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

by Philip Yancey

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.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Spirituality, Theology, Religion, Faith

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Philip Yancey earned graduate degrees in Communications and English from Wheaton College Graduate School and the University of Chicago. He joined the staff of Campus Life Magazine in 1971, and worked there as Editor and then Publisher. He looks on those years with gratitude, because teenagers are demanding readers, and writing for them taught him a lasting principle: The reader is in control!

In 1978 Philip Yancey became a full-time writer, initially working as a journalist for such varied publications as Reader’s Digest, Publisher’s Weekly, National Wildlife, Christian Century and The Reformed Journal. For several years he contributed a monthly column to Christianity Today magazine, where he also served as Editor at Large.

In 2021 Philip released two new books: A Companion in Crisis and his long-awaited memoir, Where the Light Fell. Other favorites included in his more than twenty-five titles are: Where Is God When It Hurts, The Student Bible, and Disappointment with God. Philip's books have won thirteen Gold Medallion Awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, have sold more than seventeen million copies, and have been published in over 50 languages. Christian bookstore managers selected The Jesus I Never Knew as the 1996 Book of the Year, and in 1998 What’s So Amazing About Grace? won the same award. His other recent books are Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God’s Image; Vanishing Grace: Bringing Good News to a Deeply Divided World; The Question that Never Goes Away; What Good Is God?; Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?; Soul Survivor; and Reaching for the Invisible God. In 2009 a daily reader was published, compiled from excerpts of his work: Grace Notes.

The Yanceys lived in downtown Chicago for many years before moving to a very different environment in Colorado. Together they enjoy mountain climbing, skiing, hiking, and all the other delights of the Rocky Mountains.

Visit Philip online:
https://www.philipyancey.com
https://www.facebook.com/PhilipYancey

Catch his monthly blog:
https://bit.ly/PhilipYanceyBlog

Reviews

[Adam Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very profound reading. I put Yancey up there with Donald Miller (actually, he surpasses him because Miller, while deep, struggles to have a point sometimes). And Yancey is one of the few Christian thinkers I've read that understands what sin does in the life of a believer. Many would foolishly have us believe that our sin indicates to us that we have fallen again or that we have somehow forfeited our salvation or otherwise have proven we never had it in the first place. Instead, Yancey pronounces that our sin instead is its own worst punishment, bringing down upon ourselves a worldview that keeps us from seeing God as we ought to. There's a lot more to this book than that, but that really stuck with me the most. And I love his discussion of science and how, in its tendency to reduce things to their basest perceivable properties, it deceives us into thinking that we can understand all there is, when we're not really even close without faith. I think such a statement is just as much a commentary on the modern church as it is on modern science, for the legalism of many modern denominations is reductionism in its most egregious form.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each one of Philip Yancey's books that I have read have made a personal impact upon me. It is as if the author knows how to get into my head and challenge me from the inside out. I had never even heard of this book before finding it on the store shelf, but I am glad I made the jump to purchase it.

In this book Yancey challenges himself to face his own doubts and preconceptions about faith to answer the question of why he believes. The book is fascinating because, unlike a lot of "Christian self-help" books follow the same formula of giving you the right things to say and or do to heighten your spiritual experience with God. Yancey on the other hand talks more about how most of that stuff just doesn't work for him and how he deals with that. I highly value honesty.

How does one convince themselves that what they believe is true? Yancy looks into many areas of life: addiction, sexuality, lifestyle choices, guilt and even questioning the very existence of God. I was moved most by Yancey's conclusions of pride's affect upon my choices and the balance between suffering for what's right and enjoying the pleasures of being alive. Throughout these pages I was forced at defining my own understanding of sin, guilt and pride.

I will put this on my shelf to read again because I am sure there is more wisdom within it's pages.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 145. I'm usually against rating books I haven't finished, but I'm willing to make an exception here because I think the author demonstrated an unacceptable level of dishonesty. I feel so disrespected as the reader that I don't feel I owe it to the author to keep reading before declaring it no good.

I feel I should start by saying I’m not sure who the intended audience is for this book. Based on the title and description it seems as if it’s written for people who are kinda religious but not really too sure where they land, but it very much reads like it’s written for moderately conservative Christians who want to be convinced to be even more religiously conservative...but not like those other religiously conservative people who scared the daylights out of all of us as children. NOT THEM.

So if you hand this book to an atheist, they’re going to be like wut.

I’m definitely not the intended audience but I will read anything because I like to understand where people are coming from.

So like I said, a lot of Yancy’s arguments bother me because they’re extremely dishonest. I didn’t write down every example, but I do have a representative example of what I mean: he’s anti-divorce, and he writes about how kids from divorced families are far more screwed up than kids from families where the parents stay together, and then he says EVERY sociologist agrees. EVERY.

I actually majored in sociology and took a marriage and family course in college, and what screws kids up the most is parents who stay together for the sake of the kids but wouldn't be together otherwise. That’s what the data supports. It's definitely a contentious topic but most sociologists agree that kids fair the worst around parents who don't get along. But he does this a lot, where he acts as if he’s quoting facts and statistics and then says “everyone who knows anything about this agrees.” It created a sense that I couldn’t trust anything he was saying. He completely wrecks his own credibility.

