a year of biblical womanhood by rachel held evans

That book, and much of her work, was explicitly written for people who had been pushed away from Christianity. But this is the core of Christianity, she said, the “bizarre truth of Christian identity.” Her conviction was clear in the way she held herself in conversation: acknowledging human fragility and failings, including her own. “A lot of liberal, progressive people are afraid of the word sin,” she told me in a 2015 interview. As she and her husband moved into a new phase of their Christian life, she wrote in her third book, Searching for Sunday, that she wanted a space where it was okay to be broken. In adulthood, she decided to leave the evangelical church where she had grown up, in part because of its stance on LGBTQ rights. The most striking thing about Evans’s writing, though, was her vulnerability. She wrote about what it meant to be an eshet chayil, a Hebrew term that means “woman of valor,” which she came to see as another way of saying “You go, girl!” As the news of her death spread on Twitter on Saturday, many people expressed their appreciation for her-an ex-evangelical and lifelong Christian-by using this traditionally Jewish phrase. For her second book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, Evans followed biblical instructions for women to their most literal extent, including covering her head and camping out in her yard during her period. Her debut book, first titled Evolving in Monkey Town and later sold as Faith Unraveled, was about learning to question her faith after growing up in Dayton, Tennessee-famous for the 1925 trial of a teacher, John Scopes, who allegedly taught students about evolution. Evans helped forge new space for diverse voices who are denied authority or power in the Christian world-a legacy that will last far beyond her death.Įvans gained a following early in her career in part because she took a wry and provocative approach to writing about Christianity. Many of those who befriended her and followed her work have, in turn, become well-known figures in the progressive-Christian world, such as Reverend Jes Kast and Austin Channing Brown.

Especially for people who have felt hurt by or unwelcome in the Church, Evans provided a safe shore, full of encouragement and defiant acceptance.

This bevy of tributes is a testament to the distinctive role Evans developed over her decade-and-a-half-long writing career: She was part of a vanguard of progressive-Christian women who fought to change the way Christianity is taught and perceived in the United States. Her death has been met with an up-swelling of grief and appreciation from loyal readers, famous pastors who sparred with her, and, especially, young people who saw her as a mentor. Evans leaves behind two little kids, a husband, and four books to her name. Rachel Held Evans, a well-known Christian blogger, author, and joyful troublemaker online, died on Saturday from massive brain swelling after being hospitalized for an infection, according to her family.

A year of biblical womanhood by rachel held evans