If you want an education about what Christianity is not, take a look at Phillip Yancey's just released autobiography, Where the Light Fell--a damning exposure of what American Evangelicalism is really all about and a sweeping castigation of this deeply rooted heresy which has been masquerading for so long as the true faith.
As many may know, Yancey is the author of dozens of Christian books, the lion's share of which explore the essential questions of Christianity (What's So Great About Grace?, Where is God When it Hurts, Reaching for the Invisible God, and so on). He is a remarkably adept organizer of material and commentary and and presents his remarks in a manner that is both informative and easily accessible (unlike, for instance, theologian David Bentley Hart, whose work is fascinating but very, very dense indeed). Yancey gives us Christianity for the common man, and yet Christianity that is fiercely honest, examines itself, and strives to get itself right.
Although I had read a number of Yancey's books, and knew vaguely of his Evangelical upbringing, I had no idea of how brutal his struggle had been to escape from beneath its dark and ponderous paws, starting with the paws of a mother who was both 'holy' and wholly crazy apparently, serving ultimately I suppose as a metaphor for the tyranny of the cult he was steeped in from birth.
The truth will set you free, as the saying goes--as long as you have the courage to contend with the lies.
No comments:
Post a Comment