If you’ve been following Rachel Held Evans’ career, you probably think there’s nothing you don’t know about the Christian writer. Her life is a bit of an open book these days.
But there are at least a few little factoids about the outspoken 33-year-old that are aren’t aware of — like her origami talents or her biggest female inspiration.
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Here are seven facts about Evans that may surprise you:
1. Despite leaving the evangelical church, she’s glad she was raised that way.
“My evangelical upbringing taught me to love Scripture, to consult it, and to believe it. And to this day, nothing sparks my creative energy more than a difficult passage, a stack of commentaries, and a few hours to dig in. The Bible just keeps on giving; it never disappoints.”
2. She has turned her hate mail into origami.
“I’ve been making origami off and on for forty days now, letting my fingers pray out little swans and sailboats and flowers and foxes, and I’ve learned some things: about reverse folds and crimp folds, about trial and error, about patience, about retracing steps and following directions, about forgiveness, about letting go, about redirecting some of my anxious and self-focused energy into purposeful acts of creativity and healing, about building bridges, about asking for help.”
3. She gets writer’s block.
“It was easier to think I knew enough about the world to write a book at 25 than it is at 33.”
4. She counts Phyllis Tickle as a woman who has had a huge impact on how she prays.
“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with Phyllis, and she is truly one of the most encouraging people I’ve ever met, always quick to offer a kind word or compliment, always eager to cheer fellow writers on.”
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5. She’s not comfortable speaking for millennials.
“I’m as uncomfortable as many of you with claiming to speak on behalf of an entire generation or an entire denomination. That’s never been my aim. When it comes to talking about the future of faith, there are about a million angles to take, and most of mine have admittedly focused on specific questions facing (mostly) white Protestants in the U.S. and are therefore limited in scope.”
6. Evans is a loyal Alabama Crimson Tide fan.
Although Dayton, Tennessee might be her hometown, the writer yells, “Roll Tide,” during college football season.
7. Her husband Dan runs her website.
Dan Evans has played an integral part of his wife’s blogging career over the years as the behind-the-scenes caretaker of her website. “Some things I respect most about Dan include his uncompromising integrity, his seemingly natural inclination to "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep," and his ability to identify obscure actors in movies without checking IMDB,”
she says in a blog post.
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