Soul Survivor

by Philip Yancy

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[James]

Subtitle: How My Faith Survived the Church. This is the first book I've read of Philip Yancy. The book starts out with a memoir, of sorts, of his journey through faith. This is primarily told as the story of liberation from the horrible church of his youth to his finding a new kind of faith. The book is about his journey, and the people who impacted him along the way. Thus he dedicates each chapter to an author who had a profound impact on him. The authors range quite a bit in their professional field (doctors to writers to spiritual leaders), their place in history (some I had never heard of, others are well known), and their spiritual beliefs. Each one had a specific impact on him, whether through personal friendship or just through their writing. I found the book to be enriching because of the range of stories he tells. Each chapter is a short snipit into the life of an incredible person, and each chapter is intriguing and inspiring in that way. This is also a great source of reading material, as I was interested after almost every chapter in reading the recommended books - both by and about the person of interest (while being fully aware that I likely won't be reading all of it). If you are looking for a source of diverse and interesting reads, this might be a good place to look. I would probably recommend it to people who enjoy in the intersection of faith and writing, since he is a writer discussing other writers about faith.

My one critique of this book is the authors almost incessant need to protect the reader from real life, current-day Christians. I appreciated his insight into the world of Christianity, where the Christians are the ones who hurt the message the most, and where abuse, narrowmindedness and judgment have kept many people at arms length from the church, and where there is an apparent gap between conservative Christians and liberal society. I found myself agreeing with a lot of what he said, and even seeing some of my story in his. But I found the message gone a bit too far at times, a bit too apologetic, a bit trying too hard (if that is possible given all that has happened in history), and I tired of being played on these emotions (read: easy to play on). All in all, it was a great book though. It was recommended to me in a time of doubt and confusion, especially in my perspective on the church. In these areas I found a lot of comfort and inspiration, and I will probably look into reading some of his other books.

Anyways, so here's the important part: the people he's writing about… Martin Luther King Jr., G.K. Chesterton, Dr. Paul Brand, Dr. Robert Coles, Leo Tolstoy and Feodor Dostoevsky, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. C. Everett Koop, John Donne, Annie Dillard, Frederick Buechner, Shusaku Endo, and Henri Nouwen.

[Rachelle Seymore · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite authors.

This book is quite different as it almost reads like eassays on different people that he valued in life. But they all played a role in helping him to survive the church.

I share many of Yancy's issues with the church. He writes about people who weren't necessarily Christians but they tried to live like Jesus.

the message in the book is clear to me. Instead of trying to live a religious life or a Christian life, rather live your life and do as Jesus would have done.