Christian author Philip Yancey has confessed to having an 8-year-long affair with a married woman and will retire from writing and ministry as a result, according to a story in Christianity Today.
Yancey is perhaps best known for his books The Jesus I Never Knew and What’s So Amazing About Grace? He has sold more than 15 million copies and his books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He told CT in a statement:
To my great shame, I confess that for eight years I willfully engaged in a sinful affair with a married woman.
My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage. It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families. I will not share further details out of respect for the other family.
I have confessed my sin before God and my wife, and have committed myself to a professional counseling and accountability program. I have failed morally and spiritually, and I grieve over the devastation I have caused. I realize that my actions will disillusion readers who have previously trusted in my writing. Worst of all, my sin has brought dishonor to God. I am filled with remorse and repentance, and I have nothing to stand on except God’s mercy and grace.
I am now focused on rebuilding trust and restoring my marriage of 55 years. Having disqualified myself from Christian ministry, I am therefore retiring from writing, speaking, and social media. Instead, I need to spend my remaining years living up to the words I have already written. I pray for God’s grace and forgiveness—as well as yours—and for healing in the lives of those I’ve wounded.
His wife, Janet, to whom he’s been married for 55 years, also said in a statement:
I, Janet Yancey, am speaking from a place of trauma and devastation that only people who have lived through betrayal can understand. Yet I made a sacred and binding marriage vow 55½ years ago, and I will not break that promise. I accept and understand that God through Jesus has paid for and forgiven the sins of the world, including Philip’s. God grant me the grace to forgive also, despite my unfathomable trauma. Please pray for us.
This is a developing story.
3 responses to “Christian Author Phillip Yancey Confesses to Adulterous Affair, Will Retire from Writing”
Christians are humans, humans fail, I hope his repentance is genuine but I doubt it. Eight years isn’t adultery it’s something else. Something worse. I wish his wife and the other husband peace, as I have been through this I know that’s a futile and unobtainable hope.
EIGHT YEARS HE HAD THIS AFFAIR??? How do people live a life of lying for so long? Lying to your wife, your family, your friends for eight years. And I’m sorry, but I don’t understand how a spouse who has been betrayed in every way say “I’m staying.” Good luck. I would wonder if every time my husband opened his mouth was he lying to me. He did it for 8 years. Weak woman.
No doubt this is a horrendously difficult situation…but staying makes her a weak woman? Oh? It’s strength that avoids and runs away? Do tell feminist comrade.