Elisabeth Elliot: A Life (Lucy S. R. Austen)

Elisabeth Elliot: A Life

An In-Depth Biography on the Life and Work of Missionary Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) is one of the most widely known Christians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. After the death of her husband, Jim, and four other missionaries at the hands of Waorani tribesmen in Ecuador, Elliot famously returned to live among the same people who had killed her husband. Her legacy, however, extends far beyond these events. In the years that followed, Elliot became a prolific writer and speaker, touching the lives of countless people around the world.

In this single-volume biography, Lucy S. R. Austen takes readers on an in-depth journey through the life of Elisabeth Elliot—her birth to missionary parents, her courtship and marriage to Jim Elliot, her missions work in Ecuador, and her private life and public work after she returned to the United States. Through Elliot’s example of love for God and obedience to his commands, readers will ponder what it means to follow Jesus.

• Single-Volume Biography on Elisabeth Elliot: Author Lucy S. R. Austen explores Elliot’s professional articles, books, and radio programs, as well as personal scrapbooks, journals, and letters
• Engaging: Tells the complex and moving life story of one of the most well-known Christian missionaries
• A Great Resource for Students: Thoroughly researched book provides information about Elliot beyond her work with the Waorani people and her first husband’s death

Endorsements:

“Lucy S. R. Austen’s biography of Elisabeth Elliot is not only (by far) the best account we have of this fascinating woman; it is also a book that should inspire other biographers—both first-timers and veterans—to resist the relentless pressure to smooth out the rough edges of the lives they are seeking to chronicle. Here we have a story that will remind us of the twists and turns, the unexpected chapters, and the deep sense of grace that marks our own lives.”
John Wilson, Senior Editor, The Marginalia Review of Books; former Editor, Books & Culture

“Elisabeth Elliot first rose to fame by bringing the story of the ‘Auca martyrs’ to the world, but as this carefully researched and deftly written biography shows, she was much more than an iconographer. She became a provocateur who cast doubts on the triumphalism of the evangelical missions industry. She became an ardent critic of fundamentalist spirituality and cultural separatism. She encouraged a generation of evangelical artists and intellectuals who wondered if God really wanted to use their talents. And she was an arch-traditionalist who attacked modern egalitarianism, especially as it addressed gender roles. Elliot was a brilliant, difficult, and complicated person, and this biography treats her life with great sensitivity and honesty. Anyone who wants to understand Elisabeth Elliot, and indeed postwar American evangelicalism, needs to read this book.”
Joel Carpenter, Provost and Professor Emeritus, Calvin University; editor, Christianity Remade: The Rise of Indian Instituted Churches

“Lucy S. R. Austen’s biography of the most famous American Christian woman of the twentieth century leaves no stone unturned. This extremely detailed account reveals the inner life of a very public woman, illustrating not only her high spiritual calling but also constant tensions related to her gender. Utterly committed to her understanding of the Bible’s teachings about men and women, Elliot found herself at the whims of male Christian leaders and husbands with differing visions, as well as at odds with the women’s liberation movement and egalitarian Christianity. This book nuances the two-dimensional picture of Elisabeth Elliot merely as the widow of a famous martyr to provide a multidimensional account of women in missions and American Evangelical Christianity.”
Gina A. Zurlo, Codirector, Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary