Religious Biographies

In one decisive moment, Cameron Townsend understood that God had called him to translate the Bible into the language of his Guatemalan friends. For Cam, the obstacles were small when compared to the growing reward of helping the diverse people of Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru read God's life-changing Word for themselves. Quick on his feet and slow to give up, Cam started Wycliffe Bible Translators with the dream of making the Good News available in every language. Since 1942, Wycliffe has translated Scripture into hundreds of languages, spreading God's Word to people all over the world.

Considerada una de las obras más relevantes del siglo XX, Autobiografía de un yogui es el relato en primera persona de una vida extraordinaria. Paramahansa Yogananda nos cuenta en ella cómo parte de su pueblo natal a la búsqueda de su gurú. El suyo será solamente el primer encuentro con sabios y místicos, que, a través de estas páginas, nos acercan su saber.

In his autobiography, Charles Finney goes into great detail about his ministry and the many revivals he spearheaded. He gives incredibly valuable details about how he operated in those revivals, the strategies he used to bring them about, his response to the constant controversies surrounding him, and much more. This book is, without a doubt, one of the greatest treasures in church history.

A life-changing spiritual awakening freed Brian "Head" Welch from a stranglehold of drugs and alcohol and prompted him to leave the highly successful nu-metal band KoRn in 2005. What followed was a decade-long trial by fire, from the perils of fathering a teen lost in depression and self-mutilation to the harsh realities of playing solo and surviving the shattering betrayal of a trusted friend.

Rebecca Stott both adored and feared her father, Roger Stott, a high-ranking minister in the Brighton, England, branch of the Exclusive Brethren, a separatist fundamentalist Christian sect. A man of contradictions, he preached that the Brethren should shun the outside world, which was ruled by Satan, yet he kept a radio in the trunk of his car and read Shakespeare and Yeats.

At just 12 years of age, Kathy met Kris, age 15, and for her it was love at first sight. Before her lay the adventure of doing life with a man who would become an influential prophetic leader; raising children while being part of one of the largest Spirit-filled networks on the globe; and her own position of leadership, sparking a movement with her husband that has impacted much of the world.

For decades, Kathie Lee has had deep conversations about her faith with anyone who is interested in talking about it. What she discovered early on is most people are very willing to talk about Jesus: atheists, agnostics, Scientologists, Jews, broken-hearted Catholics, confused Baptists, Pentecostals, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Hindus alike. While some of the people Kathie Lee has spoken with do not share her belief that Jesus is the Messiah - as prophesied for centuries by prophets in the Hebrew scriptures - they nonetheless have a universal