Evans, Rachel Held. Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned the Ask the Questions. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010.

Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans is a book that is a joy to read. The book feels more like a conversation at a coffee shop with a friend; Evans writes in an open and refreshingly honest style. I chose to review this book for a variety of reasons. First, I believe that readers will be able to relate to Evans’s story. Some of us were raised in very similar ways to her experience growing up, but as “Reformed fundamentalists,” characterized by a heavier dose of law than grace that manifested itself via legalistic Sunday observance, an emphasis on obedience, and strict church attendance. I am proud to say I had nine years of perfect attendance at Sunday school and the most extensive tract collection that I knew of until I met my wife!

Second, I chose this book because of Evans’s honesty about her journey of trying to own her faith, asking tough questions, and then coming to a point of peace and trust without all the answers in hand. I believe this book is important reading for those of us who are educators: We should have strong and intense conversations with each other and the parents of our students about how we handle issues of faith and doubt with our students. This type of discussion is not optional if we desire to be true to the missions of our schools.

In the preface to her book, Evans makes clear via a number of cautions to the reader that her journey is ongoing; thus she deflects reader criticism from the outset. She is clear in stating that she is not writing this book because she has it all together, but as a seeker on the journey. What I appreciate is not only this humility, but also her ability to so clearly articulate the questions and the issues Christians face in the faith development process. Her thinking has obviously resonated with her readers, as this book was on the New York Times best-seller list.

My point in this review is not to critique the maturity/comprehensive nature of her thinking or her theology—I will leave that to others more qualified. My concern is to raise questions about how we as Christian educators might approach issues of doubt and faith with students.

I believe this book could be very valuable for a faculty study group wishing to take up this topic. The essential questions we need to discuss as a faculty are: How can we safely express doubts about our faith in our role as Christian leaders, and how can we deal effectively with issues of faith and doubt in our students?

Raising questions is a powerful technique and I have written and spoken on the value of essential questions numerous times. After a childhood of doing all the “right stuff,” Evans began to have a crisis of faith later in her college career. In her chapter, “When Believers Ask,” she raises a torrent of questions that are at the heart of her doubt and uncertainty about belief in God:

• If God is really good and merciful, then why did God command Joshua to kill every man, woman, and child in Jericho? Wouldn’t we call that genocide today?
• How can God be fair and just if our eternal destiny is preordained, if most people have no choice but to face eternal damnation?
• When we say that God is sovereign, that no good or evil is done outside God’s will, does that mean that God presides over every rape of a child?
• If we are born depraved and we have no control over our sinful nature, then why does God punish us for it?
• If all truth is God’s truth, then why are we so afraid to confront the mountain of scientific evidence in support of evolution?
• Isn’t it a little suspicious that the only true religion is the one with which we happened to grow up?

As we think about these questions, we should acknowledge that many of us have (or had) similar questions. Allow me to suggest a few more for further discussion that I believe are appropriate to our educational settings:

• How long do we allow the asking of questions by students before we give an answer?
• Does our giving of an answer encourage or discourage dialogue, inquiry, and faith development? On the one hand, we don’t want to shut down the dialogue, but on the other hand, shouldn’t our students know what we believe and stand for?
• What are the appropriate levels of questioning with various ages?
• Evans has demonstrated the courage and has taken the risk to state her beliefs on difficult issues. Just because we know an issue is controversial in our community, do we ignore it? When should we “keep the peace,” and when are we called to be prophetic?
• What is the role of administration with teachers who ask the difficult questions, at risk of offending the parent community?
• What are the best strategies we can use for educating kids “how to think, not what to think” from a biblical perspective?
• Are we failing to raise issues because we think we will damage the faith of our students if we discuss all sides of an issue? Isn’t faith a gift of the Spirit? Do we think it depends solely on us? Or should we be careful not to overwhelm a budding faith and the intellectual capacity of our students?
• Are students more led astray by our certainty or by our doubt? As an example, why is the “fundamentalist, most pietistic” position usually considered the “safest” position? Is it always better to take the strictest, most careful interpretation? Does this produce kids who are subsequently flabbergasted by dissenting opinions in later schooling experiences?
• Evans states that “doubt is a difficult animal.” She distinguishes between belief in God and what she believes about God. What does she mean by this statement?
• I appreciate Evans’s statement that she needs a community of faith in which to ask these questions. What are the qualities of this community that make it safe for her? Is your classroom such a community?

In Reformed education, we have had as one of our hallmarks that we should not afraid to engage culture, because all aspects of God’s creation and world are under God’s sovereignty and we must be about the business of the renewal of the kingdom. I wonder sometimes if, due to our concerns about offending parents and losing enrollment, we have backed away from the “foolishness” of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Are we neatly packaging up a sanitized set of safe answers that ultimately stifles a journey toward an owned faith by students and produces instead, as Evans notes, a “crippling lack of curiosity”? If we are to teach students the wisdom of Jesus Christ (who was so threatening that he was killed for his teachings!), should we not expect to raise a few hackles in the process? Do our students see us modeling discernment and prophetic thinking in our teaching that reflects a countercultural approach?

As we consider the kinds of questions we will inevitably face with students around belief and doubt after reading a book like this, might I suggest a few starting points.

It is important that teachers know where their administrator stands in terms of supporting asking these kinds of questions. It is important for principals or school heads to know whether their board understands its mission and will back them in support of teachers. It is best to have these discussions proactively, rather than reactively. Teachers and administrators should never be “left out to dry!”

An effective, faith-enhancing, and possibly safer way to examine issues of faith, doubt, and belief is through the use of narratives and faith stories. These stories not only make faith come alive for students, but allow us to examine the belief system and worldview behind an individual’s story.

Teacher modeling is always a powerful influence on student thought. It matters a great deal how you approach issues of doubt and faith personally, how you understand what can be safely shared with students and what is too much, and how you sensitively and empathetically respond to student questions around faith.

May God grant you much courage, discernment, and wisdom as you face this task and work to encourage an “owned, not cloned” faith in your students!