Philip Yancey’s newest book, The Question That Never Goes Away, is a brief but poignant revisit to a topic he first tackled at age 27 in his book: Where Is God When It Hurts? Yancey, who has published 30 books and is considered one of the most widely published evangelical Christian authors of his generation, acknowledges that the answer is never simple, and yet the question cannot be sidestepped: “I am well aware that no book can ‘solve’ the problem of pain,” Yancey writes in his first chapter. “Yet I feel compelled to pass along what I have learned from the land of suffering. If Christians have good news to share, some message of hope or comfort for a wounded world, it must begin here.
[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: Zondervan
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle
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“I could write about the question in any given year, in fact, for we live on a fragile planet, marred by disease, floods and droughts, earthquakes, fires, wars, acts of violence, and terrorism. Whether catastrophic or commonplace, suffering always lurks nearby. …What is God up to in a such a world?”
The Question is a small, appealingly presented hard-cover book that would tuck nicely into a shoulder bag or a gift bag. And, true to Yancey’s reputation, beneath the intriguing cover lies wisdom: Yancey writes that he grew up among Christians who placed too much emphasis on the afterlife, tossing off this world as a pre-life state we must merely endure to get to where we’re going. But where is the hope and joy in a life merely endured, Yancey asks? And how do we locate hope, joy, and peace when pain abounds? “God alone can offer a solution for the problem of suffering,” Yancey writes, and The Question explores the answer in a way that is both readable and immediately applicable to the lives we lead.
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