Rumours of Another World by Philip Yancey

Non-Fiction. Hardback from Zondervan. Published in 2003. On loan from the Windsor Public Library. (And overdue.)

Philip Yancey has long been one of my favourite authors. The Windsor library does not have a large selection of Christian books, so I was pleased to run across one of Yancey's books that I had not read. I was not really sure what it was about when I started reading it and was interested to see that he wrote the book for those who live in the "borderlands of belief", skeptical about church and religion. Throughout the book he offers indications of the other world and encourages the readers to remember the spiritual world and to let it be foremost in our minds.

Thomas Merton is quoted as saying: "Everything in modern city life is calculated to keep man from entering into himself and thinking about spiritual things." Certainly worth thinking on - if I can get around all the distractions my modern city life presents me with.

Publisher's summary:
In Rumours of Another World, Philip Yancey asks, "Is the visible world around us all there is?" and "What rumours of another world might it convey?" He then examines the apparent contridictions. If this is God's world, why doesn't it look more like it? Why is this planet so messed up? Finally, the book considers how two worlds – the visible and the invisible, natural and supernatural - might interact and affect our daily lives. Throughout, Yancey invites readers to explore the difference the answers make in coming to grips with our lives.

Rumours reads like a conversation, inviting those skeptical of religion and turned off by the church to consider the possibility of an unseen, supernatural world of beauty and purpose coexisting with our visible world. Rumours of another world are just that, rumours and not proofs, Yancey reminds us. "A thin membrane of belief separates the natural from the supernatural. We experience the highest realities through the lowest, and we must learn to pay attention to notice the difference".

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Rumours of Another World: What on Earth are We Missing?
from amazon.com, click here: Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing?