Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans

Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again Reviews

• 
  Stacy

  I often feel like Rachel Held Evans is telling my story but in better prose. Like Rachel, I grew up in a conservative evangelical church but eventually realized that sect doesn't match my view of the world or God. But having been taught that if you don't believe every word of the Bible is literally true, then you can't believe any of the Bible at all, it's now difficult to know how to approach it. It's so refreshing to see that there are other people who have wrestled with this and started to find some answers, even if we will always struggle. This book has inspired me to think about the Bible in new ways and do further reading and research on my own to better understand it.
• 
  Pastor Matt

  I've read several of Rachel Held Evans' books. She is a talented writer but a poor biblical interpreter. She uncritically accepts "higher criticism" with liberal presuppositions as a way to "unlock an ancient text" even though this method is built on post-enlightenment fantasy and an implicit desire to accommodate the cultural whims of the day. She accepts theories such as Matthew Vines' discredited portrayal of same-sex relationships in the ancient world (which is just a summary of John Boswell's long discredited work even rejected by one of Evans' heroes, N.T. Wright). She dismisses the heart of the atonement, mocks other long held orthodox views without cogent arguments and champions every leftist cause as if it is found in Scripture (even though she does so via logical fallacies, anachronisms [especially in the area of economics] , etc.). Evans' Jesus is Bernie Sanders who happened to be nailed to cross and her scripture is a mess...except for the areas she likes and can translate into social justice causes...funny how that works out! Avoid.
• 
  Kat Coffin

  What can I say about this book?
  
  I received an ARC, due to the special promotion early preorder customers received. I was one of the first 500 to provide proof. I received my copy on Ash Wednesday/Valentine's Day--and how appropriate!
  
  The timing of this remarkable book is impeccable. Not long before, I stared rereading Scripture again, to try and infuse daily Scripture into my morning routine. I read one chapter of the Old Testament and one chapter of the New. The first chapter of the Old Testament I read was from Numbers--the Israelites utterly annihilating the Midianites and being scolded for keeping the virgin women alive. The second was from Romans--a chapter I recognized as the verses that spurred Megan Phelps-Roper to leave Christianity. Paul's "some people were created to be vessels of destruction" bit.
  
  Not a great place to start out. So thank God for this book. Thank God for a book that assured me that truth didn't have to be literal. Thank God for a book that captured the magic of Scripture and encouraged me to wrestle with the things that trouble me. Thank God for a book that doesn't explain away the genocide, that doesn't hand wave some of the more dick-ish things Paul had to say. Thank God for a book that actually helped me reconcile with Paul.
  
  Thank God for this book. RHE's research is meticulous, she takes care to include theology from people who are not white straight men, and she even gets a little creative--with everything from short stories to screenplays to poetry. In that sense, she encourages me to be a little creative with my faith too.
  
  I know mine is only the ARC and this book may go through some changes by June. But the post-Evangelical--the Exvangelicals, we might say--are in for a treat, especially if they're like me. Someone who misses the environment but not the suffocation of Evangelicalism. Someone who badly wants to love the Bible and God again, but doesn't know how to anymore.
• 
  Kaitlin Kline

  "The apostles remembered what many modern Christians tend to forget--that what makes the Gospel offensive isn't who it keeps out but who it lets in."
  
  This book, like many that deal with Biblical interpretation, is probably going to piss some people off. But I think that's why it needs to be read. If a book is making you mad, or deeply uncomfortable or exposed, then it's doing it's job; to stretch your current view of the world a little larger and deeper. There were a couple of points like that for me in Inspired. Like Rachel, I grew up in a very conservative home and spent my childhood and adolescence debating the Bible's reliability. We were both raised to believe that the Bible was always right, no matter the context. So it was a little jarring for me to hear Rachel tell me that, just maybe, Scripture isn't perfect all of the time--but that's okay, because it was written by imperfect people. It doesn't mean that the Bible isn't special and wonderful and dependable; it simply means we can remove it from the pedestal we have placed it on and engage with it as we are: imperfect sinners, just like the characters within. I actually find I can love the Bible more when I don't have such lofty expectations for it to tell me what to do (actually, that's how I feel about my husband after being married for three years). The Bible isn't just a history book or an instruction manual; it's a portable library of a thousand stories from differing genres. Never before have I asked, while reading a chapter, "Whose voice is this? Why does that matter?" Being able to differentiate Jewish storytelling from historical reports from practical letters means that we can appreciate the Bible for its variety while realizing that we are not the original audience. Yes, God's Word is for us, but it is not solely for us. To assume as much does this great literary and historic work a disservice; and it harms the people that we weaponize this great book against. The Bible, like any book, is an epic act of love, so if we use it as an excuse for hatred or violence, we have clearly missed the mark. I think any external writing that helps the Bible come alive has great value, and this is my favorite one so far. If you have questions about the Bible, or if you have never thought to question the Bible for fear of it letting you down, you should give Inspired a shot. I know it helped give me a healthier view of the book I have tried to love my whole life; it has given me more room to fall in love with the Word.
• 
  Clif Hostetler

