Christian author Philip Yancey retires after admitting eight-year extramarital affair

Prominent evangelical author Philip Yancey has announced his retirement from writing and public speaking after admitting to an eight-year extramarital affair with a married woman, a revelation that has sent shockwaves through Christian communities worldwide.

Yancey, 76, disclosed the affair in an email statement first reported by Christianity Today, where he was a longtime contributor. He said his actions were inconsistent with his faith and writings and had caused deep pain to his wife, the other family involved and readers who trusted his work.

“My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage,” Yancey wrote. “It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families.”

He said the relationship lasted eight years and declined to provide further details “out of respect for the other family.”

Following the disclosure, Yancey said he would step away permanently from writing, speaking engagements and public life. Events scheduled for 2026 have been cancelled, bringing an abrupt end to a public career that spanned more than five decades.

Christianity Today confirmed that Yancey had withdrawn from all roles with the publication, where he wrote and edited for decades and served as editor at large. He began his career in 1971 at Campus Life magazine before joining Christianity Today, where he wrote a popular back-page column for 26 years starting in 1983.

Yancey is among the most influential Christian writers of the modern era, with more than 20 million books sold in 49 languages, according to his official biography. His best-known works include The Jesus I Never Knew and What’s So Amazing About Grace?, both named Christian Book of the Year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

His writing focused on doubt, suffering and what he called the “scandal of grace” — the belief that God’s forgiveness extends even to those who do not deserve it.

Former US president Jimmy Carter once named Yancey his favourite modern author. “This was the guy whose platform was built on sincerity and honesty,” said Ed Stetzer, dean of the Talbot School of Theology, in comments reported by the New York Times.

Yancey also shared a statement from his wife, Janet Yancey, who spoke candidly about the impact of the affair.

“I am speaking from a place of trauma and devastation that only people who have lived through betrayal can understand,” she said.

Despite that pain, she said she would not leave the marriage. “I made a sacred and binding marriage vow 55½ years ago, and I will not break that promise,” she said, while acknowledging the difficulty of forgiveness. “God grant me the grace to forgive also, despite my unfathomable trauma.”

Yancey has lived in Colorado since the early 1980s and became a popular speaker at churches and conferences worldwide. In 2023, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and had increasingly relied on his wife as a caregiver.

He is the latest in a series of high-profile evangelical leaders to confess to or be accused of sexual misconduct in recent years, including megachurch pastor Bill Hybels and the late evangelist Ravi Zacharias.