While this is not the authorized biography of Elisabeth Elliot, I have to believe that this is how she would have wanted her life to be presented—as unpretentious, thoughtful, and complex. I’m less than confident that she would have wanted her inner thoughts to be so publicly known, since she was not in the habit of sharing the more vulnerable and turbulent parts of herself.

This retelling of her life, juxtaposing cultural references with the events of her public life and her diary entries chronicling her inner life, is both honest and gracious. Austen eloquently unfolds the tapestry of a life filled with family, confusion, grief, ambition, curiosity, love, and faith.

Elisabeth Elliot was the voice of a Christian generation, whether she wanted to be or not. But of course, she was human. Earnest, but flawed. She spoke her beliefs with candor, and as a result—though she didn’t seek it—many placed her on a spiritual pedestal.

I was raised in a place and time when purity culture was paramount and the martyrdom of missionaries was the ultimate calling. These ideas, which were at least in part borne from Elliot’s influence, were never the intention of a woman who did not consider herself to be authoritative on spiritual matters. If anything, she simply sought to be faithful and live according to her values.

This book was ultimately sobering, but not discouraging. It shed light on how frequently Elliot wavered, questioned, and struggled. Austen gives context to Elliot’s ideas about God’s will, suffering, and marriage, and it humanizes her in a very necessary way.

While very well articulated, I have mixed feelings about this book. Nothing in my worldview is shaken or anything like that. I am just left with more questions than when I began.

Elisabeth Elliot
A Life
by Lucy S.R Austen
Pub Date 27 Jun 2023 | Archive Date 31 May 2023
Crossway
Biographies & Memoirs| Christian



Crossway and Netgalley sent me a copy of Elisabeth Elliot: A Life:


This is one of the most detailed biographies I've seen on Elisabeth Elliot. You can learn more about this remarkable woman who overcame so much.


Elizabeth Elliot (1926-2015) was one of the most well-known Christians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Elliot famously returned to live with the same tribesmen who killed her husband, Jim, and four other missionaries in Ecuador. However, her legacy goes way beyond these events. Over the years, Elliot became a prolific writer and speaker, touching countless lives.


An in-depth biography, Lucy S. R. Austen takes readers through Elisabeth Elliot's life-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. Readers will learn what it means to follow Jesus through Elliot's example of love for God and obedience to his commands.

I give Elisabeth Elliot a Life five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Elisabeth Elliot has been the most consistent model of Christian womanhood in my life, especially as I was raising children. Her faith in God and His word seemed unshakable. I enjoyed this in depth look at parts of her life that were less known. This is a long and at times tedious look at her courtship with Jim Elliot. God’s faithfulness cannot be doubted but it did take Jim Elliot off the pedestal I had put him on. Seeing their humanness was refreshing. This is a woman worth knowing.

First sentence (from the prologue) On Monday January 9, 1956, listeners to HCJB, "the Voice of the Andes," tuning in for the "Off the Record" radio program heard a disturbing news bulletin: five young American missionaries were missing--captured or killed in the jungles of Ecuador.

Is this the only Elisabeth Elliot biography released in 2023? NO. Will I be reviewing both of them? Probably. I have every intention of reading both. This is an all-in-one volume biography of Elisabeth Elliot. The other is the second of two volumes covering her life.

What should you know about this one going in? Chapters are long, long, long, super-long. If you are the type of reader who wants to finish whole chapters in one sitting, expect to sit still for at least an hour per chapter. (I'm a fast reader, so it took me anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half per chapter. The author, I suppose, wants to keep things together. There are three sections or parts. Part one covers 1926-1952. This covers from birth to the time she heads off SINGLE to Ecuador. Part two covers 1952-1963. These years are her Ecuador years, mainly. Part three covers 1963-2015. This section covers everything after her return to the United States. Three little chapters. Or not so little chapters as the case may be. The last chapter, for example, covers her third marriage--which I believe was in the late 70s--maybe 77? 78?--through her death in 2015.

I was reminded that theology/spirituality is not stagnant or static. Her views of EVERYTHING relating to faith changed--radically, dramatically, often. Her world view was in a state of constant change. For better or worse. At first, I thought she might be a forerunner of a deconstructionist. But the more I read, the more I realized it might be more of a dis-entangling. She definitely unpacked EVERY doctrine she was raised with and thoroughly questioned everything minutely. I would call the doctrines she was raised with (including home, boarding school, undergraduate and graduate) had fundamentalist leanings mixed with Victory/Holiness leanings. Definitely some strict, harsh, legalistic, judgmental patterns. A tinge of prosperity as well. If you do x, y, and z, then God will bless you with a, b, c.

