Searching for Sunday

Starred review from March 23, 2015
Evans (A Year of Biblical Womanhood) uses the lens of her own journey as an evangelical Christian to explore what is happening in church circles today and, more broadly, what it means to be part of a church community. Evans humorously describes her gradual evolution from a teenager with a "crusader complex" to an adult who became increasingly uncomfortable with her church's conservative theology: "The trouble started when I began to suspect God was less concerned with saving people from hell than I was." Dividing the book into sections named after sacraments, Evans begins by contemplating, in lyrical prose, the theological significance of each sacrament's key ingredient (water, bread, ash, etc.). A powerful storyteller, Evans captures transformative moments, such as leaving a church full "of kind, generous people"; investing wholeheartedly in a new church that "collapsed slowly, one week at a time"; and witnessing healing at the Gay Christian Network's conference, feeling "simultaneously furious at Christianity's enormous capacity to wound and awed by its miraculous capacity to heal." Honest and moving, this memoir is both theologically astute and beautifully written. Agent: Rachel Gardner, Books & Such Literary Agency.

May 15, 2015

Evans's (Faith Unraveled; A Year of Biblical Womanhood) latest volume stems from a continuing search for a suitable worship context. Contemporary literature in spirituality can often contain a lot of works that seek or try to create a jazzy and accessible approach to Jesus or church life; Evans's take is different: "Millennials aren't looking for a hipper Christianity. We're looking for a truer Christianity." The book is structured around the traditional seven sacraments, which Evans suggests deliver particular messages--that the church can welcome, unite, and feed those who attend. The author's approach is stylish and verges on the literary, and her graceful strategy is refreshingly distinct; she ends as she begins, with a sense of the goodness and nearness of God. VERDICT Elegantly structured and thoughtfully written, Evans's approach to church through the metaphors of the sacraments should please many reading groups and individual seekers.

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