A married, Christian author battling Parkinson's Disease has admitted to having an extramarital affair with a woman for eight years and announced his retirement from ministry and speaking, according to statements sent to USA TODAY.
After 55 years of writing about Christianity and its teachings, Philip Yancey called the affair "sinful" and "defied everything" that he believed about marriage in a statement sent to USA TODAY. Evangelical Christian media magazine Christianity Today first reported the affair on Jan. 8.
"It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families," he told USA TODAY. "I will not share further details out of respect for the other family."
Yancey has written books that ask questions about religion, including "What's So Amazing About Grace?" and "Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?" Through his work, Yancey has won 13 Christian Book Awards (formerly Gold Medallion Awards) from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.
Yancey has also worked as a journalist in Chicago and interviewed people such as President Jimmy Carter, according to his website. He has been married to his wife, Janet, for 55 years, Christianity Today reported. Yancey's website said the pair moved to the foothills of Colorado in 1992.
He said in the statement that he will complete counseling and an accountability program.
Author's wife plans to stick by her husband
Yancey shared with USA TODAY a statement from his wife, Janet Yancey, who said she will not break the promise she made to devote herself to her husband.
"I, Janet Yancey, am speaking from a place of trauma and devastation that only people who have lived through betrayal can understand," she wrote.
"I accept and understand that God through Jesus has paid for and forgiven the sins of the world, including Philip's," she wrote. "God grant me the grace to forgive also, despite my unfathomable trauma. Please pray for us."
On his website, Yancey said his wife is a "natural extrovert," and he praised her for teaching him how to navigate social situations and supporting his career.
"Janet withdrew from her own career as a social worker and hospice chaplain mainly to travel with me and support my work," he added on his site. "That was a genuine sacrifice ... When I'm signing books or talking with someone and sense they need more time, and a more skillful listener, I steer them toward Janet, who is a superb listener and counselor."
Christian author's past with religion
Regarding his recently announced affair, Yancey acknowledged in his statement to USA TODAY that his "actions will disillusion readers who have previously trusted in my writing."
According to Yancey's website, he grew up in a strict, fundamentalist church in the South. When he was younger, he thought of God as "a scowling Supercop, searching for anyone who might be having a good time -- in order to squash them." As he grew older, he began to notice what he considered good qualities about the church, also pointing out the contradictions within the church halls.
"If a neighbor's house burned down, the congregation would rally around and show charity -- if, that is, the house belonged to a white person," he wrote on his website, adding that reading allowed him to experience life differently and challenged the things he'd learned as a youngster.
He noted that he felt betrayed by his upbringing when he learned more about the world.
"I felt I had been lied to," he wrote. "What I learned from a book like 'To Kill a Mockingbird' or 'Black Like Me' contradicted the racism I encountered in church."
He added that he realized "God had been misrepresented" to him, so he began writing to answer questions about the religion for himself and for his readers.
Yancey has more than 17 million books in print, published in over 50 languages globally, his website read. During a speech shared to TikTok in January 2024, he discussed what it means to love from God's perspective.
"Most of the time when we use the word love, it's more like a verb," Yancey said. "'I love you,' we say. But for God, it's a noun. It's an adjective. It's who God is. It's God's essence, the apostle John tells us."