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.”
Oh, my, what trials you have been through! As you may know, I visited Indonesia in 2015, and heard other stories of persecution of Christians–perhaps that is the background to what your father experienced. And your daughter! It hurts to read all that you have been through. Yet you stayed faithful, and faith-full, and by the end of your comment I can see triumph. “Mourning and dancing touch each other”–this is a beautiful concept, straight out of the Bible, of course. Thank you for taking the time to tell your story. It humbles me to hear that my writings have been companions with you through this process, and I rejoice in the positive turn of events.
I’ve so appreciated your writing over the years and finally decided to say so. Thank you. You write the same questions and discoveries as I occasionally think. As I’m now “old” and retired, I’m wishing I could find something more to do, maybe reaching out as Dr. Brand did. I’ve thought of a simple little one-room bookstore in my tiny country town where I could sit and read and perhaps interact with the visitors who come looking for books – and Jesus. Maybe? Again, thank you.
I just finished reading “The Bible Jesus Read” and want to tell you that it was both challenging and encouraging. It challenged me to get better acquainted with the OT and encouraged me by showing how deeply profound the OT really is.
Many people are being diagnosed with various mental disorders (for lack of a better term) that can interfere with their Christian walk. For example, someone could have a deep depression or fear of associating with people, or even leaving their house. These people could also be very strong believers, but are hampered my these various mental problems. What can happen, though, is that they may be constantly be told that they need to evangelize others, to love people, etc. when they find these very activities too much to bear and then the feel guilty because they are not doing what they are being told they should be doing.
I am always reminded of soldiers in WWII that were of fighting age, but were not drafted. I expect many of these felt a twinge of guilt not being on the battle front, but they were just as useful at home in the USA building war materials.
It seems like a worthy issue.
Hi Philip,
I’ve started doing some writing after I developed the study guide for Carl Medearis’ book “Speaking of Jesus”. I’d like to quote the correct source in another book I’m developing. I believe I heard you say it at a “Simply Jesus” conference a couple of years ago. The quote is (roughly), “You can’t worship a homeless guy on Sunday then ignore one on Monday”. Do I have it right and is that your original saying?
One last thing and a shameless plug – I think it’s really cool that you take the time to coorespond to so many of the people that write you. Thanks. The book I referenced above is a second book I’m developing, however I have my first book coming out later this spring entitled “Amazed – Why the Humanity of Jesus Matters”. It would be sweet if you’d check it out. Medearis is too busy now in Jordan (told him I understand…totally). It’s a small book but hopefully the big idea comes through.
Thanks again for sharing your openness and insightful work with the rest of us,
Richard Bahr