Where the Light Fell (by Philip Yancey)

(Amazon UK link)

I have acquired most of the books by Philip Yancey over the years. He’s one of my favourite American Christian writers, someone who writes from the heart, with honesty, acknowledging that often there are more questions than answers. In the books he has hinted - or stated outright, at times - that his childhood was difficult, and that he grew up in a racist, fundamentalist environment which he had to throw off to understand the grace of God.

So when I saw that he had written his biography, ‘Where the Light Fell’, I was eager to read it. Not quite keen enough to get hold of it in hardback, but when the paperback edition was available in the UK, I put it on my wishlist. I was given it for Christmas, and started reading it a few days later. I’ve read a chapter a day, sometimes more; today I was so intrigued to know how events panned out that I finished the last three or four chapters in one sitting.

Philip Yancey is an extremely talented writer, who manages to express situations and conversations in ways that are both easy to understand and yet profound. And he recounts his story without complaint, without asking anyone to feel sorry for him. His childhood was not the worst - as he and his brother discuss, towards the end of the book - but it was a very difficult one in a lot of ways.

Philip and his older brother Marshall were brought up by a committed fundamentalist Christian mother, after losing their father to polio when they boys were very young. It wasn’t until Philip was a young adult that he learned the shocking truth that their father chose to leave his ‘iron lung’, supported by his wife, as they believed that God would heal him. 

After the father died, their mother, in an agony of grief, dedicated her sons to God’s service, believing they would both be missionaries. She continued in her role teaching Bible studies, and counselling… and in public was a very strong, committed and caring woman. In private, possibly because she had nobody to talk to herself, she became easily angered, and was quite free with her hands and even belts, hitting her two young sons. 

But it’s not a depressing account; Yancey accepts that this is how it was, and as he looks back, he understands some of the reasons for his mother’s behaviour.  It wasn’t helped that they were part of a fundamentalist church, living in the American south, where racism was still active even in the 1960s. The children believed what they were told and rarely asked questions. 

The story moves on in sections - after anecdotes and descriptions of their childhood, the action moves forward to the college years. Both brothers are enrolled in a Bible college; both find it difficult to fit in, both become cynical in different ways. But although they were raised together, and had similar circumstances, Marshall was much more hot-tempered, while Philip was more of a peacemaker. And they reject their childhood fundamentalist faith in very different ways. Marshall throws it all out, Philip discovers Jesus.

There’s much more in this book, which I found both revealing and thought-provoking. It fills in a lot of gaps in the vague background I had understood for Philip Yancey’s life, and I’m sure it will help me make even more sense of his other books when I re-read them (as I do regularly).

I’m not always keen on biographies; some are full of facts or famous names. But ‘Where the Light Fell’ is honest, eloquent, and ultimately very inspiring.  Highly recommended.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews