Elisabeth Elliot: A Life

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“In her day, Elisabeth Elliot was one of the most formidable women in all the world. This thoughtfully crafted biography tells the unlikely story of how a missionary kid became an American evangelical icon. Lucy S. R. Austen’s eye for what made Elliot both remarkable and human renders this book an especially compelling read.”