A few weeks ago I finished this book:
And it was absolutely amazing! Here's the description from Goodreads:
A strong Christian woman embarks on a radical life experiment—a year of biblical womanhood.
Strong and committed in her faith—but frustrated by the inconsistencies she saw in her evangelical culture’s view of women—Rachel Held Evans became an independent woman. But, intrigued by the traditionalist resurgence that led many of her friends to abandon their careers to assume traditional gender roles in the home, Evans had a crazy idea:What if I took “biblical womanhood” literally for a full year? In the next twelve months Rachel:
Wore a scarf over her head to pray
Called her husband “master” and stood on the roadside with a sign that said “Dan is Awesome”
Adopted a computerized baby
Perched on the roof for an afternoon of penance for gossiping
Camped out in her front yard during her period
Visited an Amish schoolhouse, a pig farm in Bolivia, and a Benedictine monastery
Took up baking and knitting
Interviewed a polygamist, a Quiverfull daughter, and a courtship couple
With just the right mixture of humor and insight, Evans takes readers along with her on a lively adventure. In the process she discovers that the journey itself leads her right to the heart of God.
Strong and committed in her faith—but frustrated by the inconsistencies she saw in her evangelical culture’s view of women—Rachel Held Evans became an independent woman. But, intrigued by the traditionalist resurgence that led many of her friends to abandon their careers to assume traditional gender roles in the home, Evans had a crazy idea:What if I took “biblical womanhood” literally for a full year? In the next twelve months Rachel:
Wore a scarf over her head to pray
Called her husband “master” and stood on the roadside with a sign that said “Dan is Awesome”
Adopted a computerized baby
Perched on the roof for an afternoon of penance for gossiping
Camped out in her front yard during her period
Visited an Amish schoolhouse, a pig farm in Bolivia, and a Benedictine monastery
Took up baking and knitting
Interviewed a polygamist, a Quiverfull daughter, and a courtship couple
With just the right mixture of humor and insight, Evans takes readers along with her on a lively adventure. In the process she discovers that the journey itself leads her right to the heart of God.
Evans writes with great humor and honesty. This book was a breath of fresh air for me, I really enjoyed it. It is a voice in the Christian world that is not heard very often and I just relaxed a little realizing that she was able to put words to things I had been struggling with for years. Wow, I feel like this got kind of personal very quickly. But really, I wish I was as articulate as Evans. Instead I will just say that I agree with her on most topics. I felt like she looked into my thoughts and put them on paper. I don't speak often about my faith on this blog and maybe I'm at fault for that. To me it is a very personal, intimate topic but hey, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm game. What I got most from this book was "it's OK if your faith doesn't fit into this box that you were told it's supposed to fit in, and it's alright if it doesn't look a certain way". Now that's not an actual quote of hers, just me paraphrasing my feelings. She made me feel more comfortable in my own skin. And I've since enjoyed following her blog here.
She recently linked up to this other post among a list of many. I really liked it and I wanted to share it. Sit down, it's a little long. Enjoy...
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