Undone: A Modern Rendering of John Donne's Devotions

by Philip Yancey, John Donne

As the world entered the long night of 2020, Philip Yancey turned to John Donne's Devotions, a nearly 400-year-old manuscript, for guidance. In it, he found a trustworthy companion for living through a global pandemic--or any other crisis. As Yancey says, "Nothing had prepared me for Donne's raw account of confrontations with God."



By faithfully and poetically rendering Donne's 17th century prose into 21st century vernacular, Yancey opens up this classic work to a new generation of readers. He presents these Job-like meditations on sickness and suffering, alongside his own reflections, in a series of 30 readings that examine the frailty of the human heart, the goodness and sovereignty of God, and the eternal hope of the Resurrection.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Devotional, Classics, Christian Living, Audiobook, Faith

145 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2023

About the author

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 several years he contributed a monthly column to Christianity Today magazine, where he also served as Editor at Large.

In 2021 Philip released two new books: A Companion in Crisis and his long-awaited memoir, Where the Light Fell. Other favorites included in his more than twenty-five titles are: Where Is God When It Hurts, The Student Bible, and Disappointment with God. Philip's books have won thirteen Gold Medallion Awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, have sold more than seventeen million copies, and have been published in over 50 languages. Christian bookstore managers selected The Jesus I Never Knew as the 1996 Book of the Year, and in 1998 What’s So Amazing About Grace? won the same award. His other recent books are Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God’s Image; Vanishing Grace: Bringing Good News to a Deeply Divided World; The Question that Never Goes Away; What Good Is God?; Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?; Soul Survivor; and Reaching for the Invisible God. In 2009 a daily reader was published, compiled from excerpts of his work: Grace Notes.

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

Visit Philip online:
https://www.philipyancey.com
https://www.facebook.com/PhilipYancey

Catch his monthly blog:
https://bit.ly/PhilipYanceyBlog

Reviews

[Anne White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed thoughts and feelings.

The physical book is really lovely, and, after all, it's Philip Yancey paraphrasing and commenting (the final chapters are his own), so three and a half stars right out of the park. John Donne's belief that he was dying, though it turned out to be untrue, and his awareness of the many griefs outside his door, seemed to give him powerful insights into the human body, sin, disease, faith. Yancey mentions that Donne, in the years remaining to him, preached and wrote about death again, but somehow never with quite the inspiration and artistry that came out of that terrible time. Reading it fairly quickly (because there are other holds on it at the library) is, undoubtedly, like having to tear oneself away too soon from a masterpiece in an art gallery.

My reluctance to love this book as much as I hoped to stems from its repeated comparison of Donne's plague era with the recent pandemic. Though obvious, obligatory even, it seems to weigh down the timelessness of these devotions with events that have not yet settled into clarity. Perhaps it's easier, or at least less hot-button, to think about the world of four hundred years ago than it is our own.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this modern updating of John Donne’s Devotions (originally written in 1623 during a London outbreak of bubonic plague) is an inspired idea and it seems to me that Yancey did a great job. Granted, I have zero expertise on Donne, but these paraphrased chapters are more understandable and yet seem to convey Donne’s original insights.

I think these meditations on sickness and death could be really helpful for people who are going through the kinds of medical crises that tend to focus one’s thoughts on such crucial matters. Of course the rest of us try to avoid thinking about death altogether until its knocking on our door becomes too loud to ignore. Unfortunately (or fortunately really), I just wasn’t in the right headspace to properly benefit from Donne’s wisdom. But like everyone, someday I will be.

[Mariah Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yancy, with his diagnosis of Parkinson’s, looks to the works of John Donne as an example of someone who stewarded his circumstances (with pain and disease) well. I thought some of the connections he made to his own situation and time were encouraging—some more than others. Handling sadness and wrestling well are life skills we must learn, and the reflections and prayers here give us a good example of what that can look like whether we, ourselves, are suffering or we have a loved one who is.

*since we read The Life of John Donne and some of his poetry in AO Year 8, this title might make a good free read addition to that year.

[Ella Edelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"As my eyes can look beyond the earth, up unto the stars, so may my eyes see past my present circumstance and instead fix themselves upon your peace, and joy, and glory above" (75).

