Soul Survivor by Philip Yancey
by Luke Randall
Philip Yancey is author several of well-known Christian books such “What’s so amazing about Grace” and “Where is God when it hurts”. He worked for many years as a journalist. I have found books his books refreshing and insightful.
His recent autobiographical book “Where the light fell” is something different! I was surprised that such a gifted author grew up in a trailer park as part of dysfunctional family that attended a conservative and racist fundamental Church. Not an easy read, but it gives background to his books and presents the Grace of God amidst the trauma of his childhood.
Yancey returned to faith at Bible college. In Soul survivor Yancey looks individuals who help him on his journey back to faith. Individuals who “radiate spiritual authenticity” rather than religion. From Dostoevsky to Martin Luther King, G. K. Chesterton, Mahatma Gandhi, Paul Brand, John Donne, Henri Nouwen and more, Yancey “pays homage to some of the most remarkable, selfless, Christ-like lives our world has known.”
Yancey concludes Soul survivor by writing “I have dealt mostly with my past in this book, for these guides set me on my own pilgrimage when my beliefs were taking shape.”