About Philip
Growing up in a strict, fundamentalist church in the southern USA, a young Philip Yancey tended to view God as “a scowling Supercop, searching for anyone who might be having a good time—in order to squash them.” Yancey jokes today about being in recovery from a toxic church. “Of course, there were good qualities too. If a neighbor’s house burned down, the congregation would rally around and show charity—if, that is, the house belonged to a white person. I grew up confused by the contradictions. We heard about love and grace, but I didn’t experience much. And we were taught that God answers prayers, miraculously, but my father died of polio just after my first birthday, despite many prayers for his healing.”
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. “I felt I had been lied to. For instance, what I learned from a book like To Kill a Mockingbird or Black Like Me contradicted the racism I encountered in church. I went through a period of reacting against everything I was taught, and even discarding my faith. I began my journey back mainly by encountering a world very different than I had been taught, an expansive world of beauty and goodness. Along the way I realized that God had been misrepresented to me. Cautiously, warily, I returned, circling around the faith to see if it might be true.”
Ever since, Yancey has explored the most basic questions and deepest mysteries of the Christian faith, guiding millions of readers with him. Early on he crafted best-selling books such as Disappointment with God and Where is God When it Hurts? while also editing The Student Bible. He coauthored three books with the renowned surgeon Dr. Paul Brand. “No one has influenced me more,” he says. “We had quite a trade: I gave words to his faith, and in the process he gave faith to my words.” In time, he has explored central matters of the Christian faith, penning award-winning titles such as The Jesus I Never Knew, What’s So Amazing About Grace? and Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? His books have garnered 13 Gold Medallion Awards from Christian publishers and booksellers. He currently has more than 17 million books in print, published in over 50 languages worldwide. In his memoir, Where the Light Fell, Yancey recalls his lifelong journey from strict fundamentalism to a life dedicated to a search for grace and meaning, thus providing a type of prequel to all his other books.
Yancey worked as a journalist in Chicago for some twenty years, editing the youth magazine Campus Life while also writing for a wide variety of magazines. In the process he interviewed diverse people enriched by their personal faith, such as President Jimmy Carter, Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller, and Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement. In 1992 he and his wife Janet, a social worker and hospice chaplain, moved to the foothills of Colorado, and his writing took a more personal, introspective turn.
“I write books for myself,” he says. “I’m a pilgrim, recovering from a bad church upbringing, searching for a faith that makes its followers larger and not smaller. Writing became for me a way of deconstructing and reconstructing faith. I feel overwhelming gratitude that I can make a living exploring the issues that most interest me.
“I tend to go back to the Bible as a model, because I don’t know a more honest book. I can’t think of any argument against God that isn’t already included in the Bible. To those who struggle with my books, I reply, ‘Then maybe you shouldn’t be reading them.’ Yet some people do need the kinds of books I write. They’ve been burned by the church, or they’re upset about certain aspects of Christianity. I understand that feeling of disappointment, even betrayal. I feel called to speak to those living in the borderlands of faith.”
Commenting on Ken’s thoughtful response, it would appear to me when the “Son/ Mediator” asked the “Father/Judge” to forgive His crucifiers it was because Jesus had already done so and precisely because they had not: ….”While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
For me, the best works to read are: interesting, informative, intelligent, insightful, instructive, inviting. With “The Jesus I Never Knew” you “hit the mark”. My only problem is taking more than 5 years to finish because when I open it to move forward, ready for some new insight, I go backwards to reflect. Thank you Philip, for your faithfulness to Jesus and your gift.
I made a profession of faith in 1971. Within weeks the Lord had me to get sober in AA in Los Angeles. I came from a Jewish family and although began following the Holy Spirit then I was un-churched for my first five years. After 5 years I joined the Army. Army chaplains invited me to attend church and I took them up on it. My first permanent duty station was in Frankfurt, Germany and at that time I joined an Anglican Church. I am ashamed about not having written to thank you decades ago. Where is God When It Hurts and Christian books by Dorothy Sayers were my salvation during my years in Frankfurt. Where is God When It Hurts had such a profound influence upon my life because I had not realized until then that pain and trouble were not the enemy. This weekend to come I anticipate having the privilege of speaking at a small church Christian women’s retreat and my kick-off question is “Do you see God working through all of the prayers He hasn’t answered the way you would have wanted?” So most likely you are the person who built that foundation in my life. One day in heaven I hope to again say “thanks”. Stephanie C.
Stephanie,
Your gracious letter in this life is more than enough. Thank you.
–Philip
Dear Philip,
I want to thank you because your books have been a source of inspiration to my faith (especially “The Jesus I never knew” and “Prayer – Does it makes any difference?”). I am really identified with your way of seeing life and christianity. You made me think more deeper about the world and the humanity. I really think you’re a great writer.
Also I want to say thank you because “Soul Survivor” open my eyes to the world of literature. Now that I read a lot of your favorite authors (Endo, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chesterton, Lewis, etc.) I understand why the have influenced so much in your life. They are geniuses!
Good bless you!
Greetings from Venezuela,
Efrain