Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot (née Howard; born December 21, 1926) is a Christian author and speaker. Her first husband, Jim Elliot, was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca (now known as Huaorani) of eastern Ecuador. She later spent two years as a missionary to the tribe members who killed her husband. Returning to the United States after many years in South America, she became widely known as the author of over twenty books and as a speaker in constant demand. Elliot toured the country, sharing her knowledge and experience, well into her seventies.

Biography

She was born in Belgium, and her family included her missionary parents, four brothers and one sister. Elisabeth's brothers Thomas Howard and David Howard are also authors.

The family moved to Pennsylvania when she was a few months old. She has lived in Franconia, New Hampshire; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Moorestown, New Jersey. She studied Classical Greek at Wheaton College, believing that it was the best tool to help her with the calling of ultimately translating the New Testament into an unknown language. It was here that she met Jim Elliot. Prior to their marriage, Elisabeth took a post-graduate year of specialized studies at Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada, where a campus prayer chapel is named in her honor. Jim Elliot and Elisabeth Howard went individually to Ecuador to work with the Quichua Indians; they married in 1953 in the city of Quito, Ecuador. Their daughter, Valerie (born 1955), was 10 months old when her father was killed. Elisabeth continued her work with the Quechua for two more years.

Two Huaorani women living among the Quichua, including one named Dayuma, taught the Huao language to Mrs. Elliot and fellow missionary Rachel Saint. When Dayuma returned to the Huaorani, she created an opening for contact by the missionaries. In October 1958, Mrs. Elliot went to live with the Huaorani with her three-year-old daughter Valerie and Rachel Saint.

The Auca/Huaorani gave Elisabeth the tribal name Gikari, Huao for "Woodpecker." She later returned to the Quichua and worked with them until 1963, when she and Valerie returned to the US (Franconia, New Hampshire).

In 1969, Elisabeth married Addison Leitch, professor of theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Leitch died in 1973. In the fall of 1974 she became an Adjunct Professor on the Faculty of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and for several years taught a popular course entitled "Christian Expression." In 1977, she married Lars Gren, a Hospital Chaplain. The Grens later worked and traveled together.

In the mid-1970s she served as one of the stylistic consultants for the committee of the New International Version of the Bible (NIV). She appears on the NIV's list of contributors.^[1]

In 1981 Mrs. Gren was appointed writer-in-residence at Gordon College in South Hamilton, MA.

From 1988 to 2001, Elisabeth could be heard on a daily radio program, Gateway to Joy, produced by the Good News Broadcasting Association of Lincoln, Nebraska. She almost always opened the program with the phrase, "'You are loved with an everlasting love,' – that's what the Bible says – 'and underneath are the everlasting arms.' This is your friend, Elisabeth Elliot ..."^[2]

In the past few years, Mr. and Mrs. Gren have stopped traveling but continue to keep in touch with the public through mail and their website.

Books

• Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot, 1958
• Through Gates of Splendor, 1957
• These Strange Ashes
• Quest for Love
• The Savage My Kinsman, 1961
• Furnace of the Lord: Reflections on the Redemption of The Holy City, 1969
• Twelve Baskets of Crumbs, 1976
• Let Me Be a Woman, 1977
• The Journals of Jim Elliot, 1978
• Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under God's Control, 1984
• Discipline: The Glad Surrender
• Love Has a Price Tag
• The Mark of a Man
• Keep a Quiet Heart
• A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael
• Path Through Suffering: Discovering the Relationship Between God's Mercy and Our Pain
• The Path of Loneliness: Finding Your Way Through the Wilderness to God
• No Graven Image
• Secure in the Everlasting Arms
• The Music of His Promises: Listening to God with Love, Trust, and Obedience
• The Shaping of a Christian Family
• God's Guidance: A Slow and Certain Light
• Taking Flight: Wisdom for Your Journey

Portrayals of Elisabeth Elliot

• In 1973, a readers theater production of Bridge of Blood: Jim Elliot Takes Christ to the Aucas was first performed at Tennessee Temple University.
• In 2003, a musical based on the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, entitled Love Above All, was staged at the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore. This musical was staged a second time in 2007 at the University Cultural Centre, Singapore.
• In the 2006 film, End of the Spear, she was portrayed by actress Beth Bailey. In Beyond the Gates of Splendor, a documentary film released in 2002, she appears as herself. (The other wives of the missionaries killed, as well as several Indians, and others, also appear.)

References

External links

• Elisabeth Elliot's home page.
• An Interview with Elisabeth Elliot on the website for the musical Love Above All – The Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot.
• web site of the documentary film, Beyond the Gates of Splendor, which includes an interview with Elisabeth Elliot.
• http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/278.htm#1
• http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/trans/278t02.htm