If one grew up Evangelical and/or Fundamentalist in the 1980s and 90s then one knew about why Dayton, TN was so important. It was there in a court of law that creationists who believed that Godde created the earth in six literal days beat the atheist evolutionists in a court of law. In her first book, Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions* Rachel Held Evans recounts growing up as a fundamental evangelical in Dayton, the home of the Scopes Monkey Trial, which is how Dayton got its nickname: Monkey Town. As Held Evans explains in her book this was the start of Evangelicals coming into the modern era determined to be able to give a scientific and rational answer to any question atheists could raise against the Bible because of William Jennings Bryan’s weak answers on why he believed everything in the Bible was absolute truth. Evangelicals determined that in the future they would have the answers.

Like many Evangelicals and Fundamentalists (myself included) Held Evans grew up learning how to answer any question an atheist could pose that would question Godde’s existence and the veracity of the Bible. They also learned how to turn the questions on atheists and agnostics that basically backed them into a semantic corner. Since the atheists couldn’t empirically prove there was not a God that left room Godde’s existence. All the questions were answered except the questions young Americans were asking, and for that matter questions young Evangelical and Fundamentalists were asking about their faith. Questions such as “Why would a loving Godde send his or her own creation to hell when they never had a chance to hear the Gospel?” Questions like “If Godde has predestined who will go to heaven and who will go to hell why evangelize at all?” Which leads to the question: “Do I really want to serve a Godde who predestines most of her own creation (made in Godde’s own image) to hell?” Like Held Evans I never bought the “We all should go to hell because we’re such awful sinners” line. If humanity were so depraved and so far gone why would Jesus even want to die for us?

Evoloving in Monkey Town is the book that several Evangelicals (including me) could have written about questioning the Christian faith and Godde, and the painful process it is to be broken down to nothing and starting the slow and tedious process of rebuilding faith in this Godde. It is not easy to hold one’s life-long beliefs to the light then start walking down the rocky path in deciding which beliefs are biblical and godly and which beliefs are  something that have been added on. Held Evans is brutally honest in how hard the process is, and how hard it will continue to be. There are no easy answers in this book.

It is refreshing to see more books coming from Evangelicals and evangelical publishing houses that deal with questioning faith, and that faith has its roots in doubt. It is also nice to see Evangelicals picking up N. T. Wright’s points that works are a vital part of faith. Not because works save, but because obedience to Godde is formed and shaped by works of love, compassion, and service. All Christians need to remember James’ words to the churches he wrote to in the first century: “Faith without works is dead.” Christians can harp about faith all they want, but it is only through works that faith is clearly seen.

I would recommend this book to Evangelicals and other Christians who doubt what they were taught about Godde and faith. I would also recommend it to non-Christians who don’t understand why Evangelicals and Fundamentalists get so upset about pluralism, creationism, abortion, and homosexuality. Held Evans gives an excellent history of Evangelical/Fundamentalist thought and how it’s gotten to where it is today. This book is a good read for anyone questioning their faith or wondering why some Christians cling so tightly to their beliefs.

I received a copy of this book Zondervan Publishing Company agreeing to review it on my blog.

*Affiliate links

Radical feminist theologian Mary Daly famously said that “If man is God then God is man.” What Daly said in her terse statement Matt Mikalatos illustrates in his first book, Imaginary Jesus*, except Mikalatos isn’t limiting his statement to the male sex. His point is that all of us make Jesus in our image. We see the Jesus we want to see: the one that challenges us some, but not too much. The Jesus who doesn’t ask too much of us, and is always there being whatever we need at that time. He writes about the Jesuses we imagine up to replace the radical figure in the New Testament, that makes all of us more than a bit uncomfortable.

