Rachel Held Evans died: a Christian progressive writer dies at age 37; cause of death not released

Rachel Held Evans, a popular and progressive Christian writer who challenged traditional evangelical conceptions, passed away on Saturday, confirmed her husband in a blog. She was 37 years old.

Evans was hospitalized in April for what she described in a tweet as "an influenza + UTI combo and a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotics they gave me." Her husband, Daniel Evans, had updated on her blog her news regarding her health, writing that she had been placed in a coma caused by medical reasons.

On Saturday, he wrote that she had been weaned for coma medication, but that seizures had continued and that a significant swelling of her brain had been discovered, which, he wrote, caused serious damage that "could not ultimately be saved".

"This whole experience is surreal," wrote Daniel Evans. "I still hope it's a nightmare I'll wake up to … I have the impression of telling the story of someone else."

Evans was the author of several books, including "Faith Unraveled," "The Year of Biblical Femininity," "Searching for Sunday," and "Inspired." She spent more than a decade writing on her blog what she described as "faith, doubt and life in the biblical belt".

His popular writings and his views on Christianity have often enraged traditional evangelicals. In 2015, the Washington Post described it as "the most polarizing woman of evangelism". She defended LGBT membership in the church, urged her pro-life colleagues to vote for Hillary Clinton and fought against the role of patriarchy in the church. She has served on the former President Obama's advisory board on faith-based and neighborhood partnerships.

She finally left the Evangelical Church, writing in 2016 that "the universal church is so much bigger than white American evangelicalism, and this will become more and more evident in the months and years to come up".

She is survived by her husband and two children. Tributes were made online with hashtags #BecauseOfRHE and #PrayForRHE.

"I have lost my words, my landmarks, my magnetic pole, because I have the impression of having lost a sister.I am grateful for your words of comfort and gratitude. Love to be with her until the end is one of the greatest honors of my life. "Seeing how much she was loved deeply and deeply, she blesses us," writer wrote Sarah Blessey.

In her last March Lenten post, she wrote, "Death is part of life." My prayer for you this season is that you take the time to celebrate this and cry it, and you will know that you you are not alone. "