  Rachel Held Evans provides an engaging presentation of a progressive perspective on the Christian religion in general and the role of the Bible in particular. She frequently recounts personal experiences of growing out of a belief in the Bible as a magic answer book and evolving toward an understanding of it as a work of literature filled with stories that can be inspirational and instructive if combined with knowledge of the genre and context. The book’s narrative includes frequent quotations of numerous authors who have written similar content, but Held Evans demonstrates a gift of being able to craft a message that is warm and unthreatening.
  
  The book’s narrative follows a repeating format of citing a story from scripture, then repeating the story again in a completely different time and context, sometimes in a modern situation, sometimes from the author’s personal experiences, and sometimes in an expanded novelization of the story. The magic of the writer’s skill enables the stories to thus come alive. The author then surrounds these takes on scripture with commentary and reflections from her own life experiences.
  
  The following are quotations from the book that caught my attention. The introductory comments are mine followed by the respective quotations.
  
  The following impressed me as good advice when one hears that often repeated phrase:

  We should be wary, then, of grand pronouncements that begin, "The Bible says." Where? To whom? In what context? Why? (p98)

  Here's a good definition of wisdom:

  Wisdom, it seems, is situational. It isn't just about knowing what to say; it's about knowing when to say it. And it's not just about knowing what is true; it's about knowing when it's true. (p98)

  Here's a good description of the Bible:

  The truth is, the Bible isn't an answer book. It's not even a book, really. Rather, it's a diverse library of ancient texts, spanning multiple centuries, genres, and cultures, authored by a host of different authors coming from a variety of different perspectives. These texts, like others from antiquity, have undergone edits, revisions, copies, and translations through the years. No one has the originals. Before they were canonized, they circulated as disparate collections of scrolls and codices, and before that many were passed down as oral traditions. (p102)

  The following quotation sites Amy-Jill Levine's description of the purpose of the apocalyptic texts:

  "The point of apocalyptic texts is not to predict the future," explained biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine in The Meaning of the Bible; "it is to provide comfort in the present. The Bible is not a book of teasers in which God has buried secrets only to be revealed three millennia late." Rather, she argued, apocalyptic texts "proclaim that a guiding hand controls history, and assure that justice will be done." (p124)

  Rachel Held Evans shares many problematic texts and manages to think and talk her way through them. But then she came to the problem of Paul:

  Even after I’d come to terms with the Bible’s war stories and learned to embrace the Bible’s tensions and contradictions as fitting and good, even after I’d given up on trying to force the Bible to be something it’s not and resolved to keep wrestling with the confounding force that it is, there remained one obstacle in the way of a fresh start with my once beloved Magic Book. To make peace with the Bible, I had to make peace with Paul. (p208)

  She goes on to explain how the problematic things that Paul had to say about women, sex, and slaves were reflections of his cultural environment, but they were not the core of his message. He’d probably been glad to back off some of the things he said if presented a context in which they would hinder the focus of his message.

  The apostle Paul was a smart, worldly, and broad-minded Jew who had been utterly transformed by what he saw as his singular mission in life: to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and welcome them in to Israel’s story. In pursuit of that mission Paul was determined to break down every religious ethnic, and cultural barrier that stood in the way. (p210)

  __________
  The following is not from the book Inspired, however it is an interesting NPR segment related to the subject of evangelical Christians that I heard soon after writing the above review.
  
  Here's a
  LINK to Part 1 of an NPR two-part conversation with evangelical Christians in Fayetteville, N.C. about faith and politics. In Part 1 they talked about issues on their minds and impeachment. Part 2
  LINK 2 is about "Race, Trump and evangelical voters."
• 
  Cydney Daniel

  2.5 stars, rounded to 3.
  
  Buckle up, friends.
  
  Quickly at the beginning here: I have so many thoughts. This is interesting read if you want to stay on top of current popular beliefs and teachings. Evans is becoming an increasingly popular progressive Christian author (note: I don’t mean liberal Christian although I believe she is. I mean her views and interpretations of scripture are largely more progressive than traditional interpretation, and we run into some issues here quite often). I would not recommend this to a new Christian, and honestly, I wouldn’t personally recommend this to a Christian in the middle of the throes of doubt and questioning. Ill explain why soon. I would only recommend this to Christians who I know have a firm grasp on scripture, excellent critical thinking skills, and a strong relationship with God, and even then I would only recommend it as an educational, stay-in-the-know kind of read. Here’s the longer reason why:
  
  There are a lot of fundamental principles and definitions Evans and I disagree on, and therefore i disagree with about half of this book.
  
