The Right Question for these Neopagan Times
An Interview with Philip Yancey
Joe Maxwell
October 1, 1997
The first "money-back guarantee I ever saw Jacket came with Philip Yancey's 1988 title. Disappointment with God. At the time, I was an editor with Christianity Today magazine, where Yancey remains a featured columnist. I joked with Yancey about the guarantee that accompanied his writing. He seemed surprised to hear of it.
I don't know who decided Yancey's efforts were worthy of emulating Sears & Roebuck's sales savvy, but I'm willing to hazard that the rate of return on Yancey merchandise is lower than Sears' ever was. Now, following up on his provocative 1995 book, The Jesus I Never Knew (Zondervan/HarperCollins), Yancey has turned his eyes toward grace. The result is another countercultural meditation titled What's So Amazing About Grace? (Zondervan, 336 pages, $19.99).
In typical fashion, Yancey unearths very atypical ways of expressing an encrusted concept. Yancey makes no claim to theological precision (Neither Catholics, Orthodox, or Protestants will find their daily doctrinal requirements in Yancey's work). What's So Amazing About Grace? should be read as a modern might also read Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun, or the letters of John Wesley. Yancey offers a dietary supplement, yes, but you will be so much better off for having eaten it.
Yancey's words are fun to chew and easy to swallow. "The best book I have ever read from a Christian author in my life," says Robert Seiple, World Vision president. "I'm trying to remember when I've read a more important book," adds best-selling evangelical psychologist and author, Larry Crabb.
Perhaps such reaction says more about the generally poor condition of Christian literacy today in the United States than it does the relative long-term importance of Yancey's effort. Still, ...
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