Despite this, I really like Yancy’s writing style. He tells lots of stories, gives a lot of examples, and pulls lots of references from other works that are really interesting. It's shame he felt the need to be manipulative because I genuinely like his writing. There's no need to mislead people about the facts but he kept doing it over and over.

Hilariously, I felt like Yancy's metaphors often worked against his points. Like when he gave the example of the people seeing real life ships through a big fire on the shore and thinking the ships were a vision in the fire, and thus not realizing very real ships were approaching. Yeah, that’s an example of people not being able to see reality because they believed in mysticism. But in Yancy's mind the ships are supposed to be God, and the people can’t see what’s in front of them because they are fooled by what they think they know. It was a weird stretch that overlooked the most obvious interpretation. But this seems to be Yancy's style. What's real or obvious isn't important, only supporting the point he's trying to make...even if it's not really working.

I think Yancy got caught up in trying to pigeonhole large groups of people into all thinking one way, and he thinks if he can disapprove one thing he claims they all think he can discredit EVERYTHING they think. The problem is, you can’t make sweeping assumptions about what people think. So you can’t disprove what one evolutionary psychologist thinks and make me question all I think I know about science, because I already agree that evolutionary psychology is stupid.

He clearly finds frustration in the fact that he can’t win arguments this way, and he thinks that’s further proof that something is wrong. As if we SHOULD all agree. But that’s ridiculous because not even all Christians agree and are guided by the same principles, as he demonstrates by pointing out he's not like other Christians. Welcome to free will and the limitations of the human mind, I guess.

I don't know. I don't know why I thought I would get something out of this. I'm dumb.

[Sara Weaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to blurb this one in several sentences, but I could have wonderful discussions about the contents of this book, specifically the first section.

[Nermine Hosni · Rating 5 out of 5]

لقد خُدعت بشكل ما بالحكم بأن العالم الطبيعي غير روحي وبأن الله ضد المتعة


فنحن لا نري الله علي افضل حال بنفس الطريقة التي نري بها كسوفاً شمسياً : لا بالتحديق في الشمس الذي يسبب العمي بل من خلال شئ تسلط عليه الشمس


اعطيت ظهري للنور ووجهي نحو الاشياء التي اشرق عليها النور

يرثو اغسطينوس في الاعترافات قائلاً : احببتك متأخراً للغاية ايها الجمال القديم جداً والجديد جداً

المدهش ان الخالق نادراً ما يفرض نفسه علي خليقته ، فتذكر الخالق يتطلب الانتباه والمجهود من جانبنا لأن الخالق يتسلل بهدوء خلف الستار ، الله لا يفرض حضوره علينا فعندما تجذبنا الهه اقل ينسحب الله محترماً حريتنا المدمره لتجاهله

لقد منح الله العالم عطايا صالحة وكيفية ايتخدامنا لهذه العطايا يحدد ما اذا كانت ستبقي صالحة ومرضية ام لا

ان الله لم يخلقنا بالرغبات لكن نستنكرها ببساطة هكذا ، فأن هذا العالم هو خليقة الله وكأب محب فأن الله الذي خلقنا يريرد لنا افضل حياة ممكنة ومرضية

الروحانية هي ان نحيا الحياة العادية بطريقة غير عادية فأن لم نكن روحانيين اينما كنا وكيفما كنا فلن نكون روحانيين علي الاطلاق

فالامر يحتاج عيوناً مدربة لرؤية الله في التفاصيل

لقد تعلمت انا ايضاً ان عملي بكا ما فيه من ملل يهم صانع الكون فالله يحب الظروف

حياة واحدة ستمر سريعاً وكل ما قُدٓم من اجل المسيح سيدوم

يجب ان انظر الي كل علاقة انسانية كوسيلة لتكوين الشخصية بما فيها كل لقاء مع موظف قاسي او جار اناني او قريب مستغل وبهذا يمكن لقيم العالم الآخر ان تخترق عالمنا هذا

سأركز علي ارضاء الله عن طريق اسلوب حياة يجذب الناس الي اسلوب حياة يسوع

سي اس لويس : ان الحب الحقيقي يجعل الرجل يريد لا اية امرأه بل امرأه معينة - المحبوبة نفسها لا المتعة التي يمكنها تقديمها

الحب الرومانسي لا يشوه الرؤية بل يصححها ويستخدم الكتاب المقدس صوراً رومانسية واضحة لوصف محبة الله لنا. : فالذي نشعره كي يقبلنا انسان واحد يشعره الله ابدياً كل يقبلنا كثيرون

ان الزواج يمنح الامن الذي نحتاجه لاختبار الجنس دون كبت وبعيداً عن الذنب او الخطر او الخداع

الخُلق هو كيف تتصرف حين لا ينظر اليك احد

الخطية تقدم نوعاً من التدخل الساكن في التواصل مع الله ومن ثم تمنعنا عن المصادر الوحيدة التي نحتاجها لمحاربتها

كما ان جسدي يصرخ من خلال الالم كي انتبه لمكان الاصابة كذلك يصرخ ضميري بلغة الشعور بالذنب كي اتخذالخطوات الضرورية للشفاء والهدف في الحالتين هو استعادة الصحة لا الشعور بالمرض