I'm pretty sure I read some of John Donne's Devotions at some point in school, but Yancey's rendition was a lovely way to be reintroduced to them. Organized into thirty short devotions, this book made a great Lenten companion, as Donne chronicles his experience of illness and his wrestling with what he thought would be his death. While Yancey succeeds in preserving the beauty of Donne's prose, I am inspired to go back to the original material and read it for myself.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My soul; Yancey’s rendition of John Donne’s is not for the faint of heart. It’s an invitation to look over the shoulders of a man in the throes of illness contemplating death, God’s sovereignty and love, sin and evil, grief and despair, and the crucial act of entrusting ourselves to our Father God.

I think Donne may be a controversial figure for some, but I can’t recommend this book enough. So worth the read.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. Philip Yancey's translation of John Donne's Devotions is beautiful and (probably always) timely. Yancey worked on the translation during COVID and brings it up often in his chapters (Donne wrote 23 devotions; Yancey added seven.) which might date it after some time. I mean, it's not the bubonic plague, right? He also brings up his Parkinson's diagnosis which feels more relevant for the next hundred years or so. As someone with a debilitating chronic illness, the devotions—each made up of Donne's current situation, a reflection, and a prayer—felt deeply honest and cut to the heart. I did a lot of underlining and I hate underlining because I'm terrible at underlining. This is a meaty short book. I would encourage it to be read a little at a time. Devotions has been valuable to people in and out of crises for 400 years. I don't think it's going anywhere.

"I lie here possessed of fear, both that this sickness is your immediate correction and not merely an accident, and that it is a fearful thing to fall into your hands. Nevertheless, this fear preserves me from all undue fears, because you will never let me fall out of your hand that upholds me." (Devotion 6)
"Will God infuse us with grace once, but not again? No, we're not abandoned. . . . After distributing our portion of the inheritance and watching us squander it, God offers us still more. We are God's tenants here and yet the landlord pays our rent—imagine! God pays us, not yearly, not quarterly, but hourly. Every minute, God extends more mercy." (Devotion 1)

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yancey’s modern rendering of Donne’s Devotions made them much more accessible to me. Wrestling with illness stretches one’s faith.

[Gina Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

He definitely made Donne’s meditations more accessible. Three stars only because I’m not in a place where the discussion of physical struggles resounds with me. I kept thinking how helpful it would be to people suffering physical illnesses and disease. I really liked the reflection sections where he compared our sins to diseases.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will return to this again. And hopefully someday read the original Donne prose. However, I am thankful for Yancey’s bookending chapters, made more poignant by his own recent afflictions.

“In his disputation with God, Donne has changed questions. He began with the question of cause—‘Who caused this illness, this plague? And why?’—for which he found no answer. The meditations move ever so gradually toward the question of response, the defining issue that confronts every person who suffers. Will I trust God with my crisis, and the fear it provokes? Or will I turn away from God in bitterness and anger? Donne decided that in the most important sense it did not matter whether his sickness was a chastening or merely natural occurrence. In either case he would trust God, for in the end trust represents the proper fear of the Lord.”

[Shanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know those times when you're so sick you feel like you're going to die? Or when someone you love faces actual death? This is the book you want. Both a modern rendering of John Donne's Devotions and some thoughts from Philip Yancey, who has Parkison's disease. I'm thankful to Dorothy Sayers for creating the character Lord Peter Wimsey, who loves John Donne (and bears a lot of similarities to him, actually!), for making me more interested in Donne in the first place. Who knew that the line "Ask not for whom the bell tolls" finds its source here.

[Loren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yancey's rendering of John Donne's devotions is fantastic, and his additional, personal chapters are thoughtful, good additions. I took my time reading through this, and I know I'll revisit it. It never ceases to amaze and encourage me how the spiritual truths realized by Christians who lived hundreds of years before me resonate with the truths I've understood from my own experience and biblical study. Yancey's rendering brings this unity home.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautiful and comforting and real- both Donne and Yancey raise poignant questions and point to truths about God’s character and ways-beyond-our-ways. The pandemic references almost feel dated to me already, even just four years out, but it resonated deeply as our family and many we love are walking through seasons of grief and struggle of various kinds.

