For some time now I’ve found Philip Yancey an interesting figure and to some degree an enigma. It’s no small feat to simultaneously be one of the biggest selling authors in the subset of the publishing industry which calls itself ‘christian’, and managing to say things which challenges the preconceptions of much of his constituency.
Thus it was that I found myself reading an article in CCM magazine (a publication I rarely open) which recorded a discussion between Yancey and a singer called Steven Curtis Chapman. Their discussion of U2 is one of the reasons the article was drawn to my attention, and while the content of that discussion will seem rather tame to those of us for whom the apparent questions about U2’s faith arising out of the CCM fraternity have never held much fascination, it is a source of hope that they are getting the coverage they are.
It’s on the second page that I was less comfortable. In response to a question from Chapman asking whether there should be a contemporary Christian music or a Christian Booksellers Association, Yancey replies:
“Even now, most secular bookstores have in their religion section probably as much New Age and non-Christian religion material [as Christian religion material]. It