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.”
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
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
I know that history well, and also the Chinese version of similar atrocities. Thank you for the reminder.
Like an oracle, Mr. Yancey only seems to give you one kick at the can. This is where the start of a good conversation goes to die. If you are interested in a chorus of thank you’s, this is your spot.