Finding God In Unexpected Places

Rating:
Summary: Great collection of essays
Review: First of all, I like the title of this book. So many people think that God is only present in church or at meetings where miraculous, supernatural things occur. Philip Yancey has found the presence of God in many places, from the squalor and oppression of Chilean prisons to the spiritual and moral neediness of post-Soviet Russia; from the wonders of nature to the basement from which he writes his books; from the writings of Shakespeare to the life of a little-known servant of God who lives to minister to the poor. Plus, his discussion of grace and forgiveness in chapters 34 and 35 is as good as I've read on some tough issues. Any book by Philip Yancey is not to be missed, and this collection is one I'll be going back to again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, balanced, and credible
Review: Mr. Yancey provides an approach to God that is no less powerful for its quietness. I was profoundly moved by the stories of those lives which have been lived on the fringes and yet have made such a huge impact for the kingdom of Heaven. This is a must read for those needing to see God in their own lives.

Rating:
Summary: A collection of good essays, but not at Yancey's best
Review: This is the fifth book of Yancey I had read within two months. Unlike his other works with clearer central themes, this book is a collection of essays loosely bound by the notion that God exists nearly anywhere, anytime in the world history and our personal ones, from prisons, collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe, non violence protests of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., to the love of the anonymous who help other humans blah blah blah.

To those christians and even non christians who had not read any other Yancey book, this can be a comfortable start to know one of the most important christian writer of our time. However, for somebody like me who had tasted his heavenly fruit and become one of his fans, this book would seem a little bit repetitive of his more famous works like "What's so amazing about grace" and "Where is God when it hurts", and thus unable to satisfy one's enhanced spiritual appetite.