  Foundational principles i’d like to ask Rachel about:
  1. What is the gospel, truly? How do you define it?
  2. Do you believe that Jesus was fully divine as much as he was fully human? You focus so much on his humanness and get skeptical when you approach his divinity.
  
  Surprisingly, I did end up enjoying some of it and agreeing with many points she made; but unfortunately I cannot agree with the conclusions she came to because of these points. She asks a lot of questions, and then avoids answering them by changing the question (ex: do I believe in miracles? Better question, am I acting like it? Better context in the book), and every approach to the scripture really comes across as one that “makes ME feel the best about scripture.” She often explores traditional literal interpretation with exaggeration and sarcasm, which frustrates me.. we cant really come to an accurate conclusion if we’re presenting sides of the argument sarcastically.
  
  I agree that there is a lot that the evangelical community “picks and chooses” and sweeps under the rug. I also agree that it is important to come to scripture with our questions. God is not scared of our doubts, and i don’t think we are far from him when we doubt. As she says: “a lot of people think the hardest part about religious doubt is feeling isolated from God. It’s not. At least in my experience, the hardest part about doing is feeling isolated from your community.” I can definitely attest to that.
  
  There was a time in my life that I questioned much of my faith because of 2 years of turmoil and change in my family’s life. But I went to scripture and to those who could be trusted to share truth with me, and came out on the other side with confidence that Gods word is living, true, and has the answers I need. I know that God is not scared of my doubts and questions.. but I think in many ways Evans minimizes the impact of scripture by equating God-breathed word with humanness - which I can only assume means sinful? I’m not sure what she means by the humanity the Bible displays. (Humanity vs sinfulness is a very interesting topic that happened on Evans’ twitter feed the other day that sparked an interesting discussion between my husband and I. But I digress.)
  
  Context, etc. make a huge difference in scripture interpretation, as Evans repeatedly points out, but I don’t believe we can use our own feelings and emotions to accurately interpret scripture. I struggle with this myself, because what I feel is justice or injustice or love or compassion or whatever, isn’t always what God says those things are. (There’s a verse in Proverbs about God knowing justice and man not knowing it.. and there’s that C.S. Lewis quote about “where does our idea of morality come from?”)
  
  We cannot approach scripture with our own feelings and emotions, and look for the things that validate them. I feel like Evans waters down the Bible in such a way that makes it seem like we need to come to the Bible and ask what WE want to hear or know. How can i interpret this to benefit ME? Come to scripture with your grief for comfort, but don’t come to scripture with your anger for vindication. Approach scripture with humility and desire to grow and change based on what God says.
  
  She calls out a lot of ways the American church has failed— injustice toward minorities, sexism, the focus on specific sins (some of which Evans doesn’t even see as sin), the lack of confession and repentance with each other as a part of our daily walk— and these things definitely need to be discussed. However, there’s a lot of talk about “resistance” and “rebellion” right alongside the talk of “peace” and “love.” Its a little confusing isn’t it? These ultra-legalistic Christians who can’t seem to find a problem with how African Americans are treated in this country? They have fallen short the same way the rest of us have— even progressive Christians. We have ALL fallen short of the glory of God, we have ALL sinned. I totally agree that white Christians are not the traditionally oppressed in this country and have often been let off the hook, but we are called to give grace and love to them the same way we give love and grace to the oppressed minorities. Jesus loves us all the same. Stand up for the oppressed, call out the oppression, but love them all. Don’t get too prideful thinking your compassion makes you a better Christian or person.. in the eyes of God it doesn’t.
  
  Evans’ (and, I suspect, many others) view on the church makes me very sad, and it makes me very thankful for the church I belong to, where we have solid doctrine and theology... that also allows us to actually love other people, even those with vastly different lifestyles than our own. Believing that sins are sins doesn’t make my theology bad, or me any better or worse of a person; it makes the gospel that much more powerful. The gospel is not social justice, although we are called to love and serve the unloved and oppressed because of the gospel. We are not saved by our works, only by the grace of God.
  
  Toward the beginning of the book, Evans states: “To demand that the Bible meet our demands is to put ourselves and our own interests at the center of the story, which is one of the first traps we must learn to avoid if we are to engage the Bible with integrity or care.” But as we read through this book, we see a variety of her approaches to the Bible. Some are rooted in deep study, and she shares multiple interpretations from different scholars. Most of Evans’ conclusions or takeaways from scripture, however, come from putting her interests and experiences at the center of the story. If you read this book, be wary. Think critically about her answers to or avoidances of tough questions (the latter she accuses fundamentalists of doing). Realize that many times Evans interprets scripture with what makes her feel okay about scripture, because many things in the Word of God are hard to swallow.
  
