Book Review: Rumors of Another World

I need to start this review with a few caveats:

1) I do not agree with a lot of Philip Yancey's "pendulum swinging". He comes from a Fundamentalist background (as do I), but he was burned badly by the viciously legalistic variety (as he tells it)- I was not.

2) I do not agree with Yancey's theological take on homosexuality.

3) I do agree with the love and grace with which he treats homosexuals - and everyone else, as near as I can tell.

Having said that, let me get on with the actual review...

Yancey writes books that are easy to read. I mean that as a compliment. He has gobs and gobs of interesting anecdotal information to share with his readers. He does research that many authors of his style would not. He's particularly transparent, too.

He wrote Rumors of Another World for those on the "borderlands" of faith - those that are either of the faith, but wavering or those that are not of the faith, but are increasingly curious. I'll own up to being in neither of these categories, and as such the book was perhaps not really written for me. That may explain why I didn't enjoy it as much as What's So Amazing About Grace?...

Yancey's basic take is that if we look hard enough, we'll find that the supernatural world consistently and regularly breaks into the natural world. I takes eyes of faith to see these overlaps, though. He uses Augustine's notion of two cities - the City of God and the City of Man - to explain his thesis. We hold dual citizenship and can therefore see the overlap more readily than someone who is only a citizen of this world. He uses many, many engaging anecdotes to explain this. Frankly, they're the best part of the book! From the Elephant Man to personal notes of C S Lewis, Yancey has done his homework.

In the end, Yancey comes to the place where (I think) most Christians rest: we don't really want God to break out in a song and dance to tell the world He's here. It would ruin the intimacy of faith. So we content ourselves with the glimmers of the "other world" that we see around us, striving to live primarily as citizens of Heaven without neglecting our obligations here on Earth. And we strive to use those "rumors of another world" to engage other people that the Spirit may be leading.

This book is probably best read by someone on the "borderlands". I read it simply because I like Yancey's style. I was not disappointed with Rumors of Another World, but neither would I recommend it very highly either.

Hatushili