Rachel Held Evans, progressive Christian author who challenged evangelicals, dies at 37

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Rachel Held Evans, progressive Christian author who challenged evangelicals, dies at 37

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey May 4 at 1:37 PM

Rachel Held Evans, a best-selling Christian author who was unafraid to wade into fierce theological battles over issues like the role of women, science, LGBT issues and politics on her blog and social media, died Saturday, after spending weeks in the hospital for an infection. She was 37.

Her husband Dan, who has been writing health updates, wrote on her blog on Saturday that she had been weaned from an induced coma, but swelling in her brain was not survivable.

“This entire experience is surreal. I keep hoping it’s a nightmare from which I’ll awake,” Dan Evans wrote. “I feel like I’m telling someone else’s story. I cannot express how much the support means to me and our kids. To everyone who has prayed, called, texted, driven, flown, given of themselves physically and financially to help ease this burden: Thank you. We are privileged. Rachel’s presence in this world was a gift to us all and her work will long survive her.”

Evans tweeted in mid-April that she was in the hospital with the flu and had a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics. Dan Evans wrote that she then developed seizures, so doctors put her into a medically-induced coma. The hashtag #PrayforRHE became a trending topic on Twitter earlier this month for Evans, who had two young children, ages three and almost one. Her friends set up a GoFundMe to cover medical expenses.

An Episcopalian, Evans drew a large following in the evangelical community in both progressive and conservative circles. She criticized widespread evangelical support for President Trump, encouraged women in church leadership, questioned a literal reading of the Bible, among other issues. From her home in Tennessee, she became a beloved progressive speaker at many conferences around the country.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/05/04/rachel-held-evans-progressive-christian-author-who-challenged-evangelicals-dies/

[Blue Owl]

1. Sad to hear of this

[MineralMan]

2. How unfortunate!

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. A tribute from Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist:

I’ve had the pleasure of communicating with Rachel, on and off, since nearly a decade ago. She was always eager to introduce her readers to different voices — including atheists — and we joked in emails about how there was a lot more overlap in our values than our religious labels suggested.

As her voice became more popular, and her books began selling well, it would’ve been easy for her to stay within the boundaries of evangelical Christianity and build a career on that. Instead, she burned all the right bridges. She called out the hypocrites on her own side.

She defended LGBTQ people and their inclusion within the church community, fighting back against those who used the Bible as a weapon against them. She was “pro-life,” but knew that progressive policies (like affordable health care and comprehensive sex education) lowered the abortion rate. Criminalizing the procedure, as Republicans have long championed, wouldn’t make anything better. It’s why she urged evangelicals who were one-issue voters to support Hillary Clinton in 2016.

She pushed for change within white evangelical Christianity, and when she felt she could do no more to change their hearts, she walked away from them. In the process, she made a lot of other Christians rethink their own allegiances, especially people who claimed to follow Jesus but ended up getting linked to a political party that treats Jesus as nothing more than a strategic tool.

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/05/04/progressive-christian-author-rachel-held-evans-has-died-at-37/

[mrs_p]

4. This is so sad

Too young. I feel for her family.

[47of74]

5. I am sad to hear that.

Rest in peace Rachel