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.”
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email Joannie: pyasst@aol.com
Your writing is incredibly thought-provoking. Thanks for doing such a great job of exploring your own faith, beliefs and actions – and for honestly and openly sharing your explorations. I am reading VANISHING GRACE now and wanted to comment on Chapter 7, SCRIBBLES IN SAND. I agree with much of what you say about the role of artists and the ‘disappearing’ nature of most art. That said, I felt like you sold yourself short in some ways as you described this transient nature of art. The other side of the coin is that while art today is here and present, it lives on, not necessarily as a piece (or artist) itself, but in the minds of those who encounter it and the influence they have on others, who in turn influence still others, and so on. You have been influenced by many others, some of whom you know and cite, who were influenced by people you probably never have heard of. You have had an influence on me, and my great-grandchildren will be the beneficiaries of some of that influence, and may never know your name or read anything you wrote. Be encouraged! PS – as a fellow Coloradan enjoyed your post on elk mating season this morning.
Well said. Thanks for the important reminder, Tom. –Philip
I am just finishing reading your book Vanishing Grace. All I can say is Thank You. I am so glad to see that there are others walking the same path as myself. I too look around and say “where has all the Grace gone? We are walking different paths but yet come to the same conclusions. What lifts my spirit is that no matter where you walk, He is always there waiting for you.
Hi Phillip,
You may remember me from our contact in the early 2000’s. “What’s So Amazing About Grace” helped me see a loving Jesus after years of growing up in the church.
I’ve had you in the back of my mind as I have been writing a book the last two years. Not knowing what to write I just listened to him and wrote. I have hoped that once I had it finished you would read and give me feedback on the advanced reader copy. So I am looking you up to ask for your feedback. If you would be honored if you would make a quick read and let me know what you think and that my reference to your book is correct. If so please let me know where to send you a copy.
Scott, I would like to say yes and normally I would. However, I am in the midst of a heavy writing project and made a decision to focus solely on that for the next year at least. So sorry, and all the best with your book! –Philip
Hi Philip. I am Jess, and you have always been my favourite writer. A profound inspiration, I keep pressing on to write about the many facets of life. Your books have always been challenging my traditional beliefs in Christianity, and I thank God they do. I am from the Philippines, and as you might have known, our president is somehow similar to your Donald Trump. I am relieved to have found out that you still hold the same beliefs, and those beliefs that you have imparted through your books were those that I gauged in voting during our elections. Just like you, I am deeply baffled by how many Filipino Christians have voted, even defended our current president. I don’t know why I left a comment at all, but it’s therapeutic to me somehow. Thank you for your life and all the struggles you went through. And thank you for your message. I will forever cherish them.
I’m glad you did leave a message, Jess. We Americans have as hard a time understanding your president as most of the world has trying to understand our president-elect. I’m glad to make this connection, and thank you for the encouragement –Philip
Our church is talking about doing a book study using one of your books in the fall. We would be interested in knowing if you would consider being a retreat speaker sometime in late fall of 2017 for a Saturday retreat and Sunday morning for our church service. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
I’m afraid my 2017 travel schedule is full. Thanks for asking, though. –Philip