Rachel

I heard on the news that Rachel Held Evans had passed away at age
37. I knew that name, but I wasn't

quite sure why. It turns out she wrote one of my favorite books - Evolving in Monkey Town. Its about her Christian upbringing, but how she has had to deal with doubts and other controversies of the Christian life. I knew I really liked that book, but didn't think much about her, except that that was the author's name. It turns out she wrote other books, had a popular blog or podcast (I don't remember which) and had a large following.

Now I need to read her other stuff. One sounds like it is specifically for Christian women, so I probably will skip that one. I'll probably start with rereading Monkey Town. I've read it twice already.

It got its title because she grew up in Dayton, Tennessee, the location of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. It was Clarence Darrow vs. William Jennings Bryan. Darrow I think was a very well known lawyer back then and Bryan was really a big deal. He had run (and lost) for President at least a couple times. He died not long after the trial. Most people think that the science teacher (Scopes) won, paving the way for the teaching of evolution. But actually he was convicted. Right or wrong, he clearly was breaking the state law that forbid teaching that. I think he later got off on an appeal or something like that.

I drove through Dayton once. It's still a sleepy little town.The courthouse is still there. You can even visit the famous courtroom at times, when it isn't being used for trials. When I was there it was a Saturday, so the whole thing was closed, but it was interesting to see.

Rachel writing a book about her Christian walk in the midst of her times of doubt really tied in to the fact that she happened to be from Dayton, aka Monkey Town. I'll tell you more about it sometime. I have to start reading my book now.