In the book’s prologue, writer Rachel Held Evans describes the important role of the women in the Bible who said “yes” to faith, even when it was difficult or when there could be doubts.
“For better or for worse, there are seasons when we hold our faith, and then there are seasons when our faith holds us,” Held Evans wrote. “In those latter instances, I am more thankful than ever for all the saints, past and present, who said yes and whose faith sustains mine. They believe for me when I’m not sure I believe.”
On Tuesday, about two and half years after Held Evans died suddenly at age 37 as the result of medical complications related to an infection, the final book by the beloved Christian writer will be released.
Its arrival offers a spiritual salve for her followers, those hungry for more of the best-selling Christian author’s perspective and voice that famously bucked evangelical trends and looked to build a more inclusive version of Christianity. For many, Held Evans has become the kind of Christian whose faith holds others.
But for those closest to her, the book’s release is bittersweet. The attention around “Wholehearted Faith” serves as another reminder of their loss.
“I will always be sad that my friend died when she was 37. I will always be sad that her kids won’t grow up with their mom. I will always be sad that her husband has had to walk this path, which none of us can fully comprehend,” said Jeff Chu, a Christian writer and friend of Held Evans who helped finish the book, in an email. “The various shades of that grief will in a sense always be with me. Of course the grief will change and soften over time. And maybe I’ll someday be able to experience more of the sweet in the bittersweetness of this chapter.”
Chu completed the project Held Evans was working on when she died. He used her unfinished manuscript, along with notes she kept and previously published pieces. He drew upon his experience as a magazine editor to maintain Held Evans’s voice. Chu re-read her tweets. He re-read her work. He re-read her text messages and emails to him. Anything to keep his friend’s style fresh in his mind.
“I knew Rachel well, I think, but I wasn’t Rachel. I have never had – and will never have – the experience of a white, Southern, straight woman,” Chu said in an email. “I have never had – and will never have – the experience of being pregnant or giving birth. In so many ways, I felt unequipped for the role.”
Amanda Held Opelt, the sister of Held Evans, said Chu and her sister were kindred spirits, even if on paper he should have little in common with the author from Dayton, Tennessee.
“Jeff Chu did the impossible,” Held Opelt said. “And there’s no one in the world that could have done what he did so well. I feel like Jeff understood Rachel in a way that very few people do.”
“Wholehearted Faith” offers the construction of a different approach to faith, one Held Evans had been building throughout her years as a writer as she moved from evangelical to Episcopalian – a faith that leans into doubt and embraces tough questions.
“She really just wanted the church to be what it was called to be – a force for love and goodness in the world,” Chu said in an email. “But the church can’t be what it’s called to be if people aren’t who they’re called to be, and much of ‘Wholehearted Faith’ wrestles with risk, vulnerability and belovedness. It asks big questions about who we believe we are and whether we actually feel that we are God’s beloved.”
(READ MORE: Rachel Held Evans’ lasting legacy, one year after her death)
Staff photo by Wyatt Massey / Rachel Held Evans’s new book “Wholehearted Faith” is pictured on Oct. 29, 2021. Held Evans died in 2019 at age 37 while writing the book and fellow author Jeff Chu helped finish the project.The book reads more like a letter to a friend than a biting critique of religion, Held Opelt said. At age 37, with years of experience as a Christian writer, Held Evans writes about what she has learned on her journey.
“I’m sure people wonder this sometimes about authors, memoirists, is what they’re writing in their books, is that true to who they are? Is this some kind of curated message or whatever? And Rachel is just very authentic,” Held Opelt said. “Like the person you get in the book, is the person we got at the dinner table. It was the person I got in my day-to-day life with her growing up. She was real. She was authentic. It wasn’t a brand. It wasn’t a show.”
But the authenticity, and reading Held Evans’s voice again, returns many to the tragic loss of their friend or family member.
“I feel like in some ways I’m at what feels like ground zero of my grief again. It feels like June of 2019. And I don’t know why that is,” Held Opelt said. “I think it’s just the release of her book, just kind of forces you to be confronted, emotionally, with her lost again. And so while it’s celebratory, and it’s super amazing that we get to hear more from her and she kind of has this afterlife in some ways, it’s also hard.”
Daniel Evans, who was married to Held Evans and is raising their two children, declined an interview with the Times Free Press, citing his “emotional limits” at this moment.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.