The Key Teachings of Elisabeth Elliot

This is a companion to Elisabeth Elliot, not a book by her. Written by Ochorus, it sets out in fifteen short chapters the teaching for which the missionary, widow, writer and broadcaster is chiefly remembered — the sovereignty and love of God as the ground of everything, the duty of the present moment, suffering that is never wasted, the acceptance of what God gives and the offering of it back to Him, the liberty that is found in obedience, the disciplines of the Christian life, love placed under the lordship of Christ, loneliness, womanhood and the Christian home, the missionary without illusions, the way of the cross, the quiet heart, the questions we bring to God, and thanksgiving in all things. It opens with an account of her life and closes with a conclusion and a guide to her books.

It is important to be clear about what this book is and is not. It is an independent work of exposition, summary and appreciation. It is not published by, affiliated with, or endorsed by any organisation that holds rights in the writings of Elisabeth Elliot. All descriptions of her teaching are the present author’s own summaries; her books are named only for the reader’s further study, and readers are warmly encouraged to obtain them from their rightful publishers. Nothing of Elisabeth Elliot’s own text is reproduced here — only Scripture, quoted from the Authorised (King James) Version, a few lines of older verse and a single sentence of Amy Carmichael’s, all long in the public domain, and Ochorus’s account of what she taught.

Elisabeth Elliot was admired by many and argued with by some, and she would not have wanted a companion that pretended otherwise. This volume tries to honour her by telling plainly what she taught, by noting fairly where faithful Christians have differed from her — above all on womanhood and marriage, and on the questions she raised about missionary work — and by weighing everything under Scripture. She spent her life pointing away from herself to the God who had kept her, and this book tries to do the same.