Elliot had STRONG feelings at all times--in particular about the evangelical church, about missions, about the structures and organizations of world missions. She came to question a lot of what she'd been taught about missionary life, about missions, about how to do missions, what that looks like, feels like, works. She thought that there was a lot of double-speaking or lies by omission. Remove the sentimentality and flowery inspiration. Be honest about it's incredibly draining and depressing.

This one does not seek to idolize Elliot. She's not presented as a super-extraordinary-amazing-sinless saint who had all the answers. She's not held up as a model to imitate--not really. I think the goal is to fully flesh out her ENTIRE life. I think it's an honest examination. It doesn't condemn Elliot for being raised in a different--much, much, much--different generation. It doesn't seek to cancel Elliot for being who she was, for having different views.

I struggled to find Elisabeth Elliot likeable. I know that sounds horrible--horrendous. Everyone is supposed to love Elliot, right????? I mean she's one of the most famous Christian authors from the twentieth century. But the more I read about her, the more I struggled to like her. Perhaps in part because I found Jim Elliot insufferable. (He wasn't the only husband I found insufferable).

What the book excels at is honest examination and evaluation. She looks at both Elliot's life and works. She keeps things big picture in some ways, but, also does go into greater detail. I was reminded that some things do change, but others tend to stay the same.

What a comprehensive and enlightening deep dive into the life of Elisabeth Elliot. A masterly crafted look at who she was, how she thought, her good points and bad, and even how she grew and changed over her lifetime, the projects she was working on, and more importantly, while she was married to Jim Elliot, this spotlight shines directly on Elisabeth. I love how Lucy Austen summed her up at the end, "Elliot had weaknesses and strengths, she got things right and she got things wrong, and she did not necessarily know which were which. Nor do we. We are too small to see very far." Poignant and thought provoking walk of a life lived fully surrendered to God with the ever present shape me, mold me, make me new. Jesus make me more like you. Very well done and highly highly recommended!
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

Elizabeth Elliott is one of my heroes. I have read & enjoyed many, many books by her & about her and her husband Jim. I greatly admire them both.

This book is written a little bit differently than others. The author uses a journalistic style & you get a glimpse into Jim & Elizabeth's journals & letters.

I was able to preview this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have been working my way through a newly written biography of Elisabeth Elliot by Lucy S. R. Austen. This fascinating account is told through a myriad of family letters and journals. Austen is journalistic in her writing: instead of her own opinions and analysis of Elliot, she uses this array of letters and journals to let Elliot’s life story speak for itself.
In all, it’s revelatory of Elisabeth's unshakeable faith which would carry her through the many rough seas of her life.
This is an exhaustively detailed and encompassing biography, revealing Elisabeth to be a woman who was saturated in the Word and clung to her Lord through prayer.

I wasn’t too thrilled with some of the details surrounding the beginning stages of Jim + Elisabeth’s relationship. Despite consistently telling Elisabeth that he was convinced that God had called him to remain single, Jim still romantically pursued Elisabeth and emotionally strung her along.
In addition, Jim seems to have held a reductionist view of women.

As someone who grew up hearing the voice of Elliot through her Gateway to Joy radio program, I have been enjoying the journey through this biography which reveals Elliot to be deeply human. Yes, she was a woman of tremendous faith and commitment to the Lord, but she also struggled with her own sin and challenges and doubts.
Pick up a copy of this book and spend some time getting to know a woman whose story will inevitably impact your own walk with the Lord.

Thank you to crosswaybooks and netgalley for the complimentary ebook in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Although I had never met her, when Elisabeth Elliot passed away in 2015, the loss felt very personal. Her voice (on the radio and in her books) was among the most influential factors in my following life, and since I have read just about everything she ever wrote, I didn’t expect to encounter much new information in Elisabeth Elliot: A Life, the new biography from Crossway.

The big surprise I found was Lucy S.R. Austen’s ability to contextualize Elisabeth’s life within the scope of history. Although I tend to think of her still as a “contemporary” voice, we are not the same Body of Christ that we were at her death in 2015–and even less so than when her public ministry ended in 2004. Since then, the #MeToo movement has changed the way the culture at large receives Elisabeth’s teaching on biblical submission. Add to this a prevailing disillusionment with purity culture that has impacted the way millennials and Gen Zs respond to Elisabeth’s teaching on dating relationships and her own courtship with Jim Elliot.

This aerial view of 88 years underscored for me the weight of suffering and disappointment Elliot took in stride and that served as the foundation for the convictions that made her one of the best-known Christians of the 20th and early 21st century. The book demonstrates that she spent her career chiseling a solid theology from the bedrock of God’s character as revealed in the pages of Scripture, a foundation that is undoubtedly the reason she ultimately found grace to face the terror of dementia with a quiet heart.

