Blog | Page 3 of 38 | Philip Yancey

Hole in the Wall

January 2024

For perspective, I turned to a friend of mine, Ken Kemp, for an eyewitness account of one temporary settlement near San Diego. As politicians debate the issues, we dare not forget the human factor, and the good people who step up when government fails. The following is an edited portion of Ken’s blog post. Last Sunday, a few of us drove from suburban Los Angeles into the desert along the Wall, an array of thirty-foot-tall rusting steel pillars crowned with ...

Waiting for the Light

December 2023

“Christmas Eve in prison is so terrible because a wave of sentimentality passes through the gloomy building. Everyone thinks of his own loved ones, for whom he is longing; everyone suffers because he doesn’t know how they will be celebrating the festival of divine and human love. Recollections of childhood come surging back, almost overwhelming some, especially those who are condemned to death, and who cannot help looking back at their past lives. It is no accident that in prison ...

Better Than We Think

November 2023

Which headline are you more likely to see?PANDEMIC DEATHS APPROACH SEVEN MILLION!Or:NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF ALL COVID-19 VICTIMS SURVIVE As he spoke to groups around the world, Dr. Rosling would ask the audience to answer a series of fact questions. Here’s a sampling to test your knowledge. How would you answer these questions? 1. In the last 20 years, the proportion of the world population living in extreme poverty has…□ A. Almost doubled□ B. Remained more or less the same□ C. ...

John Donne Redone

October 2023

I have an ancient poet to thank for my first book. During my mid-twenties, while serving as the editor of Campus Life magazine, I came across John Donne’s book Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. I knew of Donne from fragments taught in high school—“No man is an island…”; “for whom the bell tolls…”—but I almost avoided opening the book, which could compete for a dullest-book-title award. I’m glad I persevered. Along with most people, I had often puzzled over the problem ...

Now More Than Ever

September 2023

I wrote What’s So Amazing About Grace? more than twenty-five years ago, at the close of the twentieth century. I feared that some parts of the church were growing so shrill and divisive that bystanders no longer heard the gospel as good news. In fact, I submitted the book to my publisher with the proposed title What’s So Amazing About Grace and Why Don’t Christians Show More of It? A wise and gentle editor persuaded me to shorten it. “That ...

Blog Posts

Hole in the Wall

Waiting for the Light

Better Than We Think

John Donne Redone

Now More Than Ever

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