الشعور بالذنب ليس حالة تنميها وليس مزاجاً معيناً تعيشه لايام قليلة يجب ان يكون له حركة توجيهية اولاً يشير الي الخلف الي الخطية ثم الي الامام الي التغيير فالانسان الذي لا يشعر بالذنب لا يجد الشفاء ابداً

هناك شئ في داخلنا يقاوم التوبة بأي ثمن فنحن نفضل ان ننكر ونكذب ونلوم ونبرر اي شئ الا التوبة

ان ادمان اي شئ في العالم المادي ربما يغطي علي صوت الله الرقيق الهادي

إما ان نري التراب علي النافذة او المشهد فيما وراء النافذة لكننا لا نري النافذة ذاتها

انسان ينجح في كل شئ لكنه يفقد الكل واخر لا يواجه سوي المحن والاخفاقات لكنه يربح اكثر مما يساوي العالم كله

امنحنا عيوناً ضعيفة للاشياء غير المهمة

احرص علي ان تري ما يراه الله وتسمع ما يسمعه الله وتذهب حيثما يذهب الله ضع قلبك وفكرك فيما هو فوق



كنت بحاجة لأن اعرف حقيقة المال الذي بين يدي انه قرض من الله يأتمني عليه بقصد استثماره في ملكوت السموات المملكة الوحيدة التي تدفع فوائد ابدية

عندما يجتاز شعب الله في المعانة والضيقات يجب ان يتذكروا ان الله لم يتركهم ولكن سبب معانتهم انهم لم يعودوا منتمين لهذا العالم ولذا اصبحوا موضوع كراهية العالم

لا احد يُستثني من المشقة علي كوكب الارض وكيفية تقبلنا لهذه الصعوبات يعتمد علي مدي ايماننا بالحقيقة البديلة التي تفوق ما نعرفه جيداً والكتاب المقدس لا يقلل ابداً من شأن الصعوبات او الشدائد ونريذلك في سفر ايوب والمزامير ومراثي ارميا وهو يطلب منا ببساطة حجب القرار النهائي حتي يكون لنا كل الادة في اعماقنا

والثقة في الرب لا تمنع حدوث الامور الامور السيئة والتي قد تصيبنا بالخوف في البداية ولمنها مخرجاً جديدا للقلق وارضية جديدة للثقة وهو الله دع الله يتولي ما يتملك في الحياة والذي معظمه خارج نطاق سيطرتي

سي اس لويس قال ان قرات التاريخ ستكتشف ان المسيحين الذين قدموا اكثر ما يمكن للعالم احاضر هم تماماً الذين فكروا اكثر ما يمكن في العالم الاخر

ان هبة اخضاع نفوسنا بالكامل لله هي تضحية بدلاً من ان نخسر فيها كل شئ نربح فيها كل شئ ونسترد في صيغة اكثر اكثر اكتمالاً عن الامتلاك حتي ما يبدو اننا فقدناه ف��ي نفس اللحظة التي نقدم فيها انفسنا لله يقدم الله نفسه لنا

[Jana Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous. I really didn't want it to end. I am more drawn to desire the unseen, supernatural, 'other.' I can't put to words what I've read or how it's affected me, but I feel Yancey might likely feel the same...and, yet, I understand. At the heart of my being I am a dual citizen, living in a world of eternal whispers and temporal realities. I belong to the unseen and dwell in a world touched by rumors of it. That which Yancey describes is unknown, unchartered, and yet infinitely and overarchingly real. And it calls to me like a siren. This amazing book helps translate the tune.

[Zak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Yance,

Not quite what's so amazing but still super readable and interesting.

Written for those on the 'borderlands of belief', talking about how certain areas of life bring us to question the reductionist premise that the concrete material world (whatever that means) is all there is. This list includes, beauty, nature, sex, love, etc. Also deals with what it's like to live in some sense in both a material and spiritual reality at once.

If you think you're in these so-called 'borderlands' read this plz and lets talk

[Austin Damon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An argument that the natural is not all there is, that the supernatural is as much apart of a reality as the natural world. The book proposes that nature and super nature are not divided but apart of the same reality.

In an “enlightened” society that often doesn’t believe in the divine or in an external objective morality, yet acts like one exists, this book is a must read.

I also read it because Jon Tyson, one of my favorite thinkers and writers, said it’s his all time favorite book.

[Allen Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

You should at the end of this book, longing not just for Rumors of another world, but wanting for His kingdom to come Quickly.

[Tammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philip Yancey always writes wonderful books.

[Sheri S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Yancy book I have read in a while. The book is very thought provoking and would be a good one to read in a book club/group. He writes about the seen and unseen worlds and how they bear witness to one another. He cites many interesting stories, books and quotes from others to make his points.

[Hillary roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am starting to love Philp Yancey. This is the second book that I have read by him and both books have made huge impact on me. I can't remember in which book it was, but I used to be pro-choice but after reading how God personally selects each living person to come into creation out of all the permutations God gave THAT one person to be born into time I became pro-life. It was a powerful message and it struck me right to the core as a christian.

