{"product_id":"where-the-light-fell-isbn-9780593238523","title":"Where the Light Fell","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn this searing meditation on the bonds of family and the allure of extremist faith, one of today’s most celebrated Christian writers recounts his unexpected journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to a life of compassion and grace—a revelatory memoir that “invites comparison to \u003ci\u003eHillbilly Elegy\u003c\/i\u003e” (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly,\u003c\/i\u003e starred review). \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e“Searing, heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”—Kate Bowler, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eEverything Happens for a Reason\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRaised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in 1950s Atlanta, Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, found ways to venture out beyond the confines of their eight-foot-wide trailer. But when Yancey was in college, he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSearching for answers, Yancey dives into his family origins, taking us on an evocative journey from the backwoods of the Bible Belt to the bustling streets of Philadelphia; from trailer parks to church sanctuaries; from family oddballs to fire-and-brimstone preachers and childhood awakenings through nature, music, and literature. In time, the weight of religious and family pressure sent both sons on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhere the Light Fell\u003c\/i\u003e is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post–World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and Sixties-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write,” says Yancey. “So many of the strands from my childhood—racial hostility, political division, culture wars—have resurfaced in modern form. Looking back points me forward.”“[Raw], honest, beautifully written, and at times searing . . . We live in a world that is always clouded by ungrace, by strife and anger and division, according to Yancey, and Christians should be on the other side . . . The pain of [Yancey’s] early life gives his words and his witness an authority and authenticity that he would otherwise not have. He has become, over time, a person to whom the wounded and the brokenhearted are drawn, compelled by his message of grace.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eWhere the Light Fell\u003c\/i\u003e is in many ways a classic spiritual autobiography tracing one man’s conversion from cynic to believer. But it’s more. It’s a searing family story as revelatory as gothic Southern fiction. It’s an exposé. It’s a social critique. It’s a tragedy. It’s a tale of redemption. . . . The memoir itself is an answer to the question that looms throughout: What do we do with the burdens, sins, and pain of our past?”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eChristianity Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Searing. Heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”\u003cb\u003e—Kate Bowler, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eEverything Happens for a Reason\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Philip Yancey is not just one of my favorite Christian writers, but one of my favorite writers, period. He is fearless in addressing the toughest questions and hardest times, the crucifixions we will all know during this life, the hope and shapes and colors of resurrection.”\u003cb\u003e—Anne Lamott, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eDusk Night Dawn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An illuminating autobiography that could very well have been titled \u003ci\u003eThe Philip Yancey Philip Never Knew.\u003c\/i\u003e Delicate, tender, humorous, and brutally honest, \u003ci\u003eWhere the Light Fell\u003c\/i\u003e accomplishes quite significantly as the author’s biography, but also as a biography of our nation grappling with her faith. At once pain-filled and healing, through this book we come to know a ‘trickster’ who falls into the ‘mysterious power of words,’ revealing the cracks and fragments of our culture at large, but reminding us afresh how grace can ultimately prevail over us.”\u003cb\u003e—Makoto Fujimura, founder of the International Arts Movement, artist, and author of \u003ci\u003eSilence and Beauty\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eArt and Faith: A Theology of Making\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] graceful, illuminating memoir, a gift to [Yancey’s] readers.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Booklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“[A] gripping memoir . . . Yancey’s eloquent descriptions of coming to faith and his exacting self-examination make this a standout. Exploring the corrosive role of fear in faith, Yancey’s piercing and painful account invites comparison to \u003ci\u003eHillbilly Elegy\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eWhere the Light Fell\u003c\/i\u003e could be a Faulkner novel, with racist preachers, off-kilter parenting, tormented siblings, and religious hypocrisy right and left. It’s not an overstatement to say that this stunning memoir might be the miracle we’ve all waited for. I believed every word.”\u003cb\u003e—Carolyn S. Briggs, author of\u003ci\u003e Higher Ground\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ePhilip Yancey\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of twenty-five books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Jesus I Never Knew, What’s So Amazing About Grace?,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSoul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church\u003c\/i\u003e. Yancey’s books have garnered thirteen Gold Medallion Book Awards from Christian publishers and booksellers. He currently has more than seventeen million books in print and has been published in over fifty languages worldwide. Yancey worked as a journalist and freelance author in Chicago for some twenty years, editing the youth magazine \u003ci\u003eCampus Life\u003c\/i\u003e while also contributing to a wide variety of publications including \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The Atlantic,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eChristianity Today\u003c\/i\u003e. He and his wife, Janet, live in the foothills of Colorado.There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—­Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 1\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Secret\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot until college do I discover the secret of my father’s death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy girlfriend, who will later become my wife, is making her first visit to my home city of Atlanta, in early 1968. The two of us stop by my grandparents’ house with my mother, have a snack, and retire to the living room. My grandparents sit in matching recliners across from the upholstered couch where Janet and I are seated. A television plays softly in the background, tuned to the ever-boring Lawrence Welk Show.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNormally my eighty-­year-­old grandfather snores through the ­program, waking just in time to pronounce, “Swellest show I ever saw!” Tonight, though, everyone is wide-­awake, fixing their attention on Janet. Philip’s never brought a girl over—­this must be serious.