Philip Yancey

Who is Philip Yancey?

For Yancey, reading offered a window to a different world. So, he devoured books that opened his mind, challenged his upbringing, and went against what he had been taught. A sense of betrayal engulfed him.

Read Philip's Full Bio

Recent Posts

A Melancholy Thanksgiving

Posted on Thu, Nov 26 2020 in Blog, Writing | 29 Comments

I’ve been working on a modern paraphrase of John Donne’s Devotions, which he wrote in 1623 during a bubonic plague outbreak. One-third of London’s residents would die, and… read on

Showing Us Another Way

Posted on Thu, Oct 22 2020 in Blog | 25 Comments

Again and again this year, scenes of racial injustice have played out before our eyes. African Americans insist that such incidents are nothing new; the difference is that… read on

Election Year Musings

Posted on Sat, Sep 26 2020 in Blog, Politics | 46 Comments

Last year I granted an interview to the Church of Ireland Gazette, a magazine that was trying to interpret US politics for its Irish readers. In view of… read on

Family Secrets

Posted on Sun, Aug 23 2020 in Blog | 25 Comments

I’ve been writing a memoir and, like most memoirs, it deals with family secrets. Unplanned pregnancies, abortions, suicides, addictions, extramarital affairs, prison time—often families don’t speak of such… read on

The Surprising Gift of Solitude

Posted on Mon, Jul 20 2020 in Blog | 33 Comments

For me, one scene captures the manifold tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic. A friend named Dan was already suffering from Lewy body dementia, a brain disorder that affects… read on

After the Protests and Riots, What?

Posted on Fri, Jun 12 2020 in Blog | 60 Comments

In Minneapolis, rioters protesting the killing of George Floyd damaged more than 570 buildings and burned 67 businesses to the ground, many of them minority-owned.  In my city… read on

Praying All the Way to the Bank

Posted on Mon, May 18 2020 in Blog | 34 Comments

As the statistics on illness and death due to COVID-19 keep rising, the economic statistics keep falling. In March the stock market lost more than $11 trillion in… read on

Passover, Easter, and COVID-19

Posted on Mon, Apr 13 2020 in Blog | 20 Comments

On Wednesday and Thursday nights last week, as Jews gathered in some virtual way around the Seder feast, they asked, “How is this night different from all other… read on

Living in Plague Times

Posted on Tue, Mar 24 2020 in Blog | 52 Comments

It’s my own fault.  Because I’ve written books with titles like Where Is God When It Hurts, Disappointment with God, and The Question That Never Goes Away, my… read on

The Power of Love and the Love of Power (Shakespeare: Part II)

Posted on Mon, Mar 9 2020 in Blog, Writing | 16 Comments

William Shakespeare knew love, and also its complications.  At the age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years his senior.  Six months after the wedding,… read on

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