Our
first years in church were not easy. Not having any fixed political or cultural
positions of our own, we bowed to the pressure of contemporary society—didn't
even notice the pressure, in fact—and were drawn to liberal institutions
by the promise of open-mindedness and tolerance. Not many folks in our liberal
church read their Bibles, but we found the ones that did, and drew strength
from their presence. And with their help we found other good devotional resources,
including the writings of Elisabeth Elliot, which became a lifeline for us.
For reasons I don't understand, Elisabeth Elliot has a universal appeal, being read by Christians across the liberal/conservative spectrum. I would think that her no-nonsense, tradition-soaked, solidly biblical approach to the thorniest problems of deliberate Christian living would put off people on the liberal end of that spectrum. But her works have the power to reach past cherished misconceptions, and we're grateful for that. We think you'll find these books particularly edifying.
Mrs. Elliot provides this short description of her background:
“My parents were missionaries in Belgium where I was born. When I was a few months old, we came to the U.S. and lived in Germantown, not far from Philadelphia, where my father became an editor of the Sunday School Times. Some of my contemporaries may remember the publication which was used by hundreds of churches for their weekly unified Sunday School teaching materials.
“Our family continued to live in Philadelphia and then in New Jersey until I left home to attend Wheaton College. By that time, the family had increased to four brothers and one sister. My studies in classical Greek would one day enable me to work in the area of unwritten languages to develop a form of writing.
“A year after I went to Ecuador, Jim Elliot, whom I had met at Wheaton, also entered tribal areas with the Quichua Indians. In nineteen fifty three we were married in the city of Quito and continued our work together. Jim had always hoped to have the opportunity to enter the territory of an unreached tribe. The Aucas were in that category -- a fierce group whom no one had succeeded in meeting without being killed. After the discovery of their whereabouts, Jim and four other missionaries entered Auca territory. After a friendly contact with three of the tribe, they were speared to death.
“Our daughter Valerie was 10 months old when Jim was killed. I continued working with the Quichua Indians when, through a remarkable providence, I met two Auca women who lived with me for one year. They were the key to my going in to live with the tribe that had killed the five missionaries. I remained there for two years.
“After having worked for two years with the Aucas, I returned to the Quichua work and remained there until 1963 when Valerie and I returned to the U.S.
“Since then, my life has been one of writing and speaking. It also included, in 1969, a marriage to Addison Leitch, professor of theology at Gordon Conwell Seminary in Massachusetts. He died in 1973. After his death I had two lodgers in my home. One of them married my daughter, the other one, Lars Gren, married me. Since then we have worked together.”
(To order Mrs. Elliot's five books on family, choose The Elisabeth Elliot on Family Collection.)
