Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the days after Rachel Held Evans passed away. Years later we still honor her legacy.
Rachel Held Evans, 37-year-old progressive Christian blogger and author of several books including A Year of Biblical Womanhood and Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again passed away on May 4, 2019, due to complications related to an infection. She is survived by her husband Dan and their two young children.
On the Sunday after Rachel passed away, Beth Moore tweeted:
“Thinking what it was about @rachelheldevans that could cause many on other sides of issues to take their hats off to her in her death. People are run rife with grief for her babies, yes. But also I think part of it is that, in an era of gross hypocrisy, she was alarmingly honest.”
I noticed the same thing—people everywhere, from multiple streams of thought and faith, were expressing personal grief and often showing her honor.
Like many others, I pray for Dan and her small children. But, I also reflect a bit on her influence and our interactions.
Rachel Held Evans mattered in many ways to many people, of course, but I think she also mattered to evangelicals and evangelicalism, and it’s worth taking some time to reflect on those realities.
Rachel Held Evans’ Deep Influence
Rachel trended on X/Twitter for a long time in the days following her death. It started with #PrayforRHE and then shifted to #BecauseofRHE. The comments were often moving, often from people hurt by the church—particularly evangelical churches.
For many, Rachel Held Evans was a trailblazer. To them, she served as a model of what it means to question seriously what one believes when they need to and to take the time to discover the answers, no matter how long that may take.
She was a hero to many—a woman of valor.