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.”
To contact Philip,
make booking inquiries,
or request blog subscription,
email Joannie: pyasst@aol.com
Dear Mr. Yancey,
I am a mainline evangelical, currently using Vanishing Grace as curriculum in an adult Sunday school class. The members of the class are diverse theologically, including some whose beliefs are evangelical but who would shun that identity given the current political environment.
I have trouble using your books as curriculum because of your overt, explicit identity as evangelical and your constant implication that evangelical is the default setting for genuine Christianity. Tony Campolo’s writings are similarly infected, and in CT it is a terminal disease.
Might you consider writing your next book as a Christian and for Christians? Your publisher wants niche marketing to increase sales, but you have the stature to defy that impulse. I hope to hear from you.
I hope I haven’t communicated that evangelical is the default setting for genuine Christianity! I’ve learned much from Swedish Lutherans, many Catholic authors, Orthodox priests and a host of others. I use “evangelical” in its original meaning as good-news-messenger, and call those labeled as such to work harder on truly expressing that good news. I hope you don’t feel the same way, for example, about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is mainline Christian and insists on keeping the name. You make a good point, though: words change over time (80% of them pejorate rather than ameliorate) and it may be a losing battle. I’ll keep your caution in mind. –Philip
Hi Mr. Yancey,
I have a problem that I was hoping you could help me with. I have been struggling mightily with the New Testament worldview of demons as opposed to our modern worldview. The first issue is with Jesus attributing at least one case of seizures to the influence of a demon. The second is the reference to a spirit of deafness and muteness. Most atheist point out that we don’t take our epileptic child to an exorcist these days but rather to a neurologist. What would people think of us if we concluded that our epileptic or deaf child was possessed by a demon?! When I read these stories I can’t help but think they simply reveal the ignorance of a primitive culture. I am a devout, but doubting, Christian and this is a major hurdle for me. I’ve read explanations from Christian apologist but I just don’t find them very convincing. I’m sure you’ve come up against this objection before and I’d love to know your thoughts – or book recommendations. By the way, if I had the chance to meet anyone alive today – it would be you. You have been a truly profound influence on my Christian journey and I already think of you as a friend. Maybe in heaven we’ll meet 🙂 Take care and thanks.
I was raised among people who looked for demons and spirits around every corner, and I suppose I’ve gone the other direction. I must say, though, that missionaries to places like Africa and Haiti, and some parts of S. America and East Asia, have impressive firsthand accounts of possession that manifests itself in ways similar to that described in the Bible. I don’t know enough to attempt an answer to your excellent question. I do know that mental (and spiritual) states have physical manifestations–placebo effects alone prove that. You might take a look at Craig Keener’s 2-volume Miracles. Sorry I can’t help more. –Philip
Hi, I’m Ana Paula, I’m 32 years old, I’m from the Methodist Church, I’m a journalist and I’m currently studying “Letras” (Portuguese) (I do not know how to say). I’m from Brazil, first I want to apologize for my English. I went through very difficult times in 2016 and as I went through that I read the book “Disappointment with God”. I have known your writings in the devotional Daily Bread that I receive for free in my home and bless me a lot. I became interested in your devotions and so I bought your book. I had completely lost hope and faith and after reading the book I decided to live. I’m reading “Disappointment with God” again and just wrote a devotional to “In the Upper Room” speaking from my experience. The other day I watched a video where you talked to young students about one of your books – Rumors from another world – (I do not know if the translation will be correct), and I want to read more of your books as soon as I can buy more. I’m going to send the devotional I wrote, but I do not know what the translation will be because I’ll use google translator. I want to thank you immensely for your wise way of writing and I praise God for your life. May God continue to bless your work, your ministry and your family! I have a dream of being able to write one day and I think I would like to know that your work reaches many people sometimes very distant but united in one faith. A big hug.
From your reader: Ana Paula Nascimento
Follow my devotional:
Disappointed with god
Read Romans 15: 4-13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may be rich in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
While I stood in line to pay the bill, I observed a gentleman in a very worn and dirty signature suit. He was making a bet on one of the games at the property. On his throbbing face I could see his smile of hope as he said goodbye to the attendant. A desire perhaps to improve his life and avoid his exhausting work.
That made me refer back to the year 2016. At the age of 31 I had completely lost hope and was disappointed with God. The failures, obstacles of life, and disappointment had consumed all my will to continue.
I attended college, postgraduate studies that did not result in any jobs in the area. It took me a long time to get a job and three years ago I worked in a place where I was completely dissatisfied, unmotivated, miserly, and in a position that any teenager knew without effort and did not need to finish high school to occupy it.
With so many frustrations, family pressures and finding no meaning in life, I began to flood in a sea of sadness, self-pity, guilt, negative thoughts, excessive complaints and envy. Not to mention the disappointments I suffered in the Church in which I gathered. But by now I was attending another.
Thinking of being depressed, beyond hope I had lost faith. I looked for a psychiatrist and his diagnosis: anxiety. The treatment was therapy sessions that I could not afford. I insisted and started a generic treatment that I would not have to pay, but I was disappointed as the doctor himself had already alerted me.
I went to the sessions twice and left. During this time I was reading the book “Disappointed with God” by Philip Yancey (Christian World Publishing House), and decided to live. With his wise words of faith based on biblical accounts, especially in the book of Job, I awakened to life.
I went back to God and realized that He was still by my side, but this time I had frank conversations. He talked about how I really felt about Him and my frustrated expectations. From there I received encouragement and God strengthened me at every step. I made decisions to give up pessimism, gossip and take more positive actions in life without being anxious for tomorrow. (Matthew 6: 25-34)
With the support of my fiancé I returned to study, I took my second habilitation and today in 2017 my life gave a turnaround. Like Job, my conception of God was wrong and I am glad to have awakened me through the transforming wisdom of His word that brings us hope. Not a hope like the one who bet on a game, but a hope that guarantees us eternal life.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for Your sacrifice, your unconditional love and for Your hope.
Thought for the day: “Would it be exaggerated to say that because of Jesus, God understands our feelings of disillusionment with Him?” (Philip Yancey)
Let us pray for the anxious, depressed people who are thinking of giving up.
Ana Paula Nascimento (Juiz de Fora – MG)
Ana Paula, I’m sure the Google translator did not do justice to your Portuguese, but your message came through loud and clear. How perfect that you are using God’s comfort for you to extend comfort to others (See 2 Corinthians 1). You were open and receptive, and it moves me to hear that some words I wrote a number of years ago had this kind of effect on you–and much cheaper than psychotherapy! Your story encourages me, and I know through your writing that it will encourage many others. A big hug in return. –Philip
Hi Philip-
I know you answered a lot of questions about writing in your Q and A section but hopefully you will still read this. I am an older mom that has pursued a very task-oriented career for most of my life in order to pay the bills and keep the household running. It is a million miles away from writing or anything creative in general. In the past few years I have felt a nudge to either “use it or lose it” and sometimes feel a deep sadness over lost time and not trusting that the abilities and talents God gave me were mine to use, to help others, to explore and maybe even to enjoy. Beyond that writer’s psychosis you were dead-on in describing, the truth is a huge part of me loves it. My problem is that, at this age, I don’t know where to start. I would love to go “back to school” but don’t know if that is the right route or what kind of schooling is necessary. An English degree maybe? Or do you just send your work out to different publishing houses (is that the right word?) and hope for the best? I read an article recently about “cold calling your heroes” so here I am. Signed – “Stuck”
Dear “Stuck,” I am hesitant to answer because the Internet has changed the rules and the game. Now anyone can get published, and blogs are a common way to force yourself to write on a daily basis. I would encourage you to explore that avenue. I always recommend a writers’ group too, in which you can read works in progress to get feedback. Anything that helps overcome the loneliness and what I call “psychosis” of writing. Frankly, there are two iron clad rules: read a lot and write a lot. If you can find a mentor, that’s a bonus. A class in writing here and there can help, yes, though I wouldn’t necessarily plunge into an English degree; these days what you learn in university doesn’t always translate easily into popular communication. The library has various Writers’ Guides to Christian Publishing that can tell you where to send articles, and you can probably find that online as well. All the best! –Philip
Thank you for your response!
Dear Philip,
Thank you so much for your insightful and encouraging books and responses. I seek your wisdom as I am at one of the lowest points in my life. My father was distant and absent. My mother was very dependant on me so I grew up very quickly, no childhood. We trusted God for everything, was faithful and active in Church, praying and tithing. My husband and I have been trying for years to get pregnant. This year, our Medical Doctor told us that we have an almost nil chance because of my past chronically health problems that never seem to end. I have had 3 pregnancy prophesies by 3 different people who did not know my secret hurt. Nothing yet and I am not trying to be like Abraham and Sarah.
I lost my job (downsizing) and our home is at risk of foreclosure. I have been job searching in my profession and interviewing for months with no success. What happened to my seed and Malachi 3 “opening the floodgates of Heaven”?
My Church is experiencing a major challenge shaking us to the roots. I am in leadership at Church, people come to me for comfort, counsel or prayer but I am in a dry hot desert now. These past two years have been one bad thing after another, all unanswered prayer. I need God to speak and I shall praise God regardless but I am so depressed and anxious because I feel like God is so so distant. His Word is very contrary to almost all aspects of my life. I would love to hear from you. Blessings to you always.