[Kimberly Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

“After distributing our portion of the inheritance and watching us squander it, God offers us still more.
We are God’s tenants here and yet the landlord pays our rent—imagine! God pays us, not yearly, not quarterly, but hourly. Every minute, God extends more mercy.”

“After stripping me of myself, you are clothing me with yourself.”

[Jason Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donne is the richest of Renaissance poets and his prose meditations , here modernised and arranged for daily reading, are visceral. Through sickness they show Donne finding a new sense of providence, kindness, gratitude and peace with a strong conviction of divine presence certainly spurs me to read the original .

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and profound.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely idea for a book! However, I wish Yancey would have included the original works of John Donne (which I love), not just a modernized summary.

[Cameron Barham]

“By dulling my bodily senses to the pleasures of this world, you have sharpened my spiritual senses to my awareness of yourself. After stripping me of myself, you are clothing me with yourself.”, p. 19

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Pain redeemed impresses me more than pain removed.” - Philip Yancey

“Undone” is yet another incredible installment to Yancey’s bibliography. The difference is that the majority of the book is actually written by John Donne, a poet and cleric of the Church of England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. During Covid restrictions, Yancey revisited Donne’s writings when Donne was diagnosed with the Bubonic plague. What he pulls out and highlights is a powerful battle between the mind of men and the faith that perseveres to move a God of love and mercy.

It’s so beautiful. It’s so poetic. A man stricken with an illness and little hope for recovery wrestles with God. He expresses his frustrations and falls back into trust and praise. He admittedly pushes the boundaries of heresy but always comes back to worship and admiration of God. It’s such a relatable back and forth, and it’s so powerful to see that God isn’t intimidated or upset that we ask challenging questions when we don’t understand but are trying to make sense of our circumstances.

It’s not a lack of faith to desire understanding from God. The lack of faith comes when we work our way through all the questions we have and don’t fall on the side of trusting God. Yancey explains it like this, “Donne started with the question of “Cause” who caused this? To which he found no answer. Then he slowly moved to “Response”. Will I trust God in my circumstances or will I turn away from God in bitterness and anger?… Trust represents the proper fear of the Lord”

The last few chapters is Yancey reflecting on a recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease being given to him. In them he takes Donne’s writings and is encouraged by them to choose faith over fear. He is encouraged by them to reflect on his possible responses to circumstances he has no control of and ask himself how he can respond in trust of the Lord and what that looks like.

I was encouraged by this book. It spoke to my heart. It was so refreshing to read of a man wrestling with God in a very similar way to ways I have wrestled with God. Albeit Donne is significantly more poetic in his wrestlings with God! 😂 Still, to read his story and see similarities to his questions and my own in difficult seasons was uplifting. Especially after reading about how he survived his circumstances, and knowing without much doubt, that it was his wrestling with God but continually falling on the side of faith despite every reason to doubt was the single biggest reason he survived. His faith touched God and God moved in his circumstances. If that doesn’t encourage you… well… then you haven’t ever been undone.

[David Bannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

PHILIP YANCEY REWRITES A PANDEMIC CLASSIC
A fresh, contemporary take on John Donne’s Devotions

“Death, be not proud,” “for whom the bell tolls,” “no man is an island” — John Donne’s words are part of our language. But what does a 17th-century cleric have to offer today’s readers?

Quite a bit, according to author Philip Yancey. “I have updated John Donne’s Devotions in a modern paraphrase,” Yancey notes, explaining that he was “struck by its relevance to our modern pandemic.”

In 2020, Yancey was confined at home during the initial coronavirus lock down. “What would a great writer in such circumstances produce today,” Yancey asked himself, “especially a writer of faith?”

The answer was right in front of him in John Donne’s Devotions.

Donne thought he was dying. The poet and author was dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral when he fell ill with what the doctors believed was the pandemic of his age, the Black Death or “spotted fever”, known today as bubonic plague. He anticipated a cruel, lingering demise.

Bedridden, Donne wrote a journal of his terror, frustration, disappointment and supplications to God. These twenty-three meditations constitute his book, Devotions, one of the great masterpieces of English literature.

“His journal of wrestling with God is timeless,” Yancey observed in his introduction to the first edition. “Nowhere have I found such a wise meditation on the human condition as in the journal he kept while confined to bed during a pandemic.”

The result is Yancey’s unique take on Donne’s Devotions — a paraphrase for modern readers. The book is as contemporary as anything we might find in a bookstore. In an age that has turned “authenticity” into a marketing gimmick, this new approach to Donne’s heart-wrenching meditations is timeless in a way that few snappy titles can match.

Many of the passages are refreshing in their candor, wisdom and modern relevance. Those of us struck by COVID-19 can appreciate Donne’s plain language. Three examples:

“I feel miserable! A minute ago I was well, and now I’m sick.” “I follow a strict diet and get plenty of exercise. Despite all my health precautions, it sweeps in like an intruder.” “I don’t mean to portray the human condition any worse or miserable than it is — if that’s even possible.”

Under Yancey’s skillful paraphrase, Donne’s words are at times artful, at times raw and savage. His pious and confident entries are coupled with resentment and despair. He speaks of devotion, adoration, gratitude, frailty, fear and betrayal. In a reverie that is purely Donne, even time seemed to turn on him: “Think about it. As material beings, we’re hemmed in by time. . . . the past has already disappeared, the future doesn’t yet exist, and the present is so fleeting that as soon as you say the word it has joined the past.”

The cleric thought the illness would kill him (it did not). He complained to God and challenged death.

In Donne’s day, the pious were encouraged to face death with a placid, obedient, even joyful heart. This model, known as the art of dying well (ars moriendi), did not satisfy him.

His Devotions suggest that fear, impatience and doubt are healthier than any “ideal” of acquiescence. He wrote from experience. After losing three children, three others that were stillborn, and finally his wife, the poet declared that “There is no health . . . and can there be worse sickness / than to know that we are never well, nor can be so?”

If grief made Donne stronger, it also gave him an appreciation of the value of life. In Devotions we travel with a patient who refuses to bow meekly to disease and death. His meditations are equal parts acceptance and resistance, heartfelt supplication and bitter demand.

Donne felt a sense of impending demise in a time when he was surrounded by death. He writes with a palpable undertone of anger and resolve. It is in these passages that Yancey’s paraphrase excels: “Though you’ve laid me upon my hearse, I won’t let go until you’ve seen me through this crisis, which holds my life in the balance.”

Donne recovered. Fear was replaced by hope. In his weakness from a lifetime of grief and a narrow brush with death Donne discovered new strength: “I have learned that my bodily strength is subject to every puff of wind, and my spiritual strength to every blast of vanity . . . May I become so surefooted as to remove all suspicions or jealousies between you and me.”

Yancey inevitably left out much of Donne’s wit, wordplay, rhetoric, allusions and alliterations. (He confesses that the task left him “wincing at my own effrontery.”) This bold approach to another writer’s words is not new to the author.

As a young journalist, Yancey collaborated with Paul Brand to create books on the question of pain, allowing the doctor’s voice and vision to come through unhindered. Yancey applies those lessons to his paraphrase of Donne’s meditations. He never gets in the way.

The result is not a book by Philip Yancey. This is John Donne — as authentic and modern as ever.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book from Rabbit Room Press as part of my Lent reading plan for 2025. I had never read Donne's Devotions, before, so I can't really compare it to the original text, but I have read Philip Yancey before, and have enjoyed what I have read.

Again, I can't say if I think Yancey did a good job of "rendering" these devotions, but they were enjoyable. Well, "enjoyable" may not be the best word for it, considering the circumstances. You see, John Donne wrote the journal that became his Devotions while he thought he was dying from the plague. It was 1623, during an epidemic of bubonic plague in London. Donne got sick, and, for all appearances, it looked like the plague. These devotions cover all of the emotional turmoil that he went through during that time, which he did survive, as it turns out.

Ironically, as the book was being edited, Yancey, himself, received a diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease.

There are a total of 30 devotional readings in this book. The first two are written by Yancey, followed by the 23 that make up Donne's Devotions, and then five more, written by Yancey. I will say that not all of them inspired me or spoke to me (hence only a four-star rating). But there was at least one that spoke quite loudly to me, and it was the one on "Fear," which is Day 8 of the book.

As this particular one beings, Donne is writing about how the doctor who is attending him is trying to hide his own fear, but not being successful at it, which causes Donne, of course, to be more fearful. Donne writes about how fear insinuates itself into every area of the mind, and is able to counterfeit diseases. And as he works through it, he makes this conclusion: "I must not let my own fear prevent me from receiving from him [the doctor] - or God - the assistance and consolation that I need.

And then he drops the bomb that changed my life. "Fear can suffocate a relationship." And that is exactly what the devil wants to do. He wants to suffocate any relationship in our lives that is healthy and good for us, including our relationship with God.

Donne goes on to say, "You command me both to speak to you and to fear you - don't those two cancel each other out?" As he works through this conundrum, it is absolutely fascinating. We are to speak to God at all times, yet we are to fear Him at all times. Of course, this "fear" is seen more as reverence than outright terror.

He reminds us that God is always available to us. And the apparent contradictions (though they are not) continue. "How can I freely converse with you, in all places at all hours, if I fear you? Dare I ask this question? There is more boldness in the question than in the answer. You welcome my approach though I fear you; I cannot make that approach except I fear you. . . . Indeed, you have arranged that if we fear you, we need not fear anything else."

I am not exaggerating when I say that this reading changed my life. I awoke the next day to realize that I had been truly delivered from all my fears. And a number of weeks later, (22 days, actually, as this was Day 8), that remains to be true.

Another great reading was Day 29, written by Yancey, called "Compassion, Not Blame," in which Yancey speaks harshly against any so-called "prophetic" attempts to claim that natural disasters are the cause of some group of people's sin.

But for me, the chapter on fear was worth the price of the whole book.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in a good resource for Lent, or in historical devotions, or in John Donne, himself.

[Angela Blount · Rating 5 out of 5]

"All day, every day, there are wounds and wonders at the very heart of life; if we have eyes to see."

A thoughtful, eloquent, and timely release during the first year of the Covid pandemic.

I'd heard of John Donne's Devotions, only in that I knew of his "For whom the bell tolls" and "No man is an island" quotes. But I didn't actually understand the context. (i.e. Donne wrote his original poetic and theological musings in 1630, amid the deaths of his beloved wife and several of their children and while he was--as he believed--dying from the black plague.)

"I've been through deep waters, oh God; dealing with a sickness beyond my strength to resist. At such a time I call on you for strength."

Here, Yancey has carved out some of the more prominent parts of the original work and updated the word choices/wording in order to supply accessibility to a wider and more current audience. And I must say, I appreciate him for it.

What struck me most powerfully was the explanation that when Donne heard the tolling of the bells for yet another victim of the plague, he thought perhaps he was worse off than his doctors had let on, and so the bells tolled for him. '"And that's when he wrote Meditation 17 on the meaning of the church bells. The most famous portion of Devotions, and one of the most celebrated passages in English literature: "No man is an island. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less."'

And then of course the line: "Anyone's death diminishes me, because I am involved in all humanity. Therefore, never ask for whom the bells tolls. It tolls for you and for me." Which is only a minor tweaking of Donne's original: *“Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

This work is a poignant commentary on suffering, loss, grief, and the facing of one's own mortality. But for all that, and its sometimes guttural honesty, it's not a downer.

Favorite Quotes:

-"My God, I have a bone to pick. Not with you, but with those who object to the ceremony of bells at funerals. Some oppose the tradition because pagans practiced it. Well, they conducted funerals too. Others object because Christians believe bells may drive away evil spirits. What of it? I don't doubt that the evil spirit is annoyed by the sound, for it serves to bring the congregation together..."

-"So much of life mixes sorrow with joy. And so much happiness turns out to be spurious. Even what we think of as virtues are tied to misery. I must be poor and needy before I can exercise the virtue of gratitude. Pushed to the limit before I can exercise the virtue of patience. How deep we dig, and for such impure gold."