  Ultimately, I am glad that I read this and I hope that some other Christians will read this (carefully and critically) as well. There are excellent takeaways from INSPIRED, but also a bunch of really worrisome theology that really won’t hold up. If you read all of this, God bless you hahah.
• 
  Amy1N

  Reading this book was like sitting down with an old friend to talk through the Bible. I came away with a fresh desire to read passages I’ve yet to read and go back and read well remembered verses with fresh eyes. This is exactly the book I needed at exactly the right time. If you’re struggling picking up the Bible every day, this book is for you. If there’s nothing you enjoy more than starting or ending the day in scriptures, this book is for you. I’m so thankful for Rachel and her ability to somehow write the exact words I need to read.
• 
  JR. Forasteros

  Rachel has given us a great gift... a book that invites us to rediscover the Bible as the book God gave us, not the book many of us were raised to expect.
  
  She introduces each chapter with a fiction piece - these are pretty uneven, and I'm not sure they do much for the overall effect of the book. The non-fiction is much stronger, and where the real power of the book lies.
  
  Overall, this is a great book that anyone who loves the Bible - or USED to love the Bible - will really enjoy.
• 
  Haley

  I love her. She approaches Scripture like a storyteller, and views Scripture as a collection of powerful stories that we've all been caught up with in some way - stories that can be used either to oppress or to liberate, stories that, even if divinely inspired, "have human fingerprints all over them."
  
  I feel like I can't really write an adequate review because it's intended for a specific group of people - as one of the people it's clearly intended for, I highly recommend it to others in that group - current Christians who feel suffocated by the legalism and/or bigotry of your churches, Christians now without church homes, former Christians who left because your church and faith experiences didn't ultimately line up with the message you were fed that true religion in the sight of God is taking care of widows and orphans, is love and compassion.
  
  Also an incredibly important reminder that Scripture - or the stories and letters that now make up Scripture - were subversive and transgressive in their time - disrupting national power and empire and social hierarchies. And that's a much more exciting Scripture to read about than the one that mostly seems intent on keeping women (among others) in our places and supporting politicians and policies who couldn't care less about the poor or marginalized.
• 
  Jeffrey Nelson

  I clearly remember the time--the first time, that is--when my faith began to fall apart. I was in my second semester of college as a Religion major and was enrolled in several Biblical Studies courses that spring, including one that dealt heavily with the concept of the "historical Jesus," a scholarly attempt to get behind the faith claims of the Gospels and see what definite things one could say about the real life person who lived in 1st Century Galilee.
  
  I had a much more conservative-minded approach to scripture in those days, and largely was able to brush off most of what I'd been reading and learning. I believed not only in the truth of the Bible, but that it presented factual accounts not just about Jesus but about other characters as well: Adam and Eve, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jonah, the Apostles, and so on.
  
  But on one fateful Tuesday evening during Bible study, it all seemed to crumble down at once. The claims of my classroom studies were causing more and more friction with the claims of the night's discussion, until finally near the end of our time together I thought to myself, "I don't know if I believe this any more."
  
  The next few months--and really, the rest of my life so far--would feature a deep and abiding wrestling not just with the Bible's contents, but with what the Bible itself was to me. Is it a closed canon handed down and divinely dictated whole cloth for eternally-relevant application, or does its origins, gradual collection, authorial diversity of experience, and occasional historical, scientific, and literary dubiousness make it something still capable of communicating truth about God, life, and faith, yet in ways more nuanced than before?
  
  This is one of the questions at the heart of Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans. Evans' journey has also been one of beginning steeped in a subculture that approached the Bible in a certain way, and when the questions and contradictions that came with her own study became too big to ignore, she began a transition to a different way of nurturing faith and discipleship and of reading the Bible.
  
  Evans recounts this journey more thoroughly in her previous works, particularly Faith Unraveled, and in fact a read through that book may serve as a helpful background to some of what she shares here. But her self-identifying as a memoirist is appropriate, as she shares personal anecdotes in nearly every chapter to help flesh out some of her own experiences that led her to revisit her view of scripture and its meaning for her now.
  
  However, her own story is far from the only element at work here. Evans pulls from a variety of trusted scholars both past and present. She was intentionally diverse in choosing the voices that helped inform her approach, pulling thoughts from thinkers such as Walter Brueggemann, William Barber, Peter Enns, Nyasha Junior, and Amy-Jill Levine, among many others, as she delves into the stories of the Bible and the stories behind the Bible.
  
  Evans' basic approach is to separate the Bible into the unique genres that make up its pages, and her natural inclination toward telling, sharing, and examining stories provide the framework and lens through which she examines them. She looks at stories of origins such as the early chapters of Genesis, stories of liberation such as Exodus and some of the prophets, stories of war such as in Joshua, stories of wisdom such as Job and the Psalms, and stories of Jesus and the early church, among others. She treats each as part of an expression of a larger narrative the people behind its pages are trying to make sense of for themselves, but also connects those stories to modern life through her own experiences and parallels to contemporary events and issues.
  
