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This novel was insightful, thought provoking, hilarious, and best of all, honest. Evans does not hold back descriptions of herself that are less than flattering. I greatly enjoyed the mingling of Bible passages, research, and personal anecdote. She isn't some extreme conservative trying to tell you how to live your life; instead, she explores the Bible through a wide lens and shares her experience. I was immensely glad that Evans did not become preachy or self-absorbed. It was interesting reading about her dabbles in many religions to see how each approaches the idea of Biblical womanhood.
Short Review: I wasn't planning on reviewing this until next year. But it is on sale at Amazon, so I posted early. I am more mixed than I thought I would be. It is a book with great promise. And Evans is a writer with even greater promise. So I think I am disappointed because it did not live up to my expectations. I both wanted more and less. I wanted more focus. I think the book was trying to do too many things, talk about the problems with bible interpretation, the problems with modern movements toward conservatism, the role of women in the church, complementarianism, and wrap it up as a funny memoir. I think if she had focused on a couple of them, instead of all of them it would have been better. I also am tired of the 'year of...' experiments. Doing something for a month is just not enough time to have life change. I think some of the choices of experiments were mistakes and tended to make the whole project seem a bit trite.
On the positive side, I am amazed at the depth of thought that Evans gets of out these short little experiments. I also think she really reached into the problems with biblical interpretation especially around women's roles. I just wish there was more development around it. It is also a very readable and funny book. I don't want to suggest that her humor is the problem, but I have a problem with some of the choices that seemed to make the problems of women in the church less important.
I have a much longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/a-year-of-biblical-womanhood-by-rachel-held-evans/
On the positive side, I am amazed at the depth of thought that Evans gets of out these short little experiments. I also think she really reached into the problems with biblical interpretation especially around women's roles. I just wish there was more development around it. It is also a very readable and funny book. I don't want to suggest that her humor is the problem, but I have a problem with some of the choices that seemed to make the problems of women in the church less important.
I have a much longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/a-year-of-biblical-womanhood-by-rachel-held-evans/
Just meh. I am inspired to be more careful about my coffee purchasing habits after her month learning about justice, as well as read "Half the Sky".
Thought-proving, informative, challenging, and funny - I would recommend this read to any woman who grew up in the church and is willing to look at the idea of "biblical womanhood" from a different angle than before.
Every so often there are books that I keep hearing about. I read reviews, friends talk about them, there are discussions on the Internet and with all that I manage to form an opinion without having read the book. The Da Vinci Code was one of those books. I felt like I knew the whole story before I got around to reading that novel. This memoir by Evans is another book that I felt I had already read.
I think this is a disservice to the author and the book. I started reading A Year of Biblical Womanhood thinking that I knew most of what Evans had done. She sat in a tent in her front yard and she followed other Biblical instructions. I was not ready for the Biblical stories Evans told or how all this affected her and her husband.
I am glad I finally got around to reading Evans' story. She shed light on some aspects of the Bible that I had not considered. She is good writer and knows how to hold her audience. I am not sure if she changed anyone's mind, but that is not important. Evans tried something new to her and learned from her experience. I am glad to have learned from her myself.
I think this is a disservice to the author and the book. I started reading A Year of Biblical Womanhood thinking that I knew most of what Evans had done. She sat in a tent in her front yard and she followed other Biblical instructions. I was not ready for the Biblical stories Evans told or how all this affected her and her husband.
I am glad I finally got around to reading Evans' story. She shed light on some aspects of the Bible that I had not considered. She is good writer and knows how to hold her audience. I am not sure if she changed anyone's mind, but that is not important. Evans tried something new to her and learned from her experience. I am glad to have learned from her myself.
"I have come to regard with some suspicion those who claim that the Bible never troubles them," Rachel Held Evans writes, in response to encountering some truly horrifying Biblical misogyny. "I can only assume this means they haven't actually read it."
I like Rachel Held Evans' blog a lot, and her last book was a breezy, interesting read. The concept of this one sounded fascinating but also reminded me of A.J. Jacobs' "Year of Living Biblically" (which she briefly references, a fan having made the same connection) with a more feminist slant. I was little prepared for how very powerful this book turned out to be.
Where Jacobs' book is more of a comedic endeavor with moments of thoughtfulness, the more religious Evans approaches this project with a little more reverence. Attempting to spend a year living as a "biblical woman" (and figuring out what, if anything, that could possibly mean), she assigns each month a virtue and a list of tasks, and delves deep into scriptural analysis to discern what instructions the New and Old Testaments do, and don't, have for women.
There are a lot of lighthearted domestic stories here -- the inexperienced Evans trying to learn how to cook complex recipes and lashing out at Martha Stewart's instructions had me laughing aloud, and her portrait of her supportive but perplexed husband was touching. The stories about Bolivia and visiting various isolated religious sects here in America, on the other hand, have an almost travelogue feel, capturing details and sensations. Evans is great at both.
Where the book elevated itself for me -- past any of her other work, and past most other people's for that matter -- was in the moments where things got more serious. The memorial that Evans and a friend hold for the many women in the Bible who were tortured and killed senselessly, whose names are not even recorded for us, moved me profoundly. Her research into the conditions that workers labor in to provide us foods we don't even think about the origins of, made me feel sick with guilt.
After this book, Evans might be my favorite feminist. When it comes to scripture, she has done her homework, and she dismantles the patriarchal culture of the evangelical church deftly and matter-of-factly. The fundamentalist conception of women's roles is based much more on an idealized 1950's housewife than anything the Bible has to say, and she pulls no punches in researching and then dissecting these viewpoints. There were moments I wanted to cheer.
More than anything, her take on Biblical interpretation (both good and ill) is refreshing, affording the scriptures a healthy respect while cautioning against being too quickly sure we know what they are saying. Jesus himself, Evans reminds us, routinely got in trouble for violating religious prohibitions. "It may serve as little comfort to those who have suffered abuse at the hand of Bible-wielding literalists, but the disturbing laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy lose just a bit of their potency when God himself breaks them."
I like Rachel Held Evans' blog a lot, and her last book was a breezy, interesting read. The concept of this one sounded fascinating but also reminded me of A.J. Jacobs' "Year of Living Biblically" (which she briefly references, a fan having made the same connection) with a more feminist slant. I was little prepared for how very powerful this book turned out to be.
Where Jacobs' book is more of a comedic endeavor with moments of thoughtfulness, the more religious Evans approaches this project with a little more reverence. Attempting to spend a year living as a "biblical woman" (and figuring out what, if anything, that could possibly mean), she assigns each month a virtue and a list of tasks, and delves deep into scriptural analysis to discern what instructions the New and Old Testaments do, and don't, have for women.
There are a lot of lighthearted domestic stories here -- the inexperienced Evans trying to learn how to cook complex recipes and lashing out at Martha Stewart's instructions had me laughing aloud, and her portrait of her supportive but perplexed husband was touching. The stories about Bolivia and visiting various isolated religious sects here in America, on the other hand, have an almost travelogue feel, capturing details and sensations. Evans is great at both.
Where the book elevated itself for me -- past any of her other work, and past most other people's for that matter -- was in the moments where things got more serious. The memorial that Evans and a friend hold for the many women in the Bible who were tortured and killed senselessly, whose names are not even recorded for us, moved me profoundly. Her research into the conditions that workers labor in to provide us foods we don't even think about the origins of, made me feel sick with guilt.
After this book, Evans might be my favorite feminist. When it comes to scripture, she has done her homework, and she dismantles the patriarchal culture of the evangelical church deftly and matter-of-factly. The fundamentalist conception of women's roles is based much more on an idealized 1950's housewife than anything the Bible has to say, and she pulls no punches in researching and then dissecting these viewpoints. There were moments I wanted to cheer.
More than anything, her take on Biblical interpretation (both good and ill) is refreshing, affording the scriptures a healthy respect while cautioning against being too quickly sure we know what they are saying. Jesus himself, Evans reminds us, routinely got in trouble for violating religious prohibitions. "It may serve as little comfort to those who have suffered abuse at the hand of Bible-wielding literalists, but the disturbing laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy lose just a bit of their potency when God himself breaks them."
Maybe I was disappointed because I was expecting another A Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs and was missing the laugh out loud stories. However I did appreciate her humbleness and honesty of her own beliefs, especially growing up and practicing Christianity. I did like her dedication to research and education of different books of the Bible but may have lost me at times. I enjoyed the entire book but was feeling it lacked something, however I'm not sure what.
This book was fantastic. I’m moved and hungry for more. Hungry for the Bible, hungry for God, hungry for Justice.
Rachel put into words everything I feel, and used the Bible to back it up in a way I couldn’t yet.
I found myself overwhelmed at times, that the amazing, inspiring woman who wrote this book is no longer with us. But, what a woman of valor she truly was.
I checked this book out from the library, and I will be buying my own copy for my home collection. Someday my children, especially my daughters, will read this book and know that Rachel Held Evans is a woman of God. That she is someone to look up to as a true hero.
Rachel put into words everything I feel, and used the Bible to back it up in a way I couldn’t yet.
I found myself overwhelmed at times, that the amazing, inspiring woman who wrote this book is no longer with us. But, what a woman of valor she truly was.
I checked this book out from the library, and I will be buying my own copy for my home collection. Someday my children, especially my daughters, will read this book and know that Rachel Held Evans is a woman of God. That she is someone to look up to as a true hero.
A voice gone from this world too soon. Woman of valor.
I found the book to be significantly more thoughtful, rigorous, and touching than the gimmicky premise might have led one to believe it'd be. I also thought Rachel was quite self-aware, not mocking any of the people or traditions she studied (at least not without her acknowledging her short-sightedness), and handling it all with much grace and appreciation for their varied viewpoints. Just enough humor for my taste too. She didn't take herself too seriously, but we get to benefit for generations to come from her taking seriously these investigations of faith and meaning.
I found the book to be significantly more thoughtful, rigorous, and touching than the gimmicky premise might have led one to believe it'd be. I also thought Rachel was quite self-aware, not mocking any of the people or traditions she studied (at least not without her acknowledging her short-sightedness), and handling it all with much grace and appreciation for their varied viewpoints. Just enough humor for my taste too. She didn't take herself too seriously, but we get to benefit for generations to come from her taking seriously these investigations of faith and meaning.