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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Philip,
“The Bible Jesus Read” is highlighted today on eBookDaily.com:
http://ebookdaily.com/bargain-kindle-books/2016-11-18/B0035XOQPO
Philip,
Your writing has resonated more strongly with me than that of any other Christian writer, and you come across as a thoughtful and insightful individual who responds instead of reacting to the most challenging situations. This is why I hope you find time to address this question.
We just endured an incredibly painful election season, and the hatred and anger engendered by it continues to be expressed across this country. Although I have strong opinions on the topic, I’ve struggled to express them in a way consistent with the fruits of the spirit. I believe that if I’m faithful in my Christian walk, others will see love, joy, peace, patience, etc. However, most of the election discussions have instead fostered hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, dissension, factions and envy (Galatians 5: 20-21). I’ve found myself remaining uncomfortably silent because I don’t know how to engage others in a way consistent with Paul’s guidance.
What are your thoughts on living in a way that honors the fruits of the spirit? Is it possible to discuss something as loaded as the election with these caveats in mind? Are Christians truly called to do that, or are there circumstances where this doesn’t apply?
If you can recommend any specific readings on this passage and how it applies to our daily lives, I would appreciate that as well.
Thank you for your work and your ministry. You’ve have a profound influence on countless numbers of readers.
Sincerely,
Marc
Wisely, you don’t reveal what “side” you’re on, because your question applies to both sides in this regrettable campaign. I love your spirit. And I’ll quote some advice from a pastor friend of mine in Chicago. She is open about her partisanship, but I the spirit she expresses should apply when either side wins an election:
Being a Christian is hard.
We’ve had 36 hours now to absorb the surprising results of our presidential election. Many of us have been in a daze – slightly bewildered and confused. Regardless of your preferred candidate, the polling data had predicted a very different outcome than what we all saw happening before our eyes.
Now, with a mandate from half of the voting public, Donald Trump takes the office of president backed with a Republican majority in the House and Senate. This is the glory of a government by the people which none of us would change for a moment. Change is most certainly on the docket for the next few years.
Throughout the last few days I have thought about how much easier it is for me to be a “left of center leaning progressive” than it is for me to be a Christian. As a political party member I can vent and debate, mock and obfuscate other’s policies. As a Christian I must lean in and listen; I must embrace and include.
While the political part of me seeks revenge, (“Let the markets crash! Watch Putin’s advances with a weakened NATO! See the dismantling of America’s leadership!”) the Christian in me must pray for the welfare of the city, our country and the world. The claims of Christ demand that I seek the things that make for peace.
I can’t mock those who voted for Trump or suggest that the rise of the “know nothing” party is complete. I don’t get to paint them with a wide brush of ugly words. And perhaps most temptingly, I can’t try and write off the “other” Christians who supported President-elect Trump. That’s not allowed. Like me, they are beggars of grace. And the One from whose hand we have equally received will not allow me to stand close while my heart is far away.
Like I said, being a Christian is hard.
Yesterday morning we gathered as a staff to have time of lament. We confessed our grief and our fears. We expressed our hopes and asked protection for our country. We read the psalms, recited the Lord’s prayer and sang, “He’s got the whole world in his hands!” Then, in the silence that followed, Sharon looked up with tears to say, “My people have survived more than this. We will get through this. We always have and we always will.”
Yes. God is faithful. We can all inhale and exhale. God is still redeeming the world and asking us to participate. Please join us in praying for our country. Pray for people of color first, along with undocumented workers and those particularly dependent on governmental services and assistance. Pray for the losers and the winners. Pray for people of good will to reach out to their neighbors and friends. Pray that we may find a way forward for all of us together. Pray that the character of Christ will also be the character of his people.
Pray for us Christians.
With compassion for all,
Pastor Laura
Beautiful. Thank you.
Hi – I too was refreshed to hear your take on evangelicals support of Donald Trump. He does indeed stand for everything that Christianity is against! How hypocritical it seemed that these Christian leaders would support him. And I was terribly disappointed to hear that James Dobson would be supporting Trump. However, then I read a few interviews and Dobson made much more sense. I could appreciate what he was saying. He spoke of religious liberty being squashed by Hillary Clinton and quoted her discussing how she would change things along those lines. A big concern of Dobson is Supreme Court appointments. And I can certainly appreciate that as well. I could not ever have voted for Donald Trump. Never. But the reasoning of some of the evangelicals became a little bit more clear and understandable once I did some reading. Phyllis
Hi Phil
We meet a few years ago at a CS Lewis conference.
I teach philosophy in Chicago. I am still speechless in the face of evil. My baby son died in my hands years ago. And your work has helped me through it. Thank you.
I have a question. You said:
“When I speak to college students, I challenge them to find a single argument against God in the older agnostics (Bertrand Russell, Voltaire, David Hume) or the newer ones (Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris) that is not already included in books like Psalms, Job, Habakkuk, and Lamentations.”
Would you please expand on this or tell me where I can find the direct or indirect Biblical answers to this?
Thanks brother
Khaldoun
Please respond to khaldoun.sweis@gmail.com
I’m not sure how to respond. If you read, say, Job, Psalms, Habakkuk, the complaints against God and criticism of how creation works are stark and obvious. Theodicy, argument from design, violence, suffering of the innocent, oddities of creation–they’re all set out in vivid detail. –Philip
Philip,
I ‘ve had a few challenges– came to know Christ, personally as an adult, husband in prison, later he died of alcoholism, mental illness in my family, yet steadfast in my own life to earn a doctorate and am now associate professor emeritus at a large regional university. Your books are a great help for my spiritual growth, but I must say, I’ve never been angry with God and never questioned God as Father and his Son as my Savior. But, here is my question, I’ve always struggled with relationships especially long term friendships. Is this a spiritual problem? If we are right with God, we are right with our neighbor, isn’t that what I should count one? Can you recommend reading that will help with right relationships with others?
I can see why you’re a little relationship-shy, Carol, in view of the brief background you mention. It sounds like you’re doing great, frankly. I’ve found that small groups at church can–or, to be honest, cannot–be a good place to look for compatible friends. To me, what you mention is more a personality issue than a spiritual issue. Let me recommend some reading: The Road Less Traveled, by Scott Peck; books by Brene Brown; the book Lean In, on the power of introverts, and almost anything by Henri Nouwen. That’s a lot to handle, I know. The fact that you care, and that you hunger for relationship–these are signs of health.