Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing?

What on earth are we missing? Philip Yancey believes we are missing the supernatural hidden in everyday life. In Rumors of Another World, Yancey investigates the natural world and discovers the supernatural hiding in plain view. He grapples with why God made the world and what our role truly is, and seeks to answer the question, “How do I live in the natural world while expressing the values of the supernatural?” Philip writes, “I have come to understand faith as the highest form of integrated encounter. Faith puts together, assembles, re-orders, accepting the entire world as God’s handiwork. We live among clues, like rescuers sifting through pieces of stained glass shattered by a bomb, and only with a blueprint or some memory of original design can we begin to connect the shards, to assemble them into a pattern that makes sense of our world. “Nature and supernature are not two separate worlds, but different expressions of the same reality. To encounter the world as a whole, we need a more supernatural awareness of the natural world.” Yancey invites readers to join him on a journey of discovery. He challenges us to tune into “rumors of another world,” and connect the seen with the unseen. He promises that the grace-filled result will be a life of beauty, purpose, freedom, and faith. From Publishers Weekly In a work that is startling and original, Yancey (What's So Amazing About Grace?; The Jesus I Never Knew) writes for people on the "borderlands" of Christian faith: those who may have been scarred by bad church experiences, or those who simply have more doubts and questions than they have faith. Most people, he says, perceive "rumors of another world" while inhabiting this one; they long for something more, and yearn for belief in God's transcendence. We substitute other things for God in order to fill this void. (In a chapter that by itself is worth the price of admission, Yancey claims that our culture's fascination with sex stems from the fact that sex is one of the only transcendent, mysterious experiences remaining in the contemporary West.) The quality of Yancey's writing-and his thinking-are simply superb. He is fond of modern literary giants like Simone Weil, Virginia Woolf and Evelyn Waugh and is apt to defer to the insights of 20th-century poets such as T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden. He also draws from his understanding of God-in-nature (shades of Annie Dillard here) and from his travels all over the world, using Tasmanian sheep to illustrate a point about human freedom and Costa Rican leatherback turtles to demonstrate "the mixed messages in nature." One particularly powerful chapter discusses the thorny-and unpopular-topics of guilt and repentance. Yancey, one of the Christian market's best writers, shows a marvelous ability to speak to the world outside that market.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review 'Philip Yancey is a unique modern Christian writer who combines the challenges of real everyday living with that haunting sense of responsibility and obligation to the Creator. Rumors of Another World is a work designed to inspire debate and reflection among those seeking the Kingdom. His insights will strike a chord and encourage the soul.' -- John Kasich, Managing Director -- John Kasich From the Back Cover What on earth are we missing? Philip Yancey believes we are missing the supernatural hidden in everyday life. In Rumors of Another World, Yancey investigates the natural world and discovers the supernatural hiding in plain view. He grapples with why God made the world and what our role truly is, and seeks to answer the question, 'How do I live in the natural world while expressing the values of the supernatural?' Philip writes, 'I have come to understand faith as the highest form of integrated encounter. Faith puts together, assembles, re-orders, accepting the entire world as God's handiwork. We live among clues, like rescuers sifting through p