Most Christian books makes people feel like assholes but Yancey writes in such a way that you feel inspired to try and live a better life.  I myself am what some would deem not a real christian because I mostly have the attitude that I dont care. I cuss, I do things that I know do not honor God. I dislike conservative fundamentalism, but I have been blessed to know God's grace and mercy. This is what Philip Yancey drives home. That no matter the sin you can always go back  to God as long as you repent. He shows what sin does to a person, rather than telling people that they are damned to hell he reveals that sin is its own worse punishment because it separates us from God. Most of us have a deep longing to have that deep communion with their creator but living a life full of sin prevents that, and that in itself is it own worse punishment.

I used to think some sins were no big deal until I read a passage in the book that showed that even the Angels who even THOUGHT about rebellion were damned. God requires and deserves complete obedience. He says it more eloquently than I can but that passage struck me to the core. I mean I lived with my ex boyfriend for two years, I smoke, cuss, dress and act like a well educated whore and I thought those things were no big deal. I am human after all right? Then I read that chapter about how God sees sin and was struck speechless. This is not to say I changed overnight. I havent. I still do these things but now there is a tinge of regret when I find myself acting in such a way. My brain keeps harking back to Yancey's books.

This in itself says a lot most well-known Christians I just think they are self-righteous assholes and turn a deaf ear to them. I never listen to what Billy Graham has to say for example. The man could drop dead, and I would breathe a sigh of thank ye gods another asshole gone. (is he already dead and I don't know it?) But Yancey? Yancey admits his doubts and struggles, and I can connect with him and I see that another person has the same struggles with faith as me, and it makes me pause and think, maybe there is something that all the other people are trying to say but get lost in the air of self-righteous stink that seem to permeate fundamental Christians. If this man has doubts but still holds on the belief and faith that there is something better to live for and tries to act accordingly then maybe I should too.

If you want to read a book that talks seriously about how science tries to break down everything into it basest elements and tries to explain everything and fails. Then read this book. It is filled with wonder examples and rebuttal of what science tries to say. After reading this, I came to the conclusion that there must be an afterlife and a God, who cares how I act. This book won't drags you down into I am a hopeless human territory but rather will inspire you to try and live your life for God. I highly recommend this book.This review was originally posted on Adventures in Never Never Land

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parts are worth reading, but not his best work. Yancy explores a world with two dimensions, the visible and invisible. How does the visible world point toward the existence of the invisible world? Experiencing beauty, human sexuality, grace, etc. Also, recognizing evil for what it is, an opposition to, and proof of good.

Stories
• Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche Daybreak community
• Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, page 153. Gray swaps roles with his own portrait, the painting showing the effects of aging, consequences of sin. Gray stabs the paining and is found by his master, solitary and dead.
• Atheistic Russia under Stalin, page 165
• Belief in the unseen is not a stretch when you begin seeing materialistic evidences of reality that are lies. Seeing is not necessarily believing. —“fake” women on magazines (page 168, 171) “In short, I believe not so much because the invisible world impinges on this one but because the visible world hints, in the ways that move me most, at a lack of completion.” 171
• WWII: The Bridge on the River Kwai (film): a prison community, startled by grace, develops its own culture, recording a university of knowledge (173).
• Nelson Mandela’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which allowed white police with brutal offenses against blacks to voluntarily confess wrongs and face their accusers. If done voluntarily, they could not be put on trial and criminally charged. Grace, not justice, was the word of the day. (223)
• Harriet Tubman’s “Wade in the Water” spiritual which served both as a memory of their baptism and also as a practical reminded of how to foil the bounty hunters’ bloodhounds.
• C.S. Lewis speaking to Oxford literature students during WWII. Is literature worth studying during war? Bigger question, is it worth studying at all?
• Pascal’s cosmic wager. It is better in every way to believe in something that isn’t than to disbelieve in something that is (244)

Favorite quotes
“If the soul could have known God without the world, the world would never have been created.” —Meister Eckhart

“Beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.” —Annie Dillard

“When the chess game is over, the pawns, rooks, kings, and queens all go back into the same box.” —Italian proverb

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
—William Blake

“We either see the dust on the window
or the view beyond the window,
but never the window itself. —Simone Weil

[Isaac Abraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

من الكتب القليلة التي قرأتها دفعة واحدة في وقت قليل (أسبوع) بالنسبة لي.
بينما الكتاب يتحدث عن إشاعات من عالم آخر، إلا أنه جعل العالم الآخر يتسلل في خفة وعظمة وجمال إلى أعماقي، مما دفعني للعمل في العالم الحاضر بروح الأبدية.
أشجع على قراءة الكتاب المؤمنين والملحدين على حد السواء.
لا يعيب الكتاب إلا ضعف الترجمة والتحرير في الطبعة العربية، أتمنى أن تتم إعادة ترجمته وتحريره.

[Sherlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I struggled most of my life with a view of God as a terrible ogre waiting to strike me down for my least offense. And as offenses go, I really did't really have a good understanding of what constituted an offense. My upbringing would have me looking down on wearing jewelry, going to movies, watching TV, dancing, smoking, drinking while I learned the incongruity of doing things like bring home items from work for use at home, cutting people off in traffic and ignoring the needy. I left the church of my youth when I was 40 and now I'm in my 50's I have started to really learn what offenses in God's world really are.

