Philip Yancey

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Philip Yancey earned graduate degrees in Communications and English from Wheaton College Graduate School and the University of Chicago. He joined the staff of Campus Life Magazine in 1971, and worked there as Editor and then Publisher. He looks on those years with gratitude, because teenagers are demanding readers, and writing for them taught him a lasting principle: The reader is in control!

In 1978, Philip Yancey became a full-time writer, initially working as a journalist for such varied publications as Reader’s Digest, Publisher’s Weekly, National Wildlife, Christian Century and The Reformed Journal. For many years he wrote a monthly column for Christianity Today magazine, which he still serves as Editor at Large. His most recent book, What Good is God? In Search of a Faith That Matters, was published in October 2010

His 20 books include Where Is God When It Hurts, The Student Bible, and Disappointment with God. These books have won 13 Gold Medallion Awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association and have sold more than 15 million copies. (Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, In His Image, and The Gift of Pain were co-authored with Dr. Paul Brand.) Christian bookstore managers selected The Jesus I Never Knew as the 1996 Book of the Year, and What’s So Amazing About Grace? won the same award in 1998. His most recent books are Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, A Skeptic’s Guide to Faith, Reaching for the Invisible God, and Soul Survivor. In 2009 a daily reader compiled from all his books was published: Grace Notes.

The Yanceys lived in downtown Chicago for many years before moving to a very different environment in Colorado. They enjoy hiking, wildlife, and all the other delights of the Rocky Mountains.