I love this book! Reading Rachel Held Evans is like a cozy Saturday morning coffee chat with a very best friend. She digs deep, advises well, and loves beautifully. “Wholehearted Faith” deepened my faith journey, wrapped me in God’s love and left me sad and lonely knowing that Mrs. Evans no longer walks among us. Thankfully, though, through this book, her memory and faithfulness can go on living. Thank you Netgalley for this wonderful reminder of God’s never ending love.

Rachel Held Evans is a voice that will be so missed. I appreciate her skilled writing, her willingness to ask questions, and her masterful storytelling. If you want to integrate your faith into your life in a more wholistic way, this is a book worth your time.

I really enjoyed this book, her perspective is so interesting, and seems like something everyone will be able to relate to at least a portion. It was an eye opening book, written and edited well. For me, it was easy to get sucked in and read it quickly. It challenged and encouraged me.

Wow! This book was so amazing. Though Rachel has passed since penning these words, her spirit and passion were very much alive in each and every word. This book provided concepts that challenged my current state of thinking while simultaneously stimulating my growth, love and devotion towards God. I loved every minute of this read!

"Wholehearted Faith" contains the last manuscript written by Rachel Held Evans. It is split into two parts - the first is Rachel's journey and the second is a series of essays with Rachel's musings. The first part was a refreshing take on a Christian walk filled with love, grace, and compassion. The reader is taken on a journey that is lifegiving and challenging, and it will resonate with those who have had similar experiences with the Church and life. In the second, it is a challenge to the reader's understanding of what it means to be a Christian and how scripture is read and interpreted. Together, they are a beautiful treatise that communicate Rachel's heart for humanity, a heart molded and shaped by the one who captured it.

Rachel Held Evans was a beloved author who had the ability to frame faith in a way that was easily understood and easily accessible. When I saw that a book had been released posthumously, I knew I had to read it. "Wholehearted Faith" is a compilation of essays written by Evans on the topic of faith. While I felt that this book was missing a bit of the Evans "spark", it was still enjoyable and I'm glad to be able to read her writings one last time.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I’m convinced that everyone loved Rachel Held Evans, even those that hated her. Her winsome personality, passionate living, and way with words; her honesty, vulnerability, and transparency; her poignant insights, deep questions, and unbridled love—so many young Christians resonated with Rachel, her journey, and her willingness to call those in power to account while wrestling with the tension and contradiction of a faith that did not always seem to live up to its ideals.

She was taken from us far too soon, so suddenly, for a such a senseless reason. She had so much left to give. And in a way, her death personified the deep struggle with God that she’d written about so eloquently. Where’s the justice in this? Is there a God who cares? How could this happen? The strain of Christianity that Evans fought against offered pat answers to these questions. God is sovereign. He works all things together for the good. She’s in a better place. This world is not our home. Even in death, Rachel exposed the inadequacy and hollowness of these answers, inviting her fellow followers of Jesus to hold onto the nuance and tension, the grief and the anger, and grow in their relationship with a God deeper and wider than even the Sunday School song.

But this not a eulogy. Two and a half years after her death, Rachel Held Evans exists again in the form of a new book—one taken from a partially-completed first draft and other writings, published and unpublished—worked together and massaged into a cohesive whole by her friend and excellent writer himself, Jeff Chu. Wholehearted Faith is Rachel to the core. Her tone and vision shine through as she explores a faith that’s so much freer, bolder, and full of love than we’ve come to believe. If you read Rachel’s books in their order of publication, you can see her movement to this place of faith. What were seeds in Evolving in Monkey Town (2010), were in full and beautiful bloom by Wholehearted Faith. It wasn’t intended to be an end, but as an end—if only it didn’t mean her demise—it is satisfying.

In some ways, Wholehearted Faith is closure. You read this book knowing they are her last words, even though she herself didn’t know it at the time. Chu, and the team designing this book, have done a great job reflecting that. The early part of the book reads like a tribute to Evans as Chu explains how the book came to be. It’s maybe a bit lengthy, some readers will be pushing to get to Evans’ words, but it is a compelling introduction that is completely transparent about what the book is, what it is not, and why it is being published.