-"Those who live on the Mediterranean think of it as a great sea because they have never seen the ocean. Similarly, we think our own afflictions the heaviest, because we don't know what others are going through."

[James Buccini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philip Yancey’s modern rendering of John Donne’s “Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions”, written while a bubonic plague epidemic was raging in London, faithfully updates the 1623 language while preserving its force and immediacy. Five Stars. This is a gift to those who may find Donne’s original writings hard to access. It is best read when life is going well—the time to build reserves before inevitable times of adversity, pain, and suffering—to be better equipped with a “holy indifference” that rests on renewed confidence in what was accomplished through the Resurrection. Donne’s original work remains an amazingly relevant book, ranked by The Guardian among the 100 greatest nonfiction works of English literature.

Excerpts: “In his crisis, Donne managed to achieve a ‘holy indifference’ to death: not by a discounting of death’s horror—his later sermons contain vivid depictions of those horrors—but rather by a renewed confidence in resurrection. If Donne could somehow time-travel into modern times, he would no doubt be aghast at how little attention we give to the afterlife. Today, people are almost embarrassed to talk about such a belief. We fear heaven as our ancestors feared hell. The notion seems quaint, cowardly, an escape from this world’s problems. What inversion of values, I wonder, has led us to commend a belief in no afterlife as brave, and dismiss a hope for blissful eternity as cowardly?” (pp. 120–21)

“In his disputation with God, Donne has changed questions. He began with the question of cause—’Who caused this illness, this plague? And why?’—for which he found no answer. The meditations move ever so gradually toward the question of response, the defining issue that confronts every person who suffers. Will I trust God with my crisis, and the fear it provokes? Or will I turn away from God in bitterness and anger? Donne decided that in the most important sense it did not matter whether his sickness was a chastening or merely a natural occurrence. In either case he would trust God, for in the end trust represents the proper fear of the Lord.” (p. 143)

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW x YZ (25/26 reading through the alphabet)

Almost there! 25 down, 1 to go!

Written during the global COVID pandemic, Philip Yancey chose to turn way, way back to John Donne's Devotions, a nearly 400-year-old manuscript, for guidance. In it he found many similarities between Donne, who lived and wrote during the Bubonic plague back in the 1600s, and life during the COVID days....or life during the days of any crisis, really. He faithfully and accurately converts Donne's 17th century writing into the language of today; it was beautiful to listen to (did this one on audiobook) and contemplate. I legit now want to go back and read some of Donne's original writings and sermons; what a beautiful poet and writer.

Quotes:

“But the three-day pattern--Friday's tragedy, Saturday's despair, Sunday's triumph-- became for Jesus' followers a pattern that can be applied to all our times of tribulation. Good Friday demonstrates that God is not indifferent to our pain; God, too, is personally "acquainted with grief." Holy Saturday hints that we may go through seasons of confusion and seeming defeat. And Easter Sunday shows that, in the end, suffering will not prevail.”

“..those who live with pain and failure tend to be better stewards of their life circumstances than those who live with success and pleasure. Pain redeemed impresses me more than pain removed.”

“If we want to know how God feels about people who are suffering--from poverty, oppression, cancer, or a pandemic--all we need to do is look at Jesus compassionate response. God is on their side.”

[Ksorb · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a person who has long felt a keen kindredship with Philip Yancey, I somehow - in God's perfect timing - just discovered Undone. Because I also am reliably moved and edified by John Donne, and his generational cohorts like John Bunyan, buying Undone was a no-brainer. It came to my attention just as I was nearing the end of leading a ladies' six-week whirlwind deep-dive into Job. What a display of Providence!

It also came on the heels of recovery from health issues of my own. I was reading it this week in the waiting room for a ct scan. I relate to far too many touchpoints in his biographical details, and am on his heels...barely two years younger. My beloved b-in-law has ALS - and mighty faith! What a gift this book was for me in God's perfect timing on so many levels.

I don't know how a young person who has lived a life of ease and safety and love would feel about Undone, but it was manna to me from the Lord. I will read it again right away so it can sink deeper. I thank the Lord for the sufferings He has given - Holy "meat tenderizer" on my heart. And on Yancey's, too, I think.

