Becoming Elisabeth Elliot. Ellen Vaughn. 2020. 320 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: It was April 11, 1948 in Wheaton, Illinois, thirty miles west of Chicago. Jim Elliot was a junior at Wheaton College, a star wrestler, Greek major, poet, and jokester.
Becoming Elisabeth Elliot is...you guessed it...a biography of Elisabeth (Howard) Elliot. This biography doesn't cover her whole life. It is, I believe, perhaps a first volume in a two volume biography set. (Perhaps. It certainly felt like that was the set up). This one touches briefly on her childhood years, and goes to a more in-depth treatment of her high school and college years [there were journals]. Ultimately everything is building up to her courtship, marriage, and widowhood. Her husband, Jim Elliot, is one of five who were martyred. This husband-and-wife team were serving as missionaries in Ecuador. [There were five men and their families. Perhaps more in the area??? But these five were specifically seeking to witness to this particular tribe; it was a 'first contact' situation.] The biography ends in the early (maybe mid too) 1960s. Elisabeth Elliot has returned to the United States [after much disagreement with another widow] and is now writing Christian books.
The book relies on Elisabeth Elliot's journals and books.
I have read two maybe three books by Elisabeth Elliot...including several about her years in Ecuador. (One was on womanhood? or parenting?)
I did learn more about Elisabeth Elliot. I knew the basic story, this biography fleshes it out in more context. I had made a few assumptions that I shouldn't have. (For example, I assumed that the five widows and their families would have stayed close/tight. That they would have supported each other. It was quite a shock to read of the super-tense, incredibly-tense relationship she had with Rachel Saint.)
It gives a good, solid overview. But I don't think there's tedious amounts of details. (Though that could be subjective).
No comments:
Post a Comment