This book was really beneficial in helping to draw the curtain back in a broad way to see the amazing grace of God at work in this world we live in and how He uses us to draw Heaven into this earth. A truly awesome and inspiring piece of work and I will read it again. In fact… I really want my entire family to read it!

[Jarkko Laine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book has some good moments as it points out how Christianity should really be about loving your neighbor and how doing things for "the invisible world" actually makes a difference in this world as well.

Where the book falls short, however, is that all the examples don't really show why another world is needed for explaining all these positive actions, dreams and hopes. It's as if Yancey had told himself, "OK, let's write a skeptical book -- but not too skeptical." There are clear boundaries that he is not ready to cross, and one of them is that there has to be another world.

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rumors is a good attempt to tie the world we live in with the unseen eternal world. Yancey points out glimpses of the other world we are given in life through nature and others. Second half of the book was so much better then the first half of the book. Not sure why this was.

I enjoy Yancey and his explorations so any of his books are worth the read. He does have better books but give it a shot. It did make me strive more to enjoy this world instead of longing for the next.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book explaining about what is out there after death. IF you are a Yancey fan, this is really not one of his best writings, but it still leaves a sense of tranquility of the life that comes after death.

[Carsten Thomsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again a well written book by Yancey - filled with interesting stories and quotes - the subject is very broad - about a deeper awareness of the rumors, hints, windows in this world that points to Another World, the invisible and supernatural world.

[rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skip everything else if you want and read the chapter about sex.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the tradition of C.S. Lewis, this author depicts the spiritual world and the physical world as separate, but parallel places or dimensions. The author suggests the majority of people fail to see the spiritual world because of other physical things they elevate above it.

The author tells of an experiment in which an entomologist entices male butterflies with a painted cardboard replica of the female. The replica is larger and more enticing than the females of the species, so the excited males mount the cardboard again and again; while nearby, the real, living female butterfly actively attempts to attract the male in vain. The author suggests there are similar sorts of distractions for mankind.

One such distraction cited by the author is pornography, which can similarly draw a partner away from the real relationship via the lure of paper images. Another example the author cites is communism, which attempts to elevate humanity instead of God, but which has the ultimate effect of reducing freedoms and subordinating citizens. The author explains that such idols often become addictions that eventually begin to control the devotee.

Sports figures and rock stars are another idol the author advances. The author informs us that Michael Jordan has earned more for his endorsements than twice the combined earnings of all U.S. Presidents for all their terms. Jordan easily earned more just endorsing Nike shoes than all the workers in Malaysia who ever worked to make the shoes.

Most people seemingly cannot abstain from worshiping that which is false, while nearby, the real, living butterfly opens and closes her wings in vain.

The author proclaims the way to combat this problem is by being more attentive, listening, thinking, and discerning about what is real. Such reflection can help us avoid the traps handed to us by advertising, propaganda, and the unspiritual world. We must recognize the deception of pornography and pursue true, wholesome, loving relationships instead. We must see the merits of a politician instead of the showboat political party from which he heralds. We must choose a product, like tennis shoes, based upon comfort and quality, not the sports idol that commercializes it.

God has much more in mind for us than disembodied deceptions. The author cites George Orwell in explaining how these awful worldly deceptions destroy us:

“I thought of a rather cruel trick I once played on a wasp. He was sucking jam on my plate, and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him. It is the same with modern man. The thing that has been cut away is his soul.“ –George Orwell

One way to avoid deceptions and allurement is to honor the world as God’s art. Presently we pave over fertile land for parking lots, we pump toxins into the sky and rivers, and we mindlessly cast untold species into extinction. We allow 24,000 children to die each day of preventable diseases and we abort 126,000 more. We allow other children to be brought up in families that are housed in cardboard shacks and under bridges. We manufacture weapons capable of exterminating most of humanity. We abuse God’s work of art the same way many people abuse their own bodies, infusing them with tobacco, drugs, alcohol, and permanently scaring them with tattoos, piercings, and abuse. Too often, we show our own bodies the same deep disrespect that we afford God’s world as a whole. And in so doing, we destroy the very things that house our souls: our bodies and the environment that sustains us. This is worst than going into the Louvre or some other art museum and purposefully mutilating a masterpiece like the Mona Lisa. This is more like suicide or self-mutilation. Destroying the environment that nurtures us is just plain dumb! Destroying our bodies is even dumber! Instead of destroying God’s art, we should be exhibiting awe and humility.

We wrongly approach life as a series of moments, scheduling our time, setting goals, and marching onward. Phone calls, encounters, or any unscheduled events are too often viewed as jarring interruptions. Think how different this is from the life of Jesus, who gave full attention to the person before him, whether it was a Roman officer or a nameless woman with a hemorrhage of blood. Jesus drew lasting spiritual lessons from the most ordinary things: wildflowers, wheat, vineyards, sheep, weddings, families.

We can better find the spiritual world when we give our attention to what God sends to us, instead of focusing exclusively on some schedule that we have devised for ourselves. Our scheduling is of the physical world. God’s scheduling is leading us into the spiritual realm. Our scheduling keeps us thinking about what has happened and what is going to happen, instead of experiencing the present moment. We are so caught up in our plans that we become hardened against those things that come before us moment by moment. Too often, we don’t even notice what’s in the present moment.

We should look carefully at every human relationship or potential relationship, including every encounter with a surly clerk, selfish neighbor, unruly co-worker, or demanding relative and think carefully about how God would have us react to such people. We are social creatures, by nature. We were created to be social creatures. Expressions of intimacy and relationship move us towards the spiritual realm. But relationships involve mutual consent. We cannot interact with someone who is hurrying past us on a mission of self-accomplishment or abusing and exploiting us.

As humans, we all desperately want to grow in personal intimacy with others. The union of wholesome relationships, the process of bringing bodies and souls into unison, helps us to see what it means to have union with God. But lust can deceive us into an addictive self-gratification that becomes so controlling that it displaces true loving relationships with narcissism and deviate illusions.

We must come to clearly understand that sex is not only a physical union; it is also a spiritual union: “the two become one flesh”. Casual sex trivializes this spiritual combination. When sex is conducted with foreknowledge that the relationship is only temporary, it becomes a sacrilege that distorts the holy conception of love. Sex is intended for a relationship that is going to be lasting and permanent. The author quotes C.S. Lewis in illuminating this:

“We use a most unfortunate idiom when we say of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he ‘wants a woman,’. Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want. He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. How much he cares about the woman as such may be gauged by his attitude to her five minutes after fruition.” –C.S. Lewis

When we turn a relationship into a, as Lewis says, “piece of apparatus”, we are taking an otherwise profound expression of spiritual union and converting it into something to be discarded, much like an empty carton. The humanity of the used person is discounted and discarded as something unworthy of a loving relationship; and the spiritual side of sex is degraded into something profane.

We cannot truly plant the interests of another in the center of our being until we toss our personal desires and lusts aside as triviality. When we can love beyond the lust, beyond selfishness, beyond the expectation of getting anything in return, unconditionally, then a new “oneness”, a bond, comes into being. It is a unity, a relationship that is so solid that what affects one partner, also affects the other.



It’s not only love that gets subverted by the falsities of the world. The author relates how other spiritual attributes can be diminished by the seven deadly sins: Instead of humility we are distracted by pride. Instead of thankfulness, we become envious. Instead of peace, we engender anger. Instead of compassion, we depict greed. Instead of work, we are beset by sloth. Instead of fasting, we are beset by gluttony. Just like the fake butterfly, these sins lure us away from the spiritual and diminish us. Just like the severed wasp, mesmerized in sin, the sinful suddenly recoil in horror upon realization of the horrible predicaments in which they find themselves! God wants to free us from enslavement to these jam-like distractions.

God has provided the cure for sin, but to get the cure, we have to see through the distracting lies. Addiction tempts the addict to reduce life down to the longing for alcohol or narcotics or whatever it is that has become more real and more urgent than all the rest of Gods fabulous creation.

Sin is the punishment for sin. The more I choose against God’s design, the more I suffer. If we give our loyalty to something besides God, we are the one who suffers, as any alcoholic or sex addict can attest. Every sin is selfishness that blocks relationships with other people and with God. Kierkegaard said: “Living in sin is like having a three-story house but staying in the dank cellar”.

Repentance is not something that God demands of you before he will take you back; it is simply a description of what going back is like. You don’t have to sit in a sweat lodge to come out of sin. You don’t have to embark on a pilgrimage to come out of sin. You don’t have to crawl around on your knees to come out of sin. You don’t have to sacrifice an animal to come out of sin. You only need to understand that you are loved and therefore forgiven; and that it is the manifestation of your return love for God and others that is most effective in keeping you out of sin.

To the extent that you engender love, you will not be inclined toward sin. Engendering love is taking love into yourself. God is love. Harboring God within you is how sin is defeated.

Like a seed, the body that is sown is perishable. It must be nourished to be raised a spiritual body. We must transcend physical instinct by ingesting the love of God. Jesus demonstrated this growth and resurrection.

Jesus honored people who have little value in the visible world. Our eyes must be opened to a different kind of beauty that manifests in love and sacrifice. Instead of seeking out people who stroke our ego, we find those whose egos need stroking; instead of important people with resources to do us favors, we find people with few resources; instead of the strong, we look for the weak; instead of the healthy, the sick. We seek to recognize the Lord’s voice, his face, and his touch in every person we meet.

Jesus saw money as something to guard against: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. Money works on us much like lust and pride, it attracts us toward fantasies that are untrue deceptions. Money binds us further and further to the visible world, thereby denying us true freedom. We must become indifferent to money.

The unseen world must become more real for us than the visible world. Aging slowly removes our physical world traits and gives us the opportunity to develop traits for the next world. Dying is our most important act for which life is a long journey of preparation.

We must not be overcome by evil, but instead overcome evil with good. We must learn that evil is overcome through forgiveness. In developing our spiritualty, we must hone our propensity for forgiveness as an otherworldly grace.

The author contends the spiritual world exists in a parallel universe with low-level signals transmitted back and forth. The physical world bombards us with sensual and enticing signals, tempting us to lust, to consume, to exploit, and to dominate. We have to cultivate transmissions across the chasm: through prayer, thorough listening. We must not come to feel completely at home in this life and totally unaware of the spiritual realm.