  As an additional aid to her overall presentation, each chapter is accompanied by a retelling of each scriptural portion, including first-person accounts from Hagar and the Samaritan woman at the well, a short play of Job and his friends, and the story of Peter stepping out of the boat to meet Jesus on the water cast as a Choose Your Own Adventure story. These are often cleverly done and help set the stage for the analysis to come. Evans' writing has always had a certain light touch even when exploring serious issues, and these preludes help present the scholarship to follow in accessible ways that many readers will appreciate.
  
  Evans' awareness of how difficult questions related to the Bible can be serves her very well, and many will benefit from her sensitivity, her attentiveness to scholarship, and her ability to connect it to present-day experience. Whether one is nearing their own Tuesday evening crisis of faith or just wants to make better sense of how this strange collection of stories relates to a modern understanding of faith, Inspired provides an easy on-ramp to that conversation.
• 
  Kristi Brokaw

  3 1/2 Stars (if Goodreads allowed it!)
  First let me just say—this is a beautiful book. Whoever did the cover design gets a bunch of stars for making such a pretty book.
  
  I loved this book. There are very few things which I didn’t like and for which I did deduct stars. The things I didn’t like were the “creative retellings” in the chapter openers. They felt unnatural and awkward to me. It was obvious the author was working with unfamiliar mediums. The screenplay version of Job was my least favorite. But these sections are short and only about half of them were truly awkward enough to take me out of the experience of reading.
  
  What I loved: everything else. I love the author’s honesty and her voice. I love how she mixes personal struggle and experience with research from other scholars. I love her obvious joy in the poetry and stories of the Bible and her angst and discomfort with the same parts I am anxious and uncomfortable with. Her take on Paul’s epistles was utterly refreshing. Her acknowledgement of the abused women in the Bible felt like a friend acknowledging my feelings—I felt relieved and loved. Rachel Held Evans has written a book that really does allow us to delight in the gift of the Bible while lamenting the ways it has been weaponized and misunderstood. I have already recommended it to several friends and would love to discuss it in a book club setting.
  
  I also want to add that I appreciate that the author took time to include multiple perspectives and elevated the voices of the marginalized.
  
  *I received an advanced copy of this book for review purposes and these opinions are my own.*
• 
  Tina

  It was comforting to hear someone say, "I get that you have questions and doubts and struggles." But it was also good to hear someone say, "Don't give up...here's a new way to love the Bible." Rachel Heald Evans never dissapoints.
• 
  D.L. Mayfield

  This is the first book I can really remember thinking I can't wait to put this in the hands of my daughter when she is 13 years old and say "read this. I hope this is how you can learn to approach your faith and the Scriptures someday."
  
  It's a stunningly accessible look at how Christians can and must start to treat their sacred texts outside of the narrow confines of biblicism. This is my favorite book of Rachel's, and I cried while listening to her read the audio herself. What a gift she was, and will remain, to us all.
• 
  Ben Wideman

  This is an incredible reflection on the purpose of the biblical narrative, written by weaving together humor, biblical study, various stylistic genres, and a lot of heart. I’m so grateful that RHE wrote this book, and that we get to read it.
• 
  David

  I never had the privilege of meeting Rachel Held Evans, but it was still incredibly sad to learn of her death this past spring. She was an honest and passionate voice that echoed what so many felt. This book, her final book, echoes that honesty and passion.
  
  In the book she shares how she grew up learning the Bible. But, as happens, over time she learned things were not as simple as she was taught. One option, which many have taken, was simply jettison faith altogether. Rachel could never do this as she loved the Bible and it’s stories too much. Side note: just this morning I saw a comment in a different review saying Rachel did not have a “high view of scripture”. That’s a rather laughable thing to say and such comments reveal no familiarity with her work. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? In many Christian circles if you don’t cling to a fundamentalist, literalist and simple view of scripture then you’re deemed as not having a “high view” of it. Rachel’s whole book is wrestling with scripture as we have, not as we want it to be.
  
  Really, her passion for scripture and her honesty about it reveals a higher view of scripture than that of her critics. After all, who has a higher view, those who twist scripture into something it is not or those who wrestle with it as it is? That’s why I’m using the terms passion and honesty over and over here. Throughout the book she is honest about her struggles and questions and with the difficulties in the Bible but she is too passionate about the story and about Jesus to leave it all behind.
  
  This is a great book for anyone who has questions about scripture and has found unsatisfactory answers. Rachel is a wonderful writer. But she’s also done her homework and shows familiarity with scholars like NT Wright, Pete Enns and others throughout. Even those familiar with the stories may learn a thing or two.
  
