Phillip Yancy Interview

All writers and readers should read this interview.

A Conversation with Philip Yancey
Michael Cusick probes the heart of one of Christendom's best thinkers

Copyright © 1994 Mars Hill Review 1 Founded in 1994 · Premier Issue: pgs 89-102.

I pick up the interview in the middle. The rest is here

Mars Hill: Who are you currently drawn to in your own personal reading life?

PY: Well, the most recent book I read was Lancelot by Walker Percy. Percy is one of the unusual persons who writes novels of ideas, especially something like The Thanatos Syndrome, and Second Coming; these are idea novels that aren't so much in vogue these days. They got me interested in Percy, so just last night I started a biography of Percy called Pilgrim in the Ruins, by Jay Tolson. It's a wonderful book. I'm also reading again, The Imitation of Christ, by A'Kempis. I also have about four bookshelves of books I need to get to. Some of them are science by people like Loren Eiseley, Freeman Dyson. Others of them are literature. And I try one night a week to read from the classics, either Shakespeare or one of the Russians. I've just been reading The Creators, by Daniel Boorstin, the Librarian of Congress. It's a massive book on art throughout the centuries. A huge topic and a huge book. I've got to tell you, though, the Christians stand out strong. One of the most recent chapters I read was on Dostoevsky, one of the people who really taught me theology. He's taught the world theology. He's taught people who don't believe in God theology because he is that powerful. People who would never read a book by Francis Schaeffer or Karl Barth read Dostoevsky and he's talking to them about God.

Mars Hill: Since we're talking about writers, you called Augustine, Buechner, Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, Lewis, Moltmann, MacDonald, Pascal, Sayers, Thielicke, and Williams your pastors. That doesn't seem like the traditional view of pastoring. In what sense have they pastored you?

PY: As I understand it, pastors do... more