The best proof to others of the reality of the unseen world is the evidence of transformed lives. Be a torchbearer. Be an impregnator of the world. Cast a new and different light on your surroundings. Disengage from American culture by visiting a foreign country, hiking into the wilderness, or whatever it takes to break the cycle! Do something to experience a jolt of true reality! Stop breathing the air of lust, consumerism, selfishness, and ambition! Refuse to breathe it, reject the lies! Let your spirit be deepened and enlarged. The beauty of Christ’s world is restrained only by our rejection of it. It is ours to unveil. The kingdom of God is within us.

[Nathanael Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Rumors of another world: What on Earth are we missing?” This book is written by Philip Yancey where in he shows us the perspectives of both worlds: the unseen world and the visible world. This book has 244 pages of Yancey’s theologies about life. He uses the stories of other people and his worldly experiences to profoundly make us realize things which we are not seeing. He also uses the Bible to show us the Bible’s perspective of things. But what really is in Philip Yancey’s book, “Rumors of another world: What on Earth are we missing?”
We are all familiar with the human body. It has blood vessels, nerves, blood cells, tissues, and many more. But who designed the human body? It is God who created the heavens and earth, the invisible and the visible world. Nowadays, the visible world is full of sin. It is blinded of things that God hates including lust, murder, greed, money, and more. People are being unaware of the unseen world because of sin. However, God is always there for us even in uncertain times. Through prayer and repentance, God will show us how faithful and merciful He is towards His children because He loves all of us. That is why we should have faith in God because in this world full of sinful things, there is no certainty; with God, we can be certain that we can inherit eternal life even though we cannot see it, the invisible world.

In this book, Philip Yancey really emphasized how the visible world is being covered with sin and how the invisible world, God, really is faithful, merciful, and loving towards all His children. The sins of this world, especially lust, is being discussed in this book. It has broken relationships with families, friends, and loved ones. As quoted in the book, “Feed it, and the appetite increases.” This quote is applicable to all the sins of this world because as we continue to sin, we are becoming to make it as a habit and eventually becomes normalized. Sex. It is a gift of God to married couples where in He designed it for reproduction and pleasure for them. However, it is now being used for sexual sin; lust and sinful desire; premarital sex. These things are prohibited by God because He hates sin. Human as we are, from Adam and Eve, we are all sinners. However, God is an awesome God. He is ever faithful, ever forgiving, and ever loving God. He will always be there to help us in trouble, especially when we are having one. However, God does not forgive people without repentance. We should wholeheartedly ask for forgiveness to God through prayer, and we should have faith in Him at all times. As Paul said in the Bible, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We should accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and entrust Him your life for His will. Let Him guide you to the path that God wants you to follow. Moreover, we should not be deceived by the things of this world because it will just corrupt our minds and souls which will just bring us to death.

In conclusion, this book is very interesting and very refreshing. This made me realize things that are still vague to my perception of life. I realized that God really is the best and will always be there by your side. Philip Yancey wrote a story, which is based in real life, where in a man is at war. He became a slave and saw his comrades being tortured and just rot to death. Eventually, he becomes weak and is at the deathbed, but due to His faith in God he still forces his body to live in order to help his other comrades. As time passed by, he lived and taught his comrades about the word of God and many of them converted to Christianity and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal Savior. That is why I recommend this book to people who are searching for something that can complete their life. This will make them realize how God works in miraculous ways and shows them what the invisible world is.

[Sarah Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Packed with info, but it seemed to be drawn out and a little convoluted. But the content was excellent and I enjoyed all the thought-provoking content and the central question to the book: Do we have eyes focused on this world or eyes focused on the eternal world…and what does that look like on a practical, day-to-day level?
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One [way of looking at the world] takes apart while the other seeks to connect and put together. We live in an age that excels at the first and falters at the second. (P. 15)

As science casts more light on the created world, it’s shadows further obscure the invisible world beyond. (P. 18)

The ordinary, natural world contains the supernatural, a necessary step since we do not have the capacity to apprehend God directly. We see God best in the same way we see a solar eclipse: not by staring at the sun, which would cause blindness, but through something on which the sun is projected. (P. 35)

My natural desires, I now see, are pointers to the supernatural, not obstacles. In a world fallen far from its original design, God wants us to receive them as gifts and not possessions, tokens of love and not loves in themselves. (P. 37)

Today, I get letters from doubters, skeptical of the church, asking for such ironclad proof. I have to tell them there is none. You need eyes to see and ears to hear, Jesus said to those who doubted him. It takes the mystery of faith, always, to believe, for God has no apparent interest in compelling belief. (If he had, the resurrected Jesus would have appeared to Herod and Pilate, not to his disciples.) because rumors of another world are just that, rumors and not proofs, a thin membrane of belief separate the natural from the super-natural. (P. 41)

Nature reminds me how dependent and frail I am, how mortal. (P. 46)

Five hundred years ago the renaissance scholar Pico della Mirandola delivered an oration that defined the role of humanity in creation. After God had created the animals, all the essential roles had been filled, but “the Divine Artificer still longed for some creature which might comprehend the meaning of so vast an achievement, which might be moved with love at its beauty and smitten with awe at its grandeur.” To contemplate and appreciate all the rest, to revere and to hallow, to give nut creation a voice of praise — these were the roles reserved for the species made in God’s image. (P. 48)