This book evokes the sympathies in what was my constant heart cry as my young, healthy, strong, Godly husband lay in a sudden coma:

From The Diary Of An old Soul by George MacDonald -

"But Thou art making me, I thank Thee, Sire.
What thou hast done and doest Thou know'st well,
And I will help Thee: Gently in Thy Fire
I will lie burning; on Thy Potter's Wheel
I will lie patiently, though my brain should reel;
Thy grace shall be enough the grief to quell,
And growing strength perfect through weakness dire."

[Justin Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was incredibly excited to find out that the brilliant journalist Philip Yancey wrote a book inspired by the great English 17th century metaphysical poet John Donne! It was an honor to write two freelance articles on both Yancey and Donne this year!

This book is a modern translation of Donne's poignant book called "Devotions" he wrote when he was suffering from typhus while living through the bubonic plague. This book will be of great help to people who have been through hellish anxiety, dark seasons of doubt, depression, or a crisis of faith.

It is very honest, like the ancient Hebrew Psalms, in it's exploration of different existential questions about suffering and doubt, and also filled with a defiant hope in the sustaining agape love of Christ. As a person who struggles with anxiety and depression, I found "Undone" to be very spiritually nourishing. I highly recommend it!

[Andrea Frankenfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an encouraging read. I accidentally started reading it during Lent, which is 40 days, but a 30-day devotion was just the right speed for me in this season of life! It is an excellent companion to Lent. One of the things that will stick with me is the way death was seen as inevitable in Donne’s day. Sickness was a more expected part of life. And Yancey has done a great job modernizing it and weaving in pandemic experiences and his own personal Parkinson’s diagnosis. We are surprised by our morality and do not want to accept it. I do not want to suggest that I am racing toward death. On the contrary, I want to live a long, healthy life, Lord willing. But I will keep thinking about what it means to mortal.

[Dawn Dishman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A peek into the journal of John Donne during the time of the Bubonic Plague epidemic in London in 1623. Donne becomes sick himself and his journal entries show his wrestling with God over his disease and death. It is a poignant progression of denial and anger, to trust and faith.

Philip Yancey took Donne’s journal and edited it for modern readers. He includes his own thoughts on suffering and death, which he has written extensively about over the years.

I found myself addressing my own fears of death and dying. Great hope is found in the pages. Not pat answers that are hollow, but deep assurances of God’s Presence even when there are no answers. Death is not the worst thing that happens to all of us. Having no hope seems worse.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

During Covid, Philip Yancey turned to John Donne's Devotions written 400 years ago during the bubonic plague epidemic in London. He decided a project was in store, to make Donne's work accessible to us. At the same time, Yancey was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Donne's contemplative search for guidance and solace as he lay ill and likely dying addressed the world's most significant questions about pain, death, patience and fear. Each chapter has Donne's reflections and closes with a prayer. Anyone struggling with illness and prolonged pain or disability would benefit from meditating on this little book.

[Michele Morin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donne’s name may possibly call to mind some of his most famous quotes:
“No man is an island.”
“Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
“Death be not proud…”

Donne is not as well-known for his meditations on suffering, but Philip Yancey has distilled these into a 30-day devotional, rendering the archaic language into a more modern manner of expression. The book’s title is a play on words, Undone, layering the author’s name with our very human tendency to come undone in the presence of fear and death.

The book provides an intro to Donne’s thinking on suffering and a smidgen of Yancey’s interpretation which is just exactly what I needed.

[Susan B · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating may have been different (higher) had I been able to read through this more quickly. As I recall, the author suggests reading it like a daily devotional, and I tried that at first but ended up picking it up and setting it down intermittently so that it took MUCH longer to get through. Part of the issue was 'life,' part was likely the writing style. I'm thankful that Yancey has made the effort to update John Donne's Devotions for the modern reader (they were originally published in 1624), but the language maintains an antiquated tone. Perhaps a reader such as I needs a 'Message' translation.

I appreciated Yancey's own thoughts, expressed at the beginning and concluding sections of the book.