  Near the end she talks about teaching the stories to her son, which nearly brought tears to my eyes:
  
  “I want my son to be exposed to a wide variety of stories, including, when he’s ready, strange and scary ones, not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be defeated. So I suspect that, with the Bible, we will start with the parables of Jesus and perhaps some well-behaved psalms, then move on to Adam and Eve, Jonah and the big fish, Jericho, the manger, and the cross. Sure, he’ll get the edited versions at first, just like we did, and of course he’ll pick up all sorts of strange interpretations from his friends, the culture, and theologically questionable cartoon adaptations; there’s really no avoiding that. But I hope that by teaching him first to simply love these stories as they are, to relish their strange appeal, he will remember their magic when he rediscovers them in his own way someday.”
  
  Her comments reveal the struggle many parents face as we hope to share these stories we love with our kids but know there’s so many false starts. I mean, is it inevitable that kids must go through a crisis of faith in their teens or twenties? I am starting to think it might be, as the path to a deeper faith and an understanding of what God has done in Jesus night just lay in moving beyond childish interpretations of scripture (and emphasis on the literal!) to deeper ones that recognize the Bible ultimately points away from itself and to Jesus. That’s another story. What I’m struck with is that Rachel left us with a beautiful book and while I say a prayer for her husband and kids, I also pray we can all help our kids develop both her passion and honesty.
• 
  Leah

  The introduction to this book hooked me and drew me in as I felt like I was reading my own story. Rachel describes her childhood and formative years in the evangelical church. All the familiar rites of passage - youth group, reading scripture, memorizing verses, leaning on the wisdom of youth leaders, and going back to the Word when times of crisis hit and questions arose - all of this was relatable. Even down to her name, Rachel, being taken from scripture. We might as well be sisters because my name is Leah.
  
  And then as she grew older, questions began to arise about this magical book. Were the stories in it true? Science can disprove some, which would then make them more myth then truth. Is God truly loving in the face of the punishment he's doled out to humanity over the centuries? Her blog has been a source of affirmation for me - yes, you can be a liberal, feminist believer and not to go hell, if hell exists in the way I'd always been taught. Her books have honestly splayed open her heart and its wanderings away from evangelicalism, but always back to God. And now, here is a book that will discover the Bible in new and fascinating ways, as it is in all its dirty, gritty, confusing messiness. I'm so encouraged to see Amy Jill Levine and Pete Enns on her list of influencers while writing this book.
  
  Rachel discusses our stories of origin and how some stories in the Bible were God's way of allowing peoples of ancient cultures to communicate. When we try to place our present day selves in the center of biblical stories, we are missing the original intent of the story and its purpose for communication. She goes on to explore the origins and intentional meaning behind many stories those of us who grew up in the church are familiar with. I wish I could share this book with so many of my friends, those of us who have left because the direction of the evangelical church has taken turns we no longer agree with or believe in. I think there are messages here we can all relate to that are inspiring and just might take us back to some of our spiritual roots.
• 
  Christina Westbrooks

  I received an ARC of this book in a giveaway. I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction,but have been pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Rachel Held Evans seems relatable and I think I would like her. The book is well written too, but their are a few things I have problems with. I wasn't a fan of the stories inspired by Bible characters. While we can always wonder what happened in the experiences that wasn't included in the Bible, I just wasn't a fan, but out of the problems I have with this book, that one is extremely minor. While I understand that people use creative devices in writing and that it's almost certain that they did in the Bible(Jesus was known for telling fables), it's a little bit of a stretch to say that most of the Bible could possibly be not true, but rather a literary device used to teach us a lesson. I get that some stories give people pause, but that is simply because we are not capable of looking at things through Gods lenses and and we need to understand that we don't know everything. Their are alot of things as a believer, that you have to accept as being beyond your scope of imagination. You are creeping into dangerous territory when you try to use your own reasoning to explain Gods words because the Bible simply makes you uncomfortable. Their are several times that she discusses instances where scientific theories have disproven the Bible, but many of these instances have great Bible explanations if you only search for them(J Warner Wallace's Cold Case Christianity is a great look at how to approach the Bible from a more logically minded angle).Example: she discussed how they have proved that it is physically impossible that the world was formed in 7 days and yet, the Bible doesn't give us any insight as to how long those "days" were. We have no idea if Gods idea of a day is the 24 hour cycle we use now, or if his days are 1,000 years. This is just another example where the human brain can't comprehend something, so we make up our own non biblically answer because we don't like not knowing the answer. The thing is, their are so many instances in scripture that show that this way of looking at things is wrong and it bothers me that people follow this theory(Psalm 33:4 is one). It presents a grey area, where (again) the reader is thinking about things from their perspective instead of God's and I wonder, if you simply cast aside a story as fiction because you can't reason it or it makes you uncomfortable, where do you draw the line? Is the whole Bible true? Or just the parts that you want to be true? While it's true that scriptural interpretation can sometimes differ, this isn't interpretation, it's beyond that. The shift comes when you assume that you have all the answers and the authority to deem scripture as untrue(when other parts of the Bible tell you otherwise).
• 
  Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance

  If you have looked at the Bible closely and found the conflicting parts hard to reconcile, Rachel Held Evans is the person you need to read. Evans has grown up with the Bible and its stories; the Bible was her default setting for all of life as a child. But, as she grew older, the brutalities of the God-led battles along with the cruelties inflicted on women and slaves and other groups began to bother Evans more and more.
  
  This is the story of Evans wrestling with God. It's clever and thoughtful and, above all, it's true. Evans encourages us all to wrestle with God along with her. It's a worthy task.
• 
  Bree

  I’ll give it this, it did have me running back to Scripture. The pure, unadulterated, simple (if not always clear), INSPIRED word of God; to cleanse my mind from the author’s (hopefully unintentional) attempt at dragging me down into her own struggle with accepting God’s word at face value. The Bible is clear that God is on another level than our mortal minds will ever be, there are some things we will never understand. The author seemed to fight that truth and instead bend Scripture to fit her political and social views. I admire her wrestling with her faith, I think that’s healthy and necessary, but I tended to fall in opposition to the majority of her conclusions and felt them to be unbiblical. It was like she masqueraded her opinions on our culture’s current hot topics as a spiritual book about the inspired word of God, and frankly, that’s not what I picked up this book for.
• 
  Ann-Marie "Cookie M."

  I finished this book a couple of weeks ago and set aside until I had more time to give it a thoughtful review.
  I am unable to do that.
  Rachel Held Evans died May 4, 2019, after complications following a short illness.
  I am heartbroken.
  She was a young, vibrant voice for women and common sense in Christianity. She inspired me to continue on my path of weighing my beliefs and actions against the words and teachings of Jesus Christ, not what church fathers and dogma tell us we should think those words and teachings mean today.
  Please read "Inspired." God gave up brains and hearts to use together to find the right path. I
  I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Rest in peace, Rachel.
• 
  James

  I started this as part of an online book club which has since died out, so I went ahead and binged the rest of it on my own. It's kind of a bittersweet read considering the recent untimely death of the author, but a reminder of what her voice meant in the Christian world of ideas - something different and refreshing from the constant barrage of legalism, patriarchy, violence and bigotry. It's a reminder that stories matter, and knowing where those stories came from matters even more. I've enjoyed everything I've read by RHE but I think this is my favorite so far.
• 
  Lovely Day

  2⭐️
  
  There is very little of the actual Bible quoted in this book, and it seems like the message of the book is to look outside of the Bible to understand it, which is a very slippery slope.
• 
  Sarah

  The first half of this book rocked my little theological box right off its shelf.
  
  The second half... well, it wasn't nearly so successful: it felt like rewarmed bible stories the author tried (and failed) to imbue with innovative spin.
  
  Still, that first half is full of clear-eyed reasoning that skewers soooooooooooooo much of the batshit craziness mainstream Evangelicals sling. It absolutely slayed.
  
  So, three stars feels fair, all things considered.
• 
  Raymond

  I first became aware of Rachel Held Evans in the last year when she was a guest on one of my favorite podcasts The Bible for Normal People. She was actually promoting this book on the episode. Fast forward to May 2019 when I found out that Rachel passed away after a brief illness. Her passing bothered me first because she was so young and left behind her husband and two young children. Second it bothered me because her voice is needed in such a time as this. Not knowing what to do I decided to buy this book hoping that the proceeds would go to the family especially in their time of mourning. I am comforted to know that her words will live on and will hopefully be a blessing to others as they have been to me.
  
  Inspired is Rachel's last book but was the first book of hers that I have read. I really enjoyed it and I wish I had been made aware of her and her work sooner. One of the big takeaways I took from this book is how illiterate we are when it comes to theology. She shows that Biblical context matters and when you know that context it makes you see the stories in the Bible differently than you were probably originally taught. For example the Pentateuch (the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers) were written when Israel was living in exile under the rule of Babylon. The stories in Genesis don't necessary tell a history of how the world was formed but it collects the stories that were constructed to tell about how God made them an important people and how they should return to God. I never grew up learning this and sometimes I wonder how many people my age or older, that didn't have a seminary education, know the historical context in which the books of the Bible were written.
  