In the process of writing, Austen has followed Elisabeth Elliot’s own standard for creating biography, “to discover, not to construct,” and to “tell the truth.” Extensive research and scrupulous attention to detail have resulted in a faithful portrayal of an exceptional woman’s walk with God, her growth process, and the great hope of her faith that continues to stand as a challenge and motivation to me.

Wonderful biography about a wonderful woman. I really enjoyed this. While I already knew a great deal about her, I learned so much through this biography. It was encouraging and uplifting and inspiring.

To be honest, this took some time to grow on me. With 600 pages to get through, there was plenty of time 😉 I prefer my nonfiction to be told in narrative style, and especially when reading about Elliot’s early life, the writing here felt straightforward, primarily concerned with sharing facts rather than telling a story. However, the beauty of this book is in the unfolding of a life of a very real, flawed, steadfast woman who loved and trusted in her God.
Although she is most well-known for being a missionary, prolific writer, and speaker, what most stood out to me after reading Austen’s work were the hidden examples of faithfulness—retreating to her journal to work out interpersonal difficulties with the Lord rather than choosing to gossip and joyful service to her husbands even when it was hard, just to name a couple.
I also was greatly encouraged by her view of her own contribution as a missionary (and it may not be what you think).
I didn’t know if I really needed another book on Elisabeth Elliot following Ellen Vaughn’s 2020 release, but it turns out, I did. The scale of this and the honest portrayal of a flawed servant of the Lord ultimately causes me to praise him more because he chooses to use broken vessels to show his glory. I think Betty herself would approve. Thank you Netgalley and Crossway for the advanced review copy.

This biography is a masterpiece. I grew up hearing so much about Elisabeth Elliot. Her pen shaped much of the ideologies of being a Christian female in the 1990s-2000s, and while I never read her books, I grew up admiring her legacy and her ideas. As I’ve grown older, I’ve grown more and more aware of some inconsistencies between what she shared and what I would endorse as biblical.

And so I came to this biography interested and skeptical. This book is so well done. It’s never boring, it flows very well, it’s so thorough and obviously well researched, and best of all, the author acknowledges and brings many of her inconsistencies to the table for discussion. As I read through the book, I felt like I was getting an honest look into her life without the masks. It was very vulnerable in places, and based on her journal entries, I’d say this is exactly the kind of biographical record Elisabeth Elliot would want to have to document her life. Not one that would simply praise her, but one that would ask honest questions and dig into the dissonance all while pointing the reader back to God.

This book inspired growth and challenged me in so many ways. I still disagree with Elliot in all the same ways as I did before, but even with that, I find I admire her tenacity and her resilience, I can’t help but be thankful for her witness even when she didn’t have it “all together.” It’s such an encouragement to look at this 625 page snapshot of this incredible woman’s life and see that she struggled and grappled with some of the same things I wrestle with today. It was validating to see the author point out some of the points I took issue with, but I can’t fail to recognize that had she say quiet until she had it all figured out, she’d have never touched so many lives. Instead, she was willing to grow and be grown in the public eye, and she journaled so thoroughly, the willingness and determination to seen truth was palpable, and a person can’t help but admire her doggedness for seeking truth.

This book is so well done. I thoroughly enjoyed it. A special thanks to Crossway and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book describes a lot of Elisabet Elliot's family life and her life before she married Jim Elliot. You will feel like you are there as she describes her family's struggles during the depression, Elisabeth's responsibilities for her siblings and her freedom to attend a high school in Florida in an old mansion.
Wheaton College in Illinois is the same college Billy and Ruth Graham attended and it was a place where Elisabeth used her independent streak to write articles, learn Greek and after dating a number of people, find Jim Elliot. But theirs was not a normal courtship, as they felt it was more important to serve God than get married! Elisabeth even attended a linguistics program in Oklahoma to learn how to translate the Bible and Jim was preparing to be a missionary in South America.
After this course Betty goes to Prairie Bible College in Canada where men and women had separate entrances in the school buildings and where women and girls were forbidden to wear pants no matter how cold it was - unreal!
In the meantime, Jim had read Romans 14 about "being free to do all things" and he had begun dating other people, skipping class and going camping.
When Betty heard about this, she was upset and her heart felt broken in two but she continued studying.
You will have to read the book for yourself to find out how their lives turned out!

I loved this biography. Elisabeth Elliot is one of my favorite Christian teachers and I love to learn more about her life. A lot of her early life and backstory I read about in her book ‘The Shaping of a Christian Family,’ but I enjoyed the review. I’ll definitely be recommending this book to my friends.