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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Mr. Yancey,
Recently I got rid of a number of books that I’d owned for some years. One of them was Soul Survivor, a book I read more than ten years ago and whose influence I still feel today. I let it go because I felt that it had fulfilled its purpose in my life and I thought someone else might benefit from reading it. However, I didn’t feel the process of releasing the book would be complete until I had expressed my thanks to you for writing it.
I remember reading the book’s preface, where you write about 9/11 and an experience you had related to that tragic day. I don’t remember the details, but I do remember that it was while reading that section of the book that I realized I wanted to be a writer. Sitting on my couch in the soft glow of a lamp, I felt a deep desire to do the kind of work you and many others have done and are doing–lifting people up with words. Thank you for writing the book that gave rise to my own passion to write.
In Soul Survivor I encountered for the first time authors whom I still read with pleasure and spiritual benefit. First among these is probably Frederick Buechner, one of the most honest, funny and poignant writers I can think of. Despite having traveled a vast distance from my conservative Christian origins, I’ve never ceased to be moved his books. Annie Dillard and Henri Nouwen have also brought inspiration and encouragement. Other writers you discuss–Chesterton, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy–I was somewhat familiar with already, but your book encouraged me to give them additional consideration.
In short, Soul Survivor gave a great boost to my spiritual journey, and I am grateful to you for writing it and for helping to broaden my understanding of Christianity and its many valid and beautiful expressions.
Blessings to you in the new year.
A delightful response, for which I thank you. Welcome to the oh-so-fulfilling (and odd) family of writers. I found it thrilling to write about my heroes. –Philip
Dear Philip, Thank you for writing “What is so Amazing About Grace!” As a 63-year-old Christian, I have been stirred by the topic of grace for the past 3 to 4 years. Just this summer I have been reading your book and it is speaking to me very clearly and refreshing my heart!
Thank you so much for your writing — in your books, your blog, your articles. I was first introduced to your work through my dad, who has been an avid fan of yours since his days as a college student. His career choice was at least partly inspired by your books (specifically those written about and with Dr. Paul Brand).
Walking through life as a Christian isn’t easy, but I am thankful that your writing has been a part of my journey. It has been while reading your books that I have been challenged by questions about race and justice, learned from some of my *now* favorite authors, speakers, and thinkers (thanks to your introduction in Soul Survivor), and been encouraged to wrestle with my faith.
I am now a student at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. I am studying communications and hoping to either fight for justice with the written word or through community engagement (at least partly inspired by the heroes I met while reading Soul Survivor as well as your other books and your blog). I saw that you are on the schedule to speak this semester during our chapel. I just wanted to thank you for faithfully asking questions, writing, speaking, and following Christ in a way that has encouraged and inspired me.
By all means introduce yourself at Westmont! And thank you for this most encouraging “grace note.” –Philip
Through the years I have read and number of your books, and I appreciate your perspective in many areas of life and theology. I read Wher Is God When It Hurts and I just finished your book a Question That Never Goes Away. When evil man hurt innocent people, we cringe and are very upset. We call it evil. One question that just won’t go away for me is the story of Israel conquering the Promised Land. Why was that “genicide,” that killing of men, women, and children, that enslavement of survivors. . . why do we call that good? Muslims try to wipe out Christians, and that is evil. I am a believer who has been in ministry until I retired; I’ve read about Saul being instructed to not even spare the animals of Amalek; I’ve read of Joshua’s instructions, etc., but I still can’t answer thes nagging questions.
Hi there, Mr. Yancey!
I am taking a psychology class that focuses on Biblical integration with psychological practices. Part of our assigned reading was to read your book, “The Jesus I Never Knew”. We were discussing the content in class, and one of the students brought up the chapter about temptation and Jesus in the desert, where you speculate perhaps the devil did not know Jesus was the Son of God and was tempting Him to see if He was. We were wondering, did you mean that literally or were you speculating?
Thank you!
That idea came from the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, in a sermon he wrote. It was speculation, and rather creative speculation. Satan doesn’t have unlimited knowledge–the close calls in an attempt to kill Jesus in his infancy prove that. I’m sure he knew something major was happening in the universe, but exactly what?