The second part of the book is Evans’ unfinished manuscript—about ten thousand words—carefully and lovingly edited by Chu into a cohesive message. This is the meat of the book and I don’t want to say anything about it other than it is Rachel all the way through. It’s perhaps not quite as polished as it might otherwise be, but the importance of letting Rachel’s actual words shine through outweighs any sleekness that might be missing. The latter parts of the book pull from other writings she had on the topic, edited and formatted to fit the book. Chu, again, ties everything together so well. If you didn’t know that it was cobbled from various sources, you wouldn’t notice.

The Evans family and HarperCollins could have rushed this to publication shortly after her death. It would have sold. It would have been a NYT best-seller. Waiting so long after her death to publish this, to allow the family time to grieve, to allow the book time to take shape, really shows how this the goal was to honor Rachel and her legacy. Wholehearted Faith does that exquisitely. Her last words to a people in need of them, Wholehearted Faith encourages readers to take up Rachel’s mantle and live full, vibrant lives of faith. Thank you, Rachel. You didn’t know it when you wrote it. So much as happened since you’ve passed. You would have had so much to say. But I’ll content myself with this. Bold and unrelenting, unwavering and encouraging—it’s exactly what we needed to hear.

What a gift we have been given in this posthumous release. Good luck not crying near the end when Rachel writes of their new home and their kids playing in the yard… progressive Christianity lost a strong voice and leader when RHE left us. It was an honor to read her final work.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I was so happy to find this book, after hearing about Rachel Held Evans for a few years. In the introduction, her friend, Jeff Chu, explained that the book was a collection of Ms. Evans' talks, blog posts, and other writings, so I felt I got a good overview of her beliefs. As with most inspirational books, the parts I found most interesting were the parts where she found a way to make a biblical point by talking about her own life. This book would be best enjoyed by readers who love (and miss) Ms. Evans' writing and by anyone who believes we are beloved by God (and are worthy of that). Thank-you to HarperOne and Netgalley for the ARC of this title.

A Return, But With Growth. This is one of the harder reviews I've ever written. Not because the book wasn't amazing - this was easily Evans' strongest book since Searching for Sunday, and thus the book that I'd always hoped she would be able to write again. But because of how it came about, and, perhaps, how it came to be in such strong form. Evans' sudden illness and then death in the Spring of 2019 shocked any who had ever heard of her, and in fact on the day of her funeral I read Faith Unraveled as my own private funeral for this woman that had given voice to so many of my own thoughts in Searching For Sunday, thus gaining a fan, and yet who in subsequent books had strayed so far afield that even as a member of her "street team" for the last book she published before her death, Inspired, I couldn't give it the glowing review expected of such members, and so felt I had to leave the group. This was something I actually discussed with both Evans and the PA that was leading the team, and neither one of them in any way suggested it - yet my own honor had demanded it.

With this book, finished from an unfinished manuscript by her friend Jeff Chu and clearly still in the research and pondering phases when Evans was suddenly cut from this reality, the commitments to her progressive ideals that ultimately derailed so much of Inspired still shine through, but the more humble, the more questioning nature of Searching For Sunday form much more of the substance of the book. Thus, for me, this book is truly both the best and the fullest representation of the Evans that I knew only through reading her books and occasionally speaking with her as a member of that street team. I've never read anything from Chu, so I don't know his voice as an author, but there is truly nothing here that doesn't sound as though Held herself wrote it - which actually speaks to just how much care Chu put into his own contributions, as there is truly no way to pull such seamlessness off without intense concentration and care.

