Memoir Religion

What sort of "person" is God? Is it possible to approach him not as an object of religious reverence, but as the protagonist of the world's greatest book--as a character who possesses all the depths, contradictions, and abiguities of a Hamlet? In this "brilliant, audacious book" ( Chicago Tribune), a former Jesuit marshalls a vast array of learning and knowledge of the Hebrew Bible to illuminate God--and man--with a sense of discovery and wonder.

This fast-paced, inspirational narrative reveals how God used one man of great courage, discipline, and humility to bring countless souls to Christ. God’s accomplishments through George Whitefield are to this day virtually unparalleled. In an era when many ministers were timid and apologetic in their preaching, he preached the gospel with aggressive zeal and undaunted courage. In the wake of his fearless preaching, revival swept across the British Isles, and the Great Awakening transformed the American colonies.

Bankers, philanthropists, scholars, socialites, artists, and politicians, the Warburgs stood at the pinnacle of German (and, later, German American) Jewry. They forged economic dynasties, built mansions and estates, assembled libraries, endowed charities, and advised a German kaiser and two American presidents. But their very success made the Warburgs lightning rods for anti-Semitism, and their sense of patriotism became increasingly dangerous in a Germany that had declared Jews the enemy.

C. S. Lewis is the 20th century's most widely read Christian writer and J. R. R. Tolkien its most beloved mythmaker. For three decades they and their closest associates formed a literary club known as the Inklings, which met weekly in Lewis' Oxford rooms and a nearby pub. They read aloud from works in progress, argued about anything that caught their fancy, and gave one another invaluable companionship, inspiration, and criticism.

The Third Man Factor is an extraordinary account of how people at the very edge of death often sense an unseen presence beside them who encourages them to make one final effort to survive. This incorporeal being offers a feeling of hope, protection, and guidance, and leaves the person convinced he or she is not alone. There is a name for this phenomenon: It’s called the Third Man Factor.

One day in 1986, Laura Schroff, a busy ad sales executive, passed a small boy panhandling on the street. She stopped and offered to take him to McDonald's for lunch. Twenty years later, at Laura's 50th birthday party, Maurice Mayzik gave a toast, thanking Laura for that small act of kindness, which ended up changing the course of his life. In that toast Maurice said that when Laura stopped on that busy street corner all those years ago, God had sent him an angel.

A New York Times best seller, Scary Close is Donald Miller at his best. From the author of Blue Like Jazz comes a story about finding the keys to a healthy relationship and discovering they are also the keys to a healthy family, a healthy career, and a healthy mind. And it all feels like a conversation with the best kind of friend: smart, funny, true, important.

If you are longing to experience God more than the shame or hurts of your past, the pressures of your present, or the fear of your future, Brave Surrender offers a soul-healing path forward. As Kim learned in her own life, the first step - and the bravest step - is letting go. Once we let go of anything that gets between us and God, we are freed to take hold of the life that truly matters.

At the core of this book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism's violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States, and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism.

Devastated by the unexpected end of her decades-long marriage, renowned spiritual teacher and intuitive guide Sonia Choquette undertook an equally unexpected move and relocated to Paris, the scene of many happy memories from her life as a student and young mother. Arriving in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, she found a Paris as traumatized by this unforeseen event as she had been by her divorce.

This easy-to-lsiten-to biography tells Billy Graham's story, including his humble beginnings as a Southern farm boy, his calling to the ministry, the start of the crusades, his service to America's leaders, and his later years preaching around the globe. As you listen to these details of a life dedicated to the cause of Christ, you will be encouraged. Also these stories will inspire anyone who desires to give their life in service to God.

On September 11, 2001, Lisa Beamer was thrust into the national spotlight after her husband, Todd, became an American hero by preventing terrorist hijackers from almost certainly flying United Flight 93 into the White House or the United States Capitol. Instead, Todd led a group of passengers to resist the hijackers, forcing the plane to crash into a Pennsylvania field. Todd and the other heroes of Flight 93 gave their lives so that untold others would be spared. Nothing could be more heroic. Lisa is now telling that story, and much more.

Gareth Duignam, born in Dublin, Ireland in 1979, shares his transformative journey in this autobiography. From a life of non-conformity, he embarked on a spiritual awakening that led him to become a teacher, proficient in transmitting potent energies like Shaktipat and the Supramental Force.

The Shot Caller is both a never-to-be-forgotten insider’s look at the violent world of gangs and prison life and a powerful, modern demonstration of how God will go to the most miraculous extremes to reach even the worst sinners. Casey Diaz came to this country when he was just two years old, the oldest son of El Salvadorian immigrants who settled in the barrios near downtown Los Angeles in the 1970s. An abusive family life propelled Casey into street gangs at the age of eleven and he rose quickly within the ranks of the Rockwood Street Locos to become their leader.

An initiation signals a beginning: a door opens and you step through. Traditional Wiccan initiates are usually brought into the craft through a ceremony with a High Priestess. But even though Amanda Yates Garcia's mother, a practicing witch herself, initiated her into the earth-centered practice of witchcraft when she was 13 years old, Amanda's real life as a witch only began when she underwent a series of spontaneous initiations of her own.

Part history, part cultural biography, and part literary mystery, The Orientalist traces the life of Lev Nussimbaum, a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince and became a best-selling author in Nazi Germany. Born in 1905 to a wealthy family in the oil-boom city of Baku, Lev escaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan. He found refuge in Germany, where, writing under the names Essad Bey and Kurban Said, his remarkable books about Islam, desert adventures, and global revolution became celebrated across fascist Europe.

When Jeremy Camp lost his beloved wife Melissa just three months after their wedding, the last thing he wanted to do was sing praise to God. But even as he struggled through unimaginable grief and fought to hold on to his faith, God had other plans: Pick up your guitar. I have something for you to write.

Nous ne devrions pas nous étonner de ce que les femmes aient joué un rôle si important dans le plan de Dieu révélé dans l'Ancien et le Nouveau Testaments, compte tenu de leur courage, de leur vision, de leur hospitalité et de leurs dons spirituels. Dans Douze femmes extraordinaires, vous apprendrez bien plus que de fascinantes informations sur ces femmes, mais à travers leur vie, vous découvrirez la chronologie incontestable de l'œuvre rédemptrice de Dieu dans l'histoire. Ces femmes se trouvaient au cœur même de son plan, elles n'y étaient pas accessoires.

In 2013, just two years after the popular overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian military ousted the country's first democratically elected president - Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood - and subsequently led a brutal repression of the Islamist group. These bloody events echoed an older political rift: the splitting of nationalists and Islamists during the rule of Egyptian president and Arab nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Fawaz Gerges, one of the world's leading authorities on the Middle East, tells how the clash between pan-Arab nationalism and pan-Islamism has shaped the history of the region.

Daniel Allen Cox grew up with firm lines around what his religion considered unacceptable: celebrating birthdays and holidays, voting in elections, pursuing higher education, and other forays into independent thought. Their opposition to blood transfusions would have consequences for his mother, just as their stance on homosexuality would for him. But even years after whispers of his sexual orientation reached his congregation’s presiding elder, catalyzing his disassociation, the distinction between “in” and “out” isn’t always clear.