  Evans unveils hidden truths and demystifies symbols in this book. For example she explains that Jesus did more than bring about salvation but he also brought about a radical way of living that was antithetical to societal norms of his time. My favorite chapter is "Resistance Stories" where she talks about the many beasts in the Bible and what they are symbols of. Guess what? They are not actually beasts but they represent something just as large and powerful. Read the book to find out more. What makes this book special is that a lot of what she reveals is in scholarly theological works but she repackages the information for a more general audience with her trademark wit, humor, and intelligence. Her book brings to life Eric Craft's quote: "Theology isn't merrily for an academic, but it is for the average person sitting in the pew".
  
  When you stop trying to force the Bible to be something it's not-static, perspicacious, certain, absolute- then you're free to revel in what it is: living, breathing, confounding, surprising, and yes even magic.
  
  My aim with this book is to recapture some of that Bible magic, but in a way that honors the text for what it is-ancient, complicated, debated, and untidy, both universally relevant and born from a specific context and culture.
  
  The Bible is a diverse library of ancient texts, spanning multiple centuries, genres, and cultures, authored by a host of different authors coming from a variety of different perspectives.
  
  Sometimes God knows the kind of deliverance you need the most is deliverance from your own comfort. -Rachel Held Evans
• 
  Marnie (Enchanted Bibliophile)

  “Jesus did not simply die to save us from our sins; Jesus lived to save us from our sins.”
  
  
  
  I truly enjoyed
  Rachel's retellings at the start of each chapter. Changing one’s point of view can so often give new light and insight to a very old story.
  I’ve learned that in life, the Holy Spirit can use just about anything to teach us what we need at a certain point in time, opening our eyes to things we never even considered before.
  
• 
  J.L. Neyhart

  June 2018:
  In short, I loved it!
  
  August 2018:
  I loved it so much that I already read it again!
  
  May 2022:
  I think this is my first time re-reading this entire book since Rachel died. A small group I'm in at my church internship has been going through this book, most of them for the first time.
  
  It's such a great book. She was such a great writer. It still hurts to have to use the past tense to talk about her.
• 
  Joel

  This book is a strong reflection of current popular voices and thoughts concerning Christianity in general and the bible in particular.
  The main focus is nothing too new or groundbreaking, and mirrors what large portions of scholarship have been communicating for decades. That being said, Held Evans has a knack for delivering that same message (one which fundamentalists have tended to ignore over the decades), albeit in a warm and accessible format.
  .
  She openly parrots the work of heavy hitters such as Brueggemann, Wright, Bruce, Enns, Levine, McKnight, and more.
  In doing so Held Evans is able to create non-threatening spaces for discussion around understanding and meaning. She gives good space to the realisation of methodological approaches, most notably the appreciation of genre and context.
  Held Evans does not shy away from the difficult places of scripture and fashions some positive ways forward for those who struggle reconciling modern ideals with the ancient text.
  .
  My only gripe with the book was the section on Miracles. It was one of the weaker areas, and functions more as a reflection on personal experience rather than on the validity of miracles.
  She basically dichotomises them into only two camps and never considers that miracles by definition can’t simply be proven or disproven by the natural sciences - they are an event that functions opposite to the laws of nature.
  So, sure, this functions as a convenient way of navigating seemingly ridiculous stories, and yet it fails to take seriously numerous historical accounts from eye witnesses where weird things have happened.
  Having said that she does mention those in her world who do accept the miraculous, and her framing of the everyday “miraculous” is noteworthy also (miracle of birth, etc...)
  .
  Finally there are some great practical thoughts in the epilogue about how to introduce children to the bible so that they may also fall in love with it.
  .
  I would recommend this book as it is ultimately positive in nature and works towards building faith rather than distorting it. The author is wonderfully honest about her own struggles, and yet she manages to find freedom amidst the structured frames of high critical study. Her conclusion is best represented by the lengthy quote below:
  .
  “The task of theology,” wrote Mobley, “is the linking of our individual story to the biggest story we can imagine.” If the biggest story we can imagine is about God’s loving and redemptive work in the world, then our lives will be shaped by that epic. If the biggest story we can imagine is something else, like religious nationalism, or “follow your bliss,” or “he who dies with the most toys wins,” then our lives will be shaped by those narratives instead.” (218)
• 
  K.J. Ramsey

  In Inspired, Rachel’s artistry, humanness, and love make the Bible come alive. Here we can encounter more than truths to know or even stories to tell; we can encounter the living, breathing God who always is inviting us into love.
  
  From the stunningly beautiful retellings of Scriptural stories woven throughout the book to offering a cohesive, accessible framework for understanding the role and purpose of the Bible’s various genres, Rachel gave us a great gift in this book.
  
  Rachel’s willingness to own her story, with all of its doubt and passion, and to witness the story of Scripture on its terms will welcome you to the wonder that both you and Scripture do not have to be entirely understood to be incredibly powerful, wonderful, and, above all, loved.