In the Year Since the Death of RHE

I’m over at Stand Firm today.

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I missed a remarkable anniversary two days ago, which Matt proceeded to remind me about every few minutes for the last twenty-four hours. Rachel Held Evans died a year ago on Monday. Most of the Twittersphere has moved on to other matters because even events of great import only last as long as a tic-toc over there. But I’ve been thinking about it while thinking about everything else, and I thought I might as well say what I’ve learned in the last year.

But first, here is what I wrote a year ago–I wrote three things. This was accidentally brave. This was a clarification. And this was a longer piece exploring her theological legacy. I also reviewed a book for which she wrote the forward, and I reviewed the Evolving Faith Conference.

Through all that writing and thinking and accidental bravery, I’ve learned lots, but I’ll boil it down to three.

One–Evans accomplished a herculean task in dismantling not only orthodox Christian faith for the disenchanted, but also in cutting away the theological structural piers that support the reason for church. She died before she could fully replace it with a new doctrine and system of belief and her followers, who have not had her genius, have cobbled together something that looks pretty boring. This new religion is exactly like the old cast-off. The law is confused for the gospel, Jesus is not who he really is, and you still have to work really hard. The only difference is that instead of purity it’s free sex, instead of trying to be personal holiness it’s environmentalism and fake inclusivism, and instead of the legalism of the pastor or church elders, it’s the tyranny of one’s own identity… read the rest here!