book data
315 ratings, 4.13 average rating, 40 reviews
published
September 1st 1997 (first published 1988) by Zondervan
binding
Paperback, 304 pages
isbn
0310517818 (isbn13: 9780310517818)
find at: Amazon • WorldCat • more options…
description
Philip Yancey has a gift for articulating the knotty issues of faith. In Disappointment with God, he poses three questions that Christians wonder but Philip Yancey has a gift for articulating the knotty issues of faith. In Disappointment with God, he poses three questions that Christians wonder but seldom ask aloud: Is God unfair? Is he silent? Is he hidden? This insightful and deeply personal book points to the odd disparity between our concept of God and the realities of life. Why, if God is so hungry for relationship with us, does he seem so distant? Why, if he cares for us, do bad things happen? What can we expect from him after all? Yancey answers these questions with clarity, richness, and biblical assurance. He takes us beyond the things that make for disillusionment to a deeper faith, a certitude of God's love, and a thirst to reach not just for what God gives, but for who he is.
quotes from this book
"We tend to think, 'Life should be fair because God is fair.' But God is not life. And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life- by expecting constant good health for example- then I set myself up for crashing disappointment."
quotes by Philip Yancey
"To some, the image of a pale body glimmering on a dark night whispers of defeat. What good is a God who does not control his Son's suffering? But another sound can be heard: the shout of a God crying out to human beings, "I LOVE YOU." Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to - because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice. Any discussion of how pain and suffering fit into God's scheme ultimately leads back to the cross. "
— Philip Yancey
— Philip Yancey
"We admit that we will never reach our ideal in this life, a distinctive the church claims that most other human institutions try to deny."
— Philip Yancey (Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church)
— Philip Yancey (Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church)
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other reviews (showing 1-40 of 450)
All ratings 5 stars (120) 4 stars (124) 3 stars (62) 2 stars (7) 1 star (1) avg 4.13
editions: all this edition
editions: all this edition
Read in February, 2009
Well, what is there to say other than while dealing with deeply theological issues, Yancey's pertinent style refuses to allow this to be a purely intellectual matter. He states the problem, runs through an understanding of it, only to bring against it the same criticisms we all face when stuck in the middle of a painful situation. He deals with emotions on an emotional realistic level rather than trying to explain them away and always answer why.
Even i as a person who always wants t...more
Even i as a person who always wants t...more
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07/26/09
James is currently reading it Read in July, 2009
After class yesterday I walked over to Barnes and Nobles. I was in a nostalgic mood I suppose and seeing a familiar author was welcome. I read through the first hundred pages or so yesterday and was struck by how much I found the book speaks to me. It asks many of the same questions I have asked. It also speaks about our expectations vs who God actually is in the Bible. Yancey uses examples found in the Bible where many of our desires of God (a more clear presence, closeness, physical prese...more
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I liked that this book dealt very honestly with the issue of believers facing disappointment with God. I like that Philip Yancey doesn't give the "right" answers, and in fact goes out of his way to debunk a lot of the predigested bumper-sticker rhetoric that so many Christians are content to swallow and regurgitate. I do have to say though, that like most Christian nonfic books I've read, the author says what he has to say in the first several chapters, and then spends the next couple ...more
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Read in January, 2006
Among the few books I have read more than once because of its immense value in loving and trusting God.
Poignant Quotes:
"The Wager resolved decisively that the faith of a single human being counts for very much indeed. Job affirms that our response to testing matter."
"...the remarkable truth that our choices matter, not just to us and our own destiny but, amazingly, to God himself and the universe he rules."
"Faith means bel...more
Poignant Quotes:
"The Wager resolved decisively that the faith of a single human being counts for very much indeed. Job affirms that our response to testing matter."
"...the remarkable truth that our choices matter, not just to us and our own destiny but, amazingly, to God himself and the universe he rules."
"Faith means bel...more
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My very first Philip Yancey book to read. I bought this book as a Christmas gift for myself (in lieu of a new bag hehe) and more importantly, to deal with what's been bothering me for the past year. Is God silent? Is he hidden? Is he unfair? Though this book wasn't really able to answer all my questions (about God, about life) but it has somehow quieted my troubled, restless spirit (which I so very worked hard to hide from others) and made me hope again. Now I can face the new year more co...more
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Read in April, 1998
Still one of the best Christian books I've read. It deals with the real difficulties of life without over-simplification and trite black and white answers. Yancey wrote this before he penned "Jesus I Never Knew," and much of his ideas in this book is repeated in the latter books. The difference between this book and majority of popular Christian books: the author is actually a great thinker and writer.
