jeff Chu (224pg)

Brief Overview

Whole·heart·ed·ly

/ˌhōlˈhärdədlē/

adverb

with complete sincerity and commitment

Rachel Held Evans said “Yes.”  

She said “yes” to marriage and parenthood.  Earlier, she said “yes” to being a Christian.  She had many doubts over the years, but she continued to have faith.  And, again, it was a struggle, a public one, but Evans strived to have faith in God wholeheartedly.

When asked to sum things up, Jesus taught that we should love God with all our hearts and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  So, wholehearted faith includes wholehearted living -- after all, how can we love others without loving ourselves?  

This book is thus largely a self-help manual.

It is hard to truly love ourselves.  We have so many doubts.  We have many moments that are a sort of personal wilderness.  In the Bible, Jesus and others had to survive the wilderness, including their own personal battles and temptations.  But, our self-worth should be honored.  God surely does so.  God has unlimited love for us all.  How can we not love ourselves?

Jesus taught us to love even our enemies.  So hard, including when we are our own worst enemies.  But, Rachel found some of her “enemies” had a lot to teach us, including her journey to a more liberal-minded Christianity. She grew up with idealistic dreams of being an evangelist of Christianity. In the end, others had a lot to teach her.  A lesson for us all.  

Rachel Held Evans, as in her other books, blogs, and many public appearances talks about these and other issues in her own special way.  The last chapter speaks of coming “to the end.”  And, tragically this book was completed by her friend Jeff Chu. She died in May 2019.  

Favorite Quote

I’ve come to believe that wholehearted faith isn’t just about coming to terms with the heart that beats inside me.  Wholeheartedness is about seeing and comprehending my place in a bigger family of faith.  It is about risking hurt and confusion for the sake of the thing that so many of us seek: belonging.  

Evans said “yes” to being a Christian and this book is about why she did. Being a Christian to her is being part of a community, and the community is a basic reason she said “yes.” And, doing so is a struggle.  Her struggle is also a key part of this book and adds to her empathy.  

Should I Read It?

The basic audience for this book is the millions of people, especially evangelical Christians who struggle in any number of ways with doubt about their membership in the Christian community, who have long loved Rachel Held Evans.  And, enjoyed her writings, both her blog and books.  

This provides one more time to read her words in her usual style. The book provides the basic things people have long come to expect from Rachel, and allows new readers to do so.  

Rachel Held Evans provides a humane version of Christianity with her own personal poetry and at times bemusement mixed in.  

Rachel was an evangelical, in (to me) a good sense, and a great writer.  She also had some nerd mixed in, showing her joy in doing the research about such things as how “apple” and “evil” in Latin sounded alike, and what “midrash” means.  

The book accepts -- perhaps with a bit more assurance than she felt at times -- the existence of God.  It takes various biblical accounts at their word -- she does not second guess, here, for instance if Mary actually said the Magnificat.  

Rachel did not in her later years follow a belief all of the Bible should be taken as the literal truth.  But, this book doesn’t discuss those details, except when Evans questions biblical glorification of violence as a reflection of God’s path.    

Some will not accept her choices here, but I would suggest the reader not focus too much on such matters.  The book can be enjoyed as a general guide to life.  It has certain basic lessons such as dealing with doubt and being part of a community.  And, I think “God” need not be taken literally.  Her personal journey there has a lot to teach the reader.  

Some again won’t accept that.  Maybe, the book might not be for you. Some also might want a shorter look at certain subjects, more “blog size.” And, there are no pictures, not even of the author.  I think that is unfortunate; the children’s book, for instance, has a family picture.  

Finally, some might be wary that she was unable to see the final result, wondering how the final result would be different if she did.  Full disclosure: I am somewhat wary about this myself. 

(Rachel spoke of her love for her family regularly, including how her parents gave her space as she took her journey in faith, and her sister Amanda.  You can listen to her father and sister.)  

Comprehensive Summary

Introductory Materials

Rachel Held Evans’ husband provides a foreword introducing Jeff Chu, who worked with her in the past.  Her husband, after she died, asked him to edit the book she was working on.  

Chu agrees but makes clear that he had to edit the raw material available. The result is the best he can provide, with the help of her family, of expressing her voice.  

An afterword is added by Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, who honors her as a “woman of valor”  (the biblical reference used by Rachel to honor women is discussed).  

Prologue: Because They Said Yes

Rachel said “yes” to faith in Christianity because of all the people before her in the Christian community who did so.  And, they -- like her -- were often vulnerable while doing so.  

God said “yes” to becoming a vulnerable child, born of a woman, reliant on parents to care for him.   And, so did a range of others, particularly women, in the Bible and outside.  

Part One: Wholehearted Faith

1. On the Days When I Believe

Wholehearted faith for Rachel includes fully loving God and loving neighbors like ourselves.  The two great commandments.  To love your neighbors, therefore, means to love yourself too.  Loving yourself in this fashion is not the same as narcissism.  It is to love yourself with honesty and grace.  This will make you vulnerable, but the reward is worth the risks.  

2. My Wicked Little Heart

Rachel honors her parents for providing her the basic belief, which many in her church and elsewhere would refute, that she is good.  

Her parents gave her room to ask questions and doubt while still always accepting her. Wholehearted faith needs a basic security in one’s life, a wholeness of oneself.  Personal and community support is required here.  

Others do not have such security.  Religion can break them, especially a conservative religion that demonizes people who are gay, have different ideas about women’s position in the church, have mental health issues,  and so on.  This is not the wholeness that God wants for all of us.  

3. Where Stone Becomes Flesh

Rachel speaks of “wholehearted living,” a belief that though you are vulnerable, you are still worth loving and belonging.  She wants to believe in a loving caring God and Christian community.  

4. The Liberation of the Know-It-All

Rachel has always been a big questioner.  She is often skeptical [rejection of conceit is one thing people frequently reference when talking about her] and intellectual.  But, faith includes some acceptance of things you can not be totally sure about.  Doubt is still acceptable here.

Rachel’s view of God is seen through his creation including his deep love for all that is created.  

5. Thick Skin, Tender Heart

The title of the chapter is a piece of advice (is it a Friday Nights Lights thing?) given to her by her husband.  Love is a basic biblical message.  A wholehearted faith should be focused on love.  But, you still can have a thick skin, to be able to take criticism.  

6. Jonathan Edwards Is Not My Homeboy

Jonathan Edwards was an 18th Century theologian with a famous sermon about how humanity is at risk of God’s damnation.  This is not her view. She honors love and belonging for all.  

Part II: Essays on the Christian Life

7. Beginning Again with Love

Rachel discusses the story of Adam and Eve’s “fall” after eating from the Tree of Knowledge.  She provides a bit of a revisionist view that argues the story tells of a God who gave people the room to rebel without rejecting them.  God is love -- even God’s “wrath” grows out of the harm certain acts do.  This is as it was from the beginning, it is as it is now.  

8. From Death to Life

Rachel is a competitor.  But, people are more likely to be persuaded when they feel seen and heard.  Not by being threatened, which causes them to be defensive.  The one that is often threatened is oneself (“Satan” biblically was originally translated as “the Accuser”); we have a sense of shame.  A feeling we cannot be loved.  This is not God’s way.  

9. The Steady Work of Living Water

Baptism is the entry into the Christian community.  Rachel as a child and in college had an idealistic desire to improve the world, promoting the Christian faith.  But, entering into the community also greatly changed her and her beliefs.  She too continually improved.    

10. Many Voices, Many Masks

There are many complexities to reading texts, including biblical accounts. We impose “masks” on God, emphasizing certain things over others.  We do the same thing with ourselves.  

11. Wilderness

Wholeheartedness includes not certainty about all things, but vulnerabilities.  

Wilderness in the Bible is often a metaphor for a character’s vulnerability as well as an actual location. Wilderness is a complex thing, a possible place of refuge and contemplation.  It includes a lot of “maybes.”  Such is life as it really is.  

12. God Has Made a Home With Us

Rachel is glad she was instilled with a deep personal relationship with God from an early age.  Wholeheartedness includes faith that God cares about each one of us.  

Sin separates us from God. Anything that divides us is “demonic” in the sense the Ancient Greeks understood the word.  Prayer can express our hurt at how much things suck.  But, deep down, God still cares for us all the same.  That is part of her faith.  

13. Loving Our Enemies

The core of Christianity is community.  The Bible discusses the experiences of communities and is meant to be read to groups of people.   A basic problem is dealing with enemies, be it ourselves or others.  We need to understand the potential for harm and ways to address it.  

14. Dwelling in Sabbath

Sabbath, the day of rest, is a day to honor God and God’s creations.  This includes addressing those in need, including our own needs toward being truly whole and complete.  

Epilogue: Telos

The biblical word for “end” is telos.  It is something or someone’s purpose. The purpose of humans is to love like God loves.  Such is what she has tried to believe and live her life honoring.   “So we have come to the end.” A bittersweet statement.   (RIP Rachel Evans Held.)  

Points to Ponder

A reader of this book will find it hard not to read it in the context of the fact it is a book published a couple years after the tragic death of the author. But, the book was not written with the expectation of the author dying.  This should be remembered too while reading.  

The editor admitted this is not the same book that Rachel Held Evans herself would have written, but he believes that it is a good expression of her views.  The book is still in her voice, including using the first person.  Is this problematic in any fashion?  Should more have been done to discuss how her words were specifically edited for publication?  

FAQ

Rachel Held Evans (1981-2019) was a journalist, blogger, author, and evangelist.

An evangelist speaks the “good news,” particularly to try to convert others to their version of the Christian faith.  And, that was her overall mission.  

Evans wrote various books:

• Faith Unraveled: How A Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions
• A Year of Biblical Womanhood
• Searching For Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church.
• Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again
• What Is God Like? with Matthew Paul Turner; Illustrated by Ying Hui Tan   [children's book]

Jeff Chu is the co-curator of the Evolving Faith conference, founded by Rachel Held Evans.  He is the editor-at-large at Travel + Leisure.  He also wrote Does Jesus Really Love Me?

Is Wholehearted Faith a Reliable Source?

The issue of reliability, which is a standard category in my reviews in this format, has a wrinkle in this context.  There are three aspects to this question here.

Rachel Held Evans has carefully researched her books with endnotes provided.  This book follows that path, if not as in depth regarding the biblical materials as Inspired.  

(At times, this bothered me, and I am not sure how she would have handled things in certain cases.)

Some of the material is an expression of her personal faith, a more subjective matter, but done with a reasoned argument based on certain premises about God.  

And, then there is the question of the underlining reliability of the editor’s translation of incomplete raw material into a final product.  Chu with the help of her family can be relied upon, but he is upfront that Rachel herself would have written a somewhat different book.  

It would have helped if more discussion was provided pointing out what material had to be edited and how much.  The specifics are not provided, so questions remain for this reader.