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
Mr. Yancey,
Thank you for the information about Richard – no doubt about it, I will keep praying for him. I wish that he might see that it is obvious God cares about him. Your book was written 32 years ago – and God had me read it and put a deep burden on my heart for him. It is God reaching to him again! No doubt in my mind.
Years ago I had the opportunity to reald The Jesus I never Knew (English version), I still have that book with me ; then I got in my hands “Gracia Divina Vs. Condena Humana” the title in spanish never attracted me, I start reading it because it was a Philip Yancey book and The Jesus I never Knew really touched me. I couldn’t finish the “Gracia Divina Vs. Condena Humana”… but this afternoon my dad found the english versión… “What’s so Amazing About Grace” and that tile immediately got my attention, I forgot I had it as a gift from a Pastor I meet in North Carolina, making a long story short I started reading tonight and what a much difference feeling. First the title in english means much more… it is like when you have found something great and want all your neighbors to know… I felt like the woman that lost that coin and then found it was the feeling I got with the english title that I couldn’t get with the spanish one… Spanish is my mother tongue… now that I am reading it in the original language, I can’t stop reading the book is making me realize that even though I was taught a lot about grace I wasn’t really living under that grace and showing others that grace… thanks for writing and reminding me about it… I like that part that you far rather convey grace thank explain grace… I pray I can convey grace too…
I’ve always wondered about that title in Spanish (my wife grew up in Colombia and Peru). You confirm my suspicions. Now you too can be a grace-dispenser!
–Felipe
After my 4 children went to heaven I devoured your books. Looking for answers. U didn’t give me answers. U gave me more questions. I liked that. Finally someone who didn’t know. Finally someone who was honest. Then on your list book I got it!!! God loves me, I won’t get the answer to the why and God loves me and God wants a relationship with me. That’s it. U taught me that. That’s all I needed to know. God wanted to know me. My children were safe. So thank u. Yes I’m still broken hearted. I live in Zimbabwe. My heart swells here with my people and God has a special calling for us. Oh how I love my God. Thank u for listening to Godnand writing those books. May God bless u. Janine Milliken.
This comment stuns me, and warms my heart, Janine. Haven’t I seen your name on my Facebook page a few times?
4 children! My, that’s unimaginable. I know that hurts deeply: grief is where love and pain converge. You’ve known a lot of both. –Philip
Mr. Yancey,
I wanted to check in on your blog today just to thank you for helping me through an incredibly distressing time in my life.
This ongoing pandemic has combined with unrelated health and economic setbacks to really take a severe toll on my family. A “reflexive Christian,” (raised Baptist, drifted in and out of different denominations from college years deep into my 40s), I have tried to turn to God and fight through all this with Him, but I realized I didn’t know how. I knew plenty of Bible stories from childhood Sunday School classes but didn’t know how to connect with God to help understand my own story. An extreme introvert who is also very shy, I’ve always had a hard time “doing church” as an adult. I would have mild panic attacks in the parking lot before Bible Study. If I summoned the courage to get through the small group, I’d often spend the service saying prayers I didn’t understand, and singing familiar hymns that didn’t move me.
So when COVID, and job loss, and the deaths of my kids’ grandparents, and depression, and anxiety all joined forces to wallop my family and send me careening onto on my backside, I seemingly had no way to pull myself back up. Nothing to cushion to the blow. I of course thought of turning to God, but faced the prospect of more confusion and dry, empty prayers.
And yet, I turned to Him still. Things all came to a head a few weeks ago. I was lying on the floor of my daughter’s bedroom, trying to coax her to sleep (kids’ mental health has really suffered in this ordeal) while a million problems raced through my mind. I pushed those out of the way long enough to issue a guttural, silent prayer that came up from a well of despair I’ve never felt before.
I think it was something like:
“Oh my God, are you there? Oh God I don’t know if I can keep this up. Oh God this is too hard, and I’m too alone, and the world is making me feel like a helpless baby. My God, I need something. Not a miracle. I just need something, I need to know you’re there. I know there’s enormous suffering out there, and hardships I can’t relate to, and I don’t want to take anything away from them God, but I need to hear you. Maybe I’m thick-headed, and that’s okay, but I see so much pain here, and suffering, and helplessness and hopelessness, God, and that’s okay God, I will keep doing my best, but oh God I just need you to show me something.”
A couple days later I was killing time in a used bookstore, for the air conditioning as much as anything else. I saw “Reaching for the Invisible God.” I am an avid reader with diverse tastes, but I have never bought a “Christian book” before. Never occurred to me. Didn’t really see how anyone could have the time for it. “The Bible ways what it says,” I figured. “Always has, always will. Believe or don’t, but I don’t see why we need to argue about what it says.”
I bought this book. Read it. Loved it. And I now have an entirely new perspective on Him, what he promises me, and what it’s like to know Him. Of particular comfort are the passages about Jesus’ ministry as “The Rosetta Stone,” and your comparison of spiritual practice to music practice. Have to play the scales before you can dazzle them with a concerto. These days I am much calmer. More secure. More faithful. More confident. Better for my wife and kids, undoubtedly. I am returning to Jesus’ ministry at points of confusion. And I’m learning to “play the scales” (regular prayer times, Bible readings in the morning), and really PLAY them, for the first time in my life. Above all, I don’t feel so alone.
Did God put your book in front of me and push me towards it? I don’t know. I have no idea if he intervenes in my life (or anyone’s) like that. And that’s okay! Moving forward, I will continue to read, pray, work hard, avoid sin, love everyone, and leave the rest to Him.
Thank you again for writing this books all those years ago. You helped me beyond measure. I hope you’re doing well.
This is so gripping and personally touching. I can never thank you enough for taking time to tell your story. It offers a glimpse of what millions of people may be going through right now, in the midst of this pandemic. “Reaching” is one of my most personal books, and I feel that we’ve connected on a deep level. You inspire me to keep reaching, keep searching, and keep writing. Bless you as you continue to navigate these stormy waters. –Philip
I’ve been thinking about you lately and your book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” (What a great title) And how you deftly redefine the word to mean “social justice”. I’m sure you thought the true church would react by going back to works. And I know Christians don’t do a lot of thinking, but they do have the Holy Spirit. So, they just ended up reading it and thinking, “I should do more to show Christ’s love to others!” And never once considered social justice the Answer. They’re still voting Republican. Oh dear. It was a good effort, though! Hey – watch out for those peaceful protestors! 😉