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConversation proceeds awkwardly until Janet says, “Tell me something about the Yancey family. I’m so sorry I’ll never get to meet Philip’s father.” Thrilled by her interest, my grandmother rummages in a closet to fetch some photo albums and family scrapbooks. As pages turn, Janet tries to keep straight all the names and faces flashing before her. This ancestor fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. That distant cousin died of a black widow spider bite. Her father succumbed to the Spanish flu.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuddenly a folded clipping from The Atlanta Constitution flutters from the album to the floor, newsprint yellowed with age. When I lean forward to retrieve it, a photo that I’ve never seen catches my eye.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA man lies on his back in a hospital bed, his body pitifully withered, his head propped up on pillows. Beside him, a smiling woman bends over to feed him with a spoon. Right away I recognize her as a slimmer, youthful version of my mother: the same prominent nose, the same mass of dark, curly hair, an early trace of the worry lines that now crease her forehead.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe photo caption stops me cold: “Polio Victim and Wife Spurn ‘Iron Lung.’ ” I hold the paper closer and block out the buzz of family chitchat. The printed words seem to enlarge as I read.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA 23-­year-­old Baptist minister, who was stricken with polio two months ago, has left the “iron lung” in which he was placed at Grady Hospital because, as he put it, “I believe the Lord wanted me to.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Rev. Marshall Yancey, of 436 Poole Creek Rd., Hapeville, said about 5,000 people from Georgia to California were praying for his recovery and he was confident he would be well “before too long.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe signed his own release from Grady against medical advice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose three words, against medical advice, send a chill through my body, as though someone has poured ice water down my spine. Sensing the change, Janet looks at me quizzically, her left eyebrow arched so high that it touches her bangs. I slide the clipping over so that she, too, can read it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe newspaper reporter quotes a Grady Memorial Hospital doctor, who warns that removal from the respirator “might do serious harm,” followed by a chiropractor who claims the patient is “definitely improving” and may begin walking in six weeks if he continues their course of treatment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen the article turns to my mother:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Yancey, the minister’s young, blue-­eyed wife, explained why her husband left Grady:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“We felt like he should be out of that iron lung. Lots of people who believe in faith healing are praying for him. We believe in doctors, but we believe God will answer our prayers and he will get well.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI glance at the newspaper’s date: December 6, 1950. Nine days before my father’s death. I flush red.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJanet has finished reading. Why didn’t you tell me about this? she asks with her eyes. I mime surprise: Because I didn’t know!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDozens, scores of times I have heard the saga of my father’s death, how a cruel disease struck down a talented young preacher in his prime, leaving a penniless widow with the noble task of wresting some meaning from the tragedy. My growing-­up years were dominated, even straitjacketed, by a vow she made—­that my brother and I would redeem that tragedy by taking on the mantle of our father’s life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNever, though, have I heard the backstory of what led to his death. When I replace the clipping in the scrapbook, I find on the facing page a similar account from my mother’s hometown newspaper The Philadelphia Bulletin. Quite by accident I am discovering that this man whom I never knew, a saintly giant looming over me all these years, was a sort of holy fool. He convinced himself that God would heal him, and then gambled everything—­his career, his wife, his two sons, his life—­and lost.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI feel like one of Noah’s sons confronting his father’s nakedness. The faith that exalted my father and gained him thousands of supporters, I now grasp, also killed him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs I lie in bed that night, memories and anecdotes from childhood flash before me, now appearing in a different light. A young widow lying on her husband’s grave, sobbing as she offers her two sons to God. That same widow, my mother, pausing to pray, “Lord, go ahead and take them unless . . .” before seeking help as her sons thrash convulsively on the floor. Her rage that erupts when my brother and I seem to stray from our appointed destiny.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn awful new realization hits me. My brother and I are the atonement to compensate for a fatal error in belief. No wonder our mother has such strange notions of parenting, and such fierce resistance to letting us go. We alone can justify our father’s death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter chancing upon the newspaper article, I have many conversations with Mother. “That was no life for him—­paralyzed, in that machine,” she says. “Imagine a grown man who can’t even swat a fly off his nose. He desperately wanted out of Grady Hospital. He begged me not to let anyone take him back there.” Her reasoning is sound, though unsatisfying.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I get that,” I protest, “but why was I never told about the faith healing? The most important fact of my father’s death I learned by chance, from a scrapbook. You invited a reporter into the room, and a photographer. You told them the truth, but not my brother and me!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce exposed, the mystery of my father’s death acquires a new, compulsive power. When I start asking around, a family friend confides in me, “So many of us were dismayed at their decision, moving your father from a well-­equipped hospital to a chiropractic center.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI feel as if someone has twisted the kaleidoscope of our family myth, scattering the shards to form a wholly new design. I share the news with my renegade brother, who has incurred Mother’s wrath by joining Atlanta’s hippie counterculture. He immediately jumps to the conclusion that she deprived us of a father by “pulling the plug” on her own husband. A chasm opens in our little family that likely will never be bridged.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI don’t know what to think. I know only that I have been misled. The secret is now out, and I determine to investigate and write it down someday, as truthfully as I can.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLove in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—­Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov","brand":"Convergent Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300196339941,"sku":"NP9780593238523","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593238523.jpg?v=1767744059","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/where-the-light-fell-isbn-9780593238523","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}