I was tortured in writing my review of Inspired because Evans *was* someone I looked up to after Searching For Sunday. She was a contemporary, along with Jonathan Merritt, who grew up in a similar region and culture as I did and thus with whom I was able to identify so many similar experiences in similar times and places. (To be clear, if any of the three of us were ever in the same place - even the same evangelical Christian teen megaconference - at the same time growing up, I never knew of it.) And I am tortured now both because I of what I had to write in that review to maintain my sought-after as-close-to-objective-as-I-can-be standard of reviewing and because of what this particular book means in the face of her death over two years ago. But I do find solace in that even knowing all of this is going on in my head writing this review, there was truly nothing here that I could and would normally strike as objectively bad. There weren't any claims of an absolute here - this went back to the more questioning and searching nature of Searching For Sunday rather than the more near-polemic nature of Inspired. There wasn't even any real proof texting going on here - which is particularly great since it was Evans herself (along with some others) who actually started that particular war I wage every time I see the practice in a book. The writing was as beautiful as anything Evans has ever produced, and while the bibliography in this Advanced Review Copy was a bit scant at just 9% of the text, this also was a much more memoir-based book (yet again: more in the vein of Searching For Sunday) and thus scant bibliography is easily explained by specific genre.

And thus I feel that the 5* rating is objectively warranted, at least by my own standards, even as I fully understand that it could come across to some as any level of death-bias.

If this is truly the last book that will ever bear Rachel Held Evans' name, I personally couldn't have asked for a better one to be her finale. This is truly going out as strong as she possibly could, and thus it is absolutely very much recommended.

It was quite a shock when Rachel Held Evans passed a couple of years ago. She had written so much of what many had thought, but were afraid to say and turned how fundamentalists treated women on its head. This is an unfinished work, but it’s still RHE reaching not for answers, but for growth and development of faith. It’s sad that this will be her literary goodbye, but it was well worth the read and there is hope with many dynamic women Christian authors picking up the baton to keep her voice alive.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperOne for an ARC.

I’m grateful to have been given the chance to read this book. Though I’ve heard much about Rachel Held Evans over the years, I never had the opportunity to read one of her books or follow her work prior to her tragic death. This collection of essays does a magnificent job helping those who struggle with their faith in the present day Church know they are not alone. There is a magic to Rachel’s writing in that it never feels like she is bashing those who believe but rather, thoughtfully questions why we believe how we believe. There were many passages I felt like I could have written myself, as if she had torn a page out of my own journal and published it on the page in front of me. “I remained convinced that it was my job to be Jesus to others, so much so that I missed many chances to let others be Jesus to me…” This struck a chord with me so much, as did many other passages. I wholeheartedly recommend reading this work, and I’m grateful to Jeff Chu and all those involved who pieced Rachel’s writings together to make this incredibly necessary work available.

What an honor and joy to be able to read another Rachel Held Evans book, especially after thinking that Inspired would be her last. Reading Wholehearted Faith felt like one more chance to hear from her heart, and from her mind. Chapter after chapter had me grabbing my bible, searching the scriptures she refers to, and reading the text in a whole different way, just like her other books before this. Reading Rachel's books have always made me feel like she has plucked questions from my mind, and I learn something new every time, which gives me great joy, and relief. Thank you Dan Evans, and thank you Jeff Chu for allowing us to hear Rachel's voice one more time.

In what will likely be the last published writings of Rachel Held Evens, she passed away in 2019, Jeff Chu does a remarkable job of weaving together he last essays. I was not expecting this book to be told in her voice, what a wonderful surprise. In Wholehearted Faith, Rachel again wove together lessons and faith stories that are full of learning for all, no matter where you are on your faith journey. I look forward to re-reading this, highlighter in hand, when my pre-order arrives. A treasure.

Rachel Held Evans' voice is sorely missed during the current crises facing our world today, however this book fills that gaping hole slightly by offering essays and insights into living a Wholehearted Faith. While some of the chapters may sound familiar (Jeff Chu relied on Evans' draft of this book as well as her blog posts to create the finished product), they are worth rereading as part of the overall theme. Any Rachel Held Evans book is worth reading and rereading, and this book is no exception. I look forward to having a hard copy in my hand later this year.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

It's fair to say that when Rachel Held Evans passed away in 2019 at the age of 37, those of us who embrace a more progressive theology and those of us who'd wrestled with contemporary Christianity and the Church as a whole were devastated at the loss of such an intelligent, talented, and passionate soul at far too early an age.

Held Evans, well, "held" space for those of us who'd been wounded by Christianity and offered safe and sacred spaces for questions, doubts, searching, and wondering.

Yet, she also believed.