The book begins with Matt hanging out with his Jesus in a vegan place in Portland when the Apostle Peter walks in and gets into a fight with Jesus, and Jesus runs away. Peter informs Matt that he’s been hanging out with an imaginary Jesus and not the real one. This begins Matt’s wild journey through modern day Portland and first century Palestine for find the real Jesus. In the course of hunting down the real Jesus, Matt finds out there is a whole slew of Imaginary Jesuses including Testosterone Jesus, King James Jesus, Portland Jesus, Magic 8 Ball Jesus and Political Power Jesus. They are all members of The Secret Society of Imaginary Jesuses. From the SSIJ to an atheist Bible study at Portland State to Powells, the largest bookstore in the world, Matt searches for the real Jesus but keeps finding more and more Imaginary Jesuses. Along the way Matt finds the strangest friends: Daisy the talking donkey, Sandy–a reformed prostitute, two Mormon elders: Elder Laurel and Elder Hardy, and Shane the leader of the atheist Bible study. Matt also has to face his own grief and personal issues that he keeps inventing the Imaginary Jesuses to fill, only to find out they can’t take the place of the real thing. It is only in hunting down the Imaginary Jesuses and seeing through their lies can he finally find the real Jesus.

Mikalatos does a great job of making readers take a look at the Jesuses they believe in and how those imaginary Jesuses stack up to the real Jesus. This is a book that could have been campy or just schlock, but Mikalatos’ storytelling ability along with his wit and sarcasm keep this lively “not-quite true story” moving along. To be honest, I never thought I’d live to see a good, well written, Christian urban fantasy published. I agree with Aldenswan, my fellow reviewer’s assessment of Mikalatos: “what Terry Pratchett would be like if Pratchett were a Christian.” (I did have a few flashes of Good Omens* while reading this book.) I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to be honest about how most American Christians make Jesus in their own image, but don’t want to be preached at. Mikalatos uses the story and characters to make his points, but this book is not a thinly veiled sermon. He leaves us to examine our own lives and see how our imaginary Jesuses match up to the real thing. I wouldn’t recommend this book to readers who are easily offended. Mikalatos has a healthy dose of irreverent sarcasm running through the book that some more conservative readers might consider over the line.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from The Ooze Viral Bloggers agreeing to post a review on my site.

* Affiliate links

As Is: Unearthing Commonplace Glory is Krista Finch’s first book published through the publishing press she owns with her husband, Swerve Press. As Is is a memoir of finding places of glory in the everyday messiness of life. Finch sets out to see heaven on earth:

Life is noisy, dirty, dangerous–and that is with its best foot forward. But there is more than only chaos, commotion, and calamity. We catch glimpses of the glory when we look in the impossible and preposterous places.

I really wanted to like this book, but the alliteration and lists that have a nice lilt to them in the beginning get old quick. There are several chapters, or sketches (the Table of Contents is called Sketches in this book), that get overwhelmed with her lists. It’s almost like Finch wants to write poetry throughout the book, but then changes to prose. Each section of the book begins with a poem then is followed by short vignettes on different topics. Most of the sketches are just over a page long and skim the surface of the topic she’s talking about. The book is loosely structured, which makes it hard to follow as it’s not in chronological order and doesn’t have a strong narrative structure. Finch jumps around her life without giving a lot of surrounding detail or connecting narrative to help us transition from one sketch to the other. Although we see glimpses into Finch’s life, the reader doesn’t feel like you get to know her. For example in “This Lounge Chair Thing” she mentions three miscarriages and a cancer scare in another long list, and that’s it. She never elaborates on either the rest of the book. We don’t know what happened. It’s mentioned and then she goes on.

There are nice sections in the book where Finch gets away from lists and adjectives and gives a little more narrative and detail that make that story shine like this paragraph where she describes why we are “hesitant hopers”:

Because hope is an odd cat. That’s probably why we don’t entertain her very often. Everything around us tells us not to invite her in. Hospitals can’t heal, wars don’t end, bonds won’t mend. We’ve asked hope to come, and she has left us high and dry. Why would we summon that kind of company…? …Hope just doesn’t look like we think she will look. She changes her hair color and gets a new wardrobe just when we start to recognize her (p. 116).

I look forward to seeing how her writing develops, but I don’t recommend this book. It would be best for those who like to read in short spells. It might be an easier book to read slowly, taking your time. It’s not a good book to read straight through. If you’re interested in short blog-style chapters that are easy to read in five minutes here and there, you  might enjoy this book. If you expect a memoir to have more narrative where you feel like you get to know the author, then this book isn’t for you.

I received a copy of this book from The Ooze Viral Bloggers agreeing to post a copy of the review on my website.