An Essential "Evolving Faith" Reading List
When two of your very favorite writers in the Christian space announce a conference, you drop everything and buy tickets immediately. You just do.
Rachel Held Evans and Sarah Bessey announced their upcoming "Evolving Faith" conference a few weeks ago, and even though it's still months away, I CANNOT WAIT. The conference is hailed as "a two-day gathering for the wanderers, wonderers, status quo spenders, and spiritual refugees to discover you are not alone." Like, hello, yes please.
I've been poring over the list of speakers, and I have made it my mission to read as much from them before the gathering as I can.
Thankfully (for my budget), I got a perfectly timed email from Wikibuy the same week I was piling these all up in my online shopping cart, and using their site ended up saving me so much money! I hadn't heard of Wikibuy before, but they exist to save you money through a whole massive collection of deals on their site and an even longer list of sites they've found coupons and deals for, all to make your life easier and save you money. While I browsed around sites like Barnes and Noble hunting for these books, they were finding coupon codes for me and saving me dollars. HOLLA. Love that!
So, thanks to Wikibuy (seriously, super thankful), I've got a whole big stack of books to read before heading to the Evolving Faith gathering!
For anyone not heading to the conference (or anyone attending!), here's my list of essential reading from the gathering's incredible roster of speakers and panelists:
What I've Already Read:
Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith by Sarah Bessey // review here
Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible's View of Women by Sarah Bessey // review here
Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans // review here
Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans // review here
Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker // review here
For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards by Jen Hatmaker // review here
Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost my Faith and Found It Again Through Science by Mike McHargue // review here
Speak: How Your Story Can Change the World by Nish Weiseth // review here
What I'm Reading Next:
Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions by Rachel Held Evans
How to Survive a Shipwreck: Help Is on the Way and Love Is Already Here by Jonathan Martin
The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World by Sandra Maria Van Opstal
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown // review here
The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our "Correct" Beliefs by Peter Enns
Faith Shift: Finding Your Way Forward When Everything You Believe is Coming Apart by Kathy Escobar
Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America by Jeff Chu
and even more books by these authors + helpful resources:
Down We Go: Living Into the Wild Ways of Jesus by Kathy Escobar
A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband 'Master' by Rachel Held Evans
7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker
Prototype: What Happens When You Discover You’re More Like Jesus Than You Think? by Jonathan Martin
The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by Peter Enns
Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament by Peter Enns
How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News by Peter Enns (coming February 2019)
Parenting Forward: How to Raise Children with Justice, Mercy, and Kindness by Cindy Wang Brandt (coming February 2019)