Perhaps the very sense that something is wrong is itself a rumor of transcendence, an inbuilt longing for a healed planet on which God’s will is done “on earth as it is in heaven.” (P. 50)

The church has hammered away at “original sin” while ignoring the presence of an original grace in which God provided the cure for sun even before it occurred. (P. 116)

Where law falters, love steps in. (P. 135)

Only if you are fully known can you be fully loved. (P. 156)

Through such ordinary deeds the kingdom of God advanced. What they did mattered less than why and for whom. In creation, in incarnation, in all acts on earth, God hallows the ordinary. (P. 231)

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Religion has taken serious hits in recent decades, many self-inflicted--the abuse scandals of religious leaders, the calls for violence by extremists, the failures of institutions to follow their own values.

Why does religion persist? One reason is that spiritual longings persist. When we see the beauty of a flower, the magnificence of a mountain, the love of a child, or the raw truth in a novel—we silently, perhaps unknowingly, wonder if there is something more. More than our mundane routine. More than atoms and energy. More than mechanical cause and effect.

Philip Yancey considers these “Rumors of Another World,” as he calls them. These hints from outside us, these yearnings from within us. Science has uncovered so much of the amazing intricacies of the human body and the vastness of the universe. Yet this has often failed to provide us with meaning and purpose. Often it has failed to help us find the good.

Yancey is hardly the heavy-handed evangelist. He gently explores death, sex, beauty to see what they might tell us with hints and suggestions. He even finds possible confirmation in disorder and pain. We instinctually recoil from greed, pride, violence. We intuitively recognize injustice even when no law defines it. Where might these impulses be pointing us?

This book is a quiet companion on our way.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yancy is a moving author and an excellent story-teller. He is a comforting presence on the page, full of hope, faith, and honest doubt. I like him.

This book, however, suffers greatly because it is very clearly not what it repeatedly claims to be. Rumors of Another World is presented as a journey which begins in a place of doubt and uncertainty and, by investigating these "rumors" of the supernatural, progresses toward faith in the supernatural and, ultimately, God. It's a promising premise and the description of a book I would still like to read. What Yancy has actually given us, however, is a journey which begins from a place of tacit faith and, by considering different aspects of the world through that lens, strengthens and reinforces one's faith.

This is a book for believers who seek reassurance in their belief. It makes assumptions that non-Christians, and even struggling Christians, may not agree with.

[Meredith Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

We found ourselves holding an estate garage sale, and decided to offer the books for free. A disproportionate number taken were by Philip Yancey, so my curiosity was piqued and I decided to keep the remaining ones for myself. Of the ten or so books I am currently reading this is the all-but-one most recently started and the all-but-one most recently finished, the other one being another Yancey volume.
Yancey makes sense of the daily dilemma of how to intergrate the natural with the supernatural. The other day I was reading the section about how to meaningfully engage in mundane tasks. That day my job was to fill the watering can and carry it to the revegetation patch. All I wanted to do was get back to the book, but with Yancey's words in mind I tried to resent it a little less and perhaps even engage with it meaningfully.
There was more to come, and the volume is now filled with highlights, with plenty to return to when I feel the need for inspiration.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the rest of Yancey's books I've read I loved this. Easy to read and left me with a list of people I now want to find out more about as well as ideas that I need to apply to my life. A thoughtful, practical look at what it looks like to live life now without losing sight of 'another world'.

'Saints stand out because they refuse to breath the air, accept the lie without protest. They seek to live according to the words of the invisible world even while living in the visible.'

'In the life of faith, we no longer judge God and his kingdom through worldy eyes but, instead, view this imperfect world in the light of God. Vision will always be clouded and imperfect, at least until the day of unification promised... Then rumours will cease, transposed into praise.'

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have all heard the rumors, of Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela - we all know there is a better world, that Jesus promised to bring. Sometimes still, this world seems so far away, and it is this that Philip Yancey is trying to make sense of in this book. It is a melancholy journey into the world of faith and doubt, into a dark world with glimpses of hope. We are traveling through, we have the kingdom inside us, we just don't see it all the time in the world. Through stories, Yancey masterfully paints a picture of what we lack and what some have found, and this is for inspiration and comfort for us all.

[Alison Bodenstab miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Goodreads review (after being on this platform for a decade I think) -

Mike and I read "Rumors of Another World" together as our morning meditation.
It's sort of non-self help self-help book, targeted to skeptical Christians, to Christians who like literature and philosophy, and to the non-New Agey spiritual types. So I'd say we were a good demographic for this read. At times, the references seemed dated or begged the question "why mention it?" (Yancey's hopeless crush on Anna Kournikova), but the book was published in 2003. I plan to pass the book along to a family member and check out Yancey's other works.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Yancey's writing. Growing up in the church some of the first sermons I remember were more about fire, brimstone, and sin. Not so much about God being about love and forgiveness. That came later on along with more of a focus on grace, faith and its importance in a person's life. Yancey admits to struggling with his faith and how he should walk between this world and the next which gives me hope and the knowledge that I'm not the only one. It's not a dry read either but full of information and a dash of humor here and there. I'll be reading more of books.