Evolving in Monkey Town

Title: Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions
Author: Rachel Held Evans
Pub Date: 2010
Genre: Memoir/Religion
Nutshell: An interesting tale of one woman's path from fundamentalist to doubter to somewhere in between

Evolving in Monkey Town is Rachel Held Evans' story of what it was like to grow up unquestionably Christian, only to move into doubt and finally something close to acceptance as an adult. I was drawn to the book because her life has some similarities to mine, and I was curious to see what she had come away with. The short answer is that we agree more often than we don't, although there are still places where we diverge.

Evans spent most of her adolescence in Dayton, Tennessee, where the Scopes Monkey Trial occurred in 1925 (hence the city's nickname in the title). The town has long been seen as a bastion for holdout Christian conservatives, including a short-lived county-wide ban on homosexuality that passed (and was almost immediately repealed) in 2004. Her reference to evolution is not of the scientific kind, but of the evolution she believes Christian faith must undergo in order to remain relevant and even survive.

To spoil the ending, Evans eventually does reconcile her faith (mostly), while still reserving the right to ask questions. She feels that the church has lost its way somewhat, teaching children not to question, never to doubt, and to frame arguments as "us" and "them". She sees unbending fundamentalism as dangerous, a collection of false rules that drive a lot more people away from the church than any sacrifice demanded of them. The idea that "you can't be a Christian and be (insert perceived dichotomy here)" is damaging. She believes that a faith without questions would result in the continued ownership of slaves and the belief in a geocentric system.

In short, Evans is a modern kind of Christian, and one who isn't afraid to admit she doesn't know the answers. Hers is not the simple unquestioning faith, and I respect that more as I get older. I recognize quite a bit of my own story in hers, including our youth spent in church, our crises of faith while attending Christian colleges, and our eventual peacemaking with our religion. I'm maybe a bit more radical than the Evans that wrote this book, but if you follow her blog (www.RachelHeldEvans.com) you might see we're becoming more similar.

Overall, if you're interested in modern Christianity or if you too have questions and issues about what it actually means to be a person of faith, I'd recommend this. It was quick and easily read. Evans is a clear writer and defines her struggles well. She paints a good picture of the modern church versus what Jesus might demand, and the multiple ways in which those two things diverge.