The Price of Success

“I have seldom been as deeply moved as by J. B. Phillips’s own description of his euphoria of success, followed by his plunge into years of deep depression. Yet, in the end, triumph prevailed.”—Kenneth N. Taylor, translator of The Living Bible J. B. Phillips began translating the New Testament Epistles to encourage his bomb-threatened London congregation. From this humble beginning, and with C. S. Lewis’s enthusiastic support, a dynamic and prodigious writing career was launched. Radio broadcasting established his reputation as a natural communicator and requests for him to lecture snowballed. Success was heady, but the price of was almost too much to pay. “I was in a state of excitement throughout the whole of 1955. My work hardly seemed arduous for it was intrinsically exciting. I was tasting the sweets of success to an almost unimaginable degree. My health was excellent; my future prospects were rosier than my wildest dreams could ever suggest; applause, honor, and appreciation met me wherever I went. . . . I was not aware of the dangers of success. The subtle corrosion of character, the unconscious changing of values, and the secret monstrous growth of a vastly inflated idea of myself seeped slowly into me. Vaguely, I was aware of this, and like some frightful parody of St. Augustine, I prayed, ‘Lord, make me humble—but not yet.’”