Rachel Held Evans (1981–2019)
Author of Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church
About the Author
Rachel Held Evans was born Rachel Grace Held in Alabama on June 8, 1981. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Bryan College in 2003. She started working for The Herald-News in 2004. In 2007, she won an award from the Tennessee Press Association for the best personal humor column. An show more Episcopalian, she left the evangelical church in 2014 to find what she considered a truer, more authentic Christianity. She wrote four books including Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions; A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband Master; and Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again. She died from extensive brain swelling on May 4, 2019 at the age of 37. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Rachel Held Evans
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1981-06-08
- Date of death
- 2019-05-04
- Burial location
- Rhea Memory Gardens, Dayton, Tennessee, USA
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Alabama, USA
- Place of death
- Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Cause of death
- Allergic Reaction/Swelling of the Brain
- Places of residence
- Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Dayton, Tennessee, USA - Education
- Bryan College (BA|2003)
- Occupations
- columnist
blogger - Relationships
- Opelt, Amanda Held (sister)
Evans, Daniel Jonce (spouse) - Organizations
- Episcopal Church (since 2014)
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 8
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 3,003
- Popularity
- #8,498
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 118
- ISBNs
- 45
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 7
Obviously, lots of people identify with her falling out with church, as the popularity of her blog and the steadily declining percentage of the US population identifying as Christian in surveys both prove. Plenty of those people just walk away and leave it all behind them, but others struggle with their doubts and faith, attend various churches in irregular starts and stops, and perhaps find online communities, such as her blog, that wrestle with these questions. Sometimes, like her, they even find the Episcopal Church (we welcome you!).
Her personal journey is quite interesting then, especially to the extent that it may reflect the changing attitudes of the younger generation of evangelicals as opposed to the attitudes of their parents' generations. I personally view evidence of these changes with great hope, though it's of course wrenching for many, which Evans communicates with great effect.
Ultimately, she finds, it's the stuff of the body, not the intellect, that draw her back to church. It's the primacy of the doing over the believing. It's the sacraments. It's the community. This is my experience as well. As much as I esteem the intellect, I did not feel closer to God and my neighbors when I was sitting at home doubting the particulars of Christian theology than I do when I attend church and come to the communion table. To paraphrase an advertising slogan, "Just Go and Do It". To quote a (Episcopal) priest at the communion table, "So come, you who have much faith and you who have little. Come, because God invites you."… (more)