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Read in December, 2008
Yancey is one of my favorite Christian authors. He seems to have an inquisitive mind and seems willing to pay attention to other authors who do not have the same outlook as he does. I like the fact that he quotes from Luther, Buechner, Lewis and others.
I am not dealing right now with the "dark night of the soul". My relationship with G-d will always need strengthening, but my life is good at the moment. I think that that fact means this book had less meaning than it mig...more
I am not dealing right now with the "dark night of the soul". My relationship with G-d will always need strengthening, but my life is good at the moment. I think that that fact means this book had less meaning than it mig...more
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03/17/09
Sherry added it Read in March, 2009
I have re read this again at different times in my life and always find different parts of it speak to me. It's about having faith that we may not know all that is happening in a spiritual realm above and beyond us and even if we did, we may not be able to comprehend it.
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add a comment Read in June, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. It deals with the topic of how sometimes (or most times) we feel like God isn't near us. We go through tough times and wonder where God is in all of that, but really, another way to view it is where are we in all of this? What is our response to God when we endure heartache or disease?
Many people want to see God, to have miracles happen all the time, to have every prayer answered. Philip Yancey gives some good arguments as to why God doesn't do this. It's...more
Many people want to see God, to have miracles happen all the time, to have every prayer answered. Philip Yancey gives some good arguments as to why God doesn't do this. It's...more
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add a comment Read in January, 2004
Yancey is one of the greatest Christian thinkers of our day.
This book is honest, not Sunday school honest, real life honest. Yancey systematically explores the questions that haunt most human beings.
This book is honest, not Sunday school honest, real life honest. Yancey systematically explores the questions that haunt most human beings.
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Read in July, 2008
There are many books out there that talk about God answering prayer and delivering people from suffering. However, if you are not having prayers answered the way you want and God doesn't pull you out of suffering, it is natural to ask, "But what about when God doesn't deliver!?" This book talks about that in a really honest way that I appreciated. It doesn't make you feel guilty for questioning God and his methods. It also pointed to the day when we will be ultimately delivered fro...more
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add a comment Read in April, 2009
When I first read this in 1999, I thought it was an excellent and inspiring book. It looks at people who have felt let down by God. Focussing on the book of Job, the three main questions asked are: Is God hidden? Is he silent? Is he fair?
There are no clichés or pat answers, but several honest attempts to find some meaning and reason in the apparently random quirks of life.
On second reading, ten years later, I did not find it so inspiring... possibly because I reme...more
There are no clichés or pat answers, but several honest attempts to find some meaning and reason in the apparently random quirks of life.
On second reading, ten years later, I did not find it so inspiring... possibly because I reme...more
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Read in February, 2005
What I admire most about Philip Yancey is that he asks the questions (and publicly) that so many Christians would like to hush up. He's okay with life being untidy. The three queries he poses: Is God unfair? Is he silent? Is he hidden? Yancey's willing to follow these questions all the way down and share what he's found. His prose is clear if not poetic, and that's okay. He just tends to strip things down to basics and build them back up again with a biblical backdrop. He pulls no punches and do...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for: EveryoneYancey does a nice job of exploring three questions that no one asks aloud: Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden? He imparts personal experiences with solid Bible knowledge to give a wonderful overview of the human race's disappointment throughout the Bible in Part I. In Part II, Yancey continues to use Scripture references to further help us uncover the tough answers to the most important questions. It gives a new perspective on life, that is the perspective of God. It also encourag...more
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add a comment Read in January, 2001
This helped me get through a miscarriage, among other things.
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add a comment Read in May, 2007
recommends it for: Anyone looking to explore the paradoxes of faith in ChristOverall, I learned that God is God, and I am not. My ways are not His ways, and though that's not always a sufficient explaination for why bad things happen to us in life, it's the best we've got, so I'll rest in that. Yancey breaks down the book of Job into OUR struggle, and not just the desperate struggle of a man who might/might not have lived three thousand plus years ago. He is able to truly make that book of the Old Testament come alive, and I will always recommend people read his stuff...more
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After the Bible, one of the most important books I've ever read.
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Read in November, 2003
I read this book for its title. It described just how I was feeling my freshman year of college. This is one I should revisit very soon and I could write a more thorough review. I just wanted to include it now because it's one of my very few books. The thing about Yancey is that is not afraid to talk about the feelings and emotions that are tied up with our Christianity. BUT he actually has Scripture texts and verses that support his questions and his somewhat incomplete but satisfying conclusio...more
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Definitely an existentialist read on Christianity. Very real to life perceptions of Jesus, His life, His plan. This book is for those of us who have tried to buy into the traditional well-meaning but off-center Chritian dogma that has cycled back to a 'pharaseical' philosphy of 'fit this shape' or you do not belong, which certainly does not represent Christ.
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