Progressive Christian author Rachel Held Evans, who served on an advisory council for faith-based and neighborhood partnerships for President Barack Obama, died Saturday at the age of 37.
Evans, the bestselling author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again, and Searching for Sunday, was known for her clashes with evangelical Christians. An Episcopalian, she advocated for women in church leadership and the inclusion of LGBT members and against evangelical support of President Trump, among other hot-button issues.
The Dayton, Tenn., resident was hospitalized in April for what she described on Twitter as a combination of the flu and a urinary tract infection along with an allergic reaction to antibiotics she had been given.
Following her admittance to the hospital, she developed seizures and was placed in a medically-induced coma. When doctors tried to bring her off the coma medication, her brain swelled, causing damage her husband described as “not survivable” in an update to a blog post detailing her health struggles.
Her husband, Daniel Evans, with whom she had two children, announced her death on her website.
“This entire experience is surreal. I keep hoping it’s a nightmare from which I’ll awake. I feel like I’m telling someone else’s story,” her husband wrote. “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.”