"Wholehearted Faith" is, as we're told, the book that Rachel Held Evans was moving toward when she passed away in 2019. To call it a perfect book would be somewhat inaccurate. After all, it wasn't finished and it's clear in some of the writings that Held Evans herself was still wrestling with ideas, thoughts, essays, and sorting out her wonderings like she always encouraged us to do.

Her close friend and author Jeff Chu has helped bring like to these writings while also adding her other unpublished writings into this collection called "Wholehearted Faith."

Life is weird. We're given some seemingly random period of time in these physical bodies of ours. It will always seem weird to me that someone like Held Evans, a 37-year-old respected and and profound Christian author with a husband and children and a myriad of friends and followers, could be so seemingly healthy yet pass away at 37-years-old while someone like myself, a double-amputee/paraplegic with spina bifida who's lived with the label of "terminally ill" for 50+ years could unimaginably survive and thrive multiple life-threatening illnesses.

It doesn't make sense. I'm not sure I want it to.

I'd met Held Evans briefly at a conference I attended and, like most people, I was struck by her at-ease personality and naturalness. It was a brief yet memorable meeting that helped me give personality to her books (which I'd not yet read when I met her). This same feeling added a sense of melancholy to "Wholehearted Faith," an otherwise life-giving work filled with theological reflections and personal recollections. This was always the approach Held Evans took to her writings - immersion in both Scripture and in her own experience with it.

There's an underlying power in "Wholehearted Faith" precisely because it's apparent that Held Evans wasn't yet done searching through her heart and mind with this material. It's an unfinished work and it feels unfinished. Chu has, of course, masterfully facilitated its presentation here. I in no way mean that it feels unsatisfying. It's incredibly satisfying. You can just feel Held Evans wrestling with this material as you read it and there are times you can't help but feel like there's an unfinished thought or idea. To Chu's massive credit, he doesn't try to finish it for her. While Chu's presence is undeniable here, "Wholehearted Faith" is undeniably the voice of Rachel Held Evans in all its power, glory, simplicity, and honesty.

I loved every moment of "Wholehearted Faith." It's a book that makes you want Rachel Held Evans back. It's a book that reminds you of the preciousness of her voice and it's a book that holds space for those of us who long for spiritual wholeness and safety amidst a Church that often feels broken and leaves us feeling insecure.

I can't even imagine what it's like for those who were truly close to Held Evans. For people like her husband, Dan, and her children and those peers, like Nadia Bolz Weber, who called her "friend," this book has to smack of incredible warm and fuzzies dipped in immense grief and even more wonderings.

I loved "Wholehearted Faith," a modestly disjointed and occasionally incomplete spiritual exploration about living a wholehearted faith that is perfectly imperfect and gloriously intimate and also universal. It's Rachel Held Evans and everything we loved about her.

This book is incredible, beautiful, transformative, and inspiring. If you have loved Rachel's writings and miss her voice, you will find joy and beauty in this book. Jeff Chu did a fabulous job weaving together her words and wrote a touching introduction which brought me back to the days when we lost her and her voice. I do not want to give any specifics away in my review of this book. Read it. You will not regret it.

I enjoyed reading this final book by Rachel Held Evans that was completed after her untimely death by Jeff Chu. Rachel had a way with words that is encouraging and inspiring, without falling into trite phrases that anyone raised in the church has heard a million times. It was bittersweet that the essays in this book were written in the present tense, knowing that she has passed from this earth. I'm sure I will return to this book again as I continue to reexamine the church and my faith.

As a lifelong reader of Rachel Held Evans' work, I was eager to pick up "Wholehearted Faith." Jeff Chu's introduction was particularly important in managing my expectations: he explained the book was a compendium of Rachel's talks, essays, and blog posts, and that the content might feel very familiar to readers. I did recognize quite a few anecdotes and passages. They are woven together to demonstrate the concept of "wholehearted faith," inspired by Brene Brown's concept of wholeheartedness. The book, in many ways, echoes to invitation that has always permeated Rachel's writing: don't be afraid, ask questions, bring your full self to the table. It feels like the perfect bookend to the author's legacy, a beautiful summary of what her life and teachings were about.