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.”
John W. I am one of those “little old ladies” in the pew. I’ve been raised in church and been in many different denominations, and Phillip’s books resonate with me. He speaks and writes on a very down to earth level, and his examples from his own life make all the difference in understanding what he means. My favorite of his books is probably “What’s So Amazing About Grace” – and he says it like it is. His honesty and search for meaning in his own life has influenced my life in positive ways. He makes me think.
I want to know simple answer, if you can, are you more of “Progressive” Christian? Or, “Evangelical” Christian?
Yes, labels is confusing because I know a Evangelical Christian author who also does not believe in literal hell and Book of Revelation should be in the Holy Bible, those are strong Progressive things.
Just recently, I completed reading your book Soul Survivor. I found affinity regarding your assessment of the fundamental beliefs and churches. Just like you, I am having a hard time shedding the influence it has upon me largely because I owe an immense debt of gratitude to the denomination that facilitated my becoming a US citizen. Intellectually, I cannot accept the God of my conversion anymore. But I continue to hang on because, being Asian, the concept of debt of gratitude is so indelibly written in my consciousness. Leaving the denomination that was instrumental in facilitating unspeakable blessings to me and my family feels like I betrayed God Himself. Because of the denomination I used to belong to, I am now a social worker in Southern California and all my four children graduated from college. I did continue to worship with the denominational churches I used to belong to but I find myself arguing in my mind against the messages I hear Sunday after Sunday. Instead of worshipper I became a critic. I don’t like that part of me when I go to church. But, a significant part of me has been lost and I feel guilty about leaving the church that gave so much to me and my family. Perhaps I will continue to struggle with guilt for a very long time.
I continue to search for a church that is reflective of where I am spiritually and intellectually. So far, I have not had luck with that pursuit. Your books have been my refuge! From time to time my wife and I go to a church that preaches in Joel Osteen mode, but I can’t relate to the music. The loud noise smashes God out of my mind. Like the story about Frederick Buechner when you invited him to your church to preach, the optics in the church draw me away from worship rather than enhance it. But thank you for the books and your courage in writing what you describe as toxic faith in the fundamentalist churches. I believe you might have alienated and angered so many in a very public way and that takes a lot of courage, something I will never have. Hopefully I will be able to attend one of your book signing events one of these days. Again, thank you.
Dear Philip,
I first read “What’s so amazing about grace?” in 2008 and immediately bought 10 copies as Christmas presents for my bible group. I have now just re-read it (still inspirational!) and would like to buy it for my Italian-speaking husband. However, I cannot find an Italian version. Has it ever been translated? If so, where could I purchase it? If not, are you thinking of having it translated?
Thank you and blessings
Tina
Dear Mr. Yancey: Your books have made an incredible impact on me. It is so important to have a voice like yours in today’s climate. I love all your books but have been most impacted by The Jesus I Never Knew (which I have used to teach a class of young people in my church) , What’s So Amazing About Grace? and Vanishing Grace. I am a judge in our court system and a product of loving Christian parents who valued all people — people of all races and backgrounds. You are a great resource for giving hope to non-Christians and people who need help in these days. You express thoughts so well as if your words are directly from Christ — loving, forgiving, non-judgmental, compassionate and caring for the hopeless and marginalized of this world. You are a great inspiration to me as I see marginalized people every day in court. You depict the Jesus of the gospels and of the unparalleled sermon on the mount in ways that people can grasp. Thank you for your books, your columns and your wisdom that comes from earnestly seeking Jesus in a fallen world. God bless you. Your books make me feel as if we have spent a day in conversation on deeply held beliefs we both share. Thank you again… And keep writing about grace and the Jesus we need to know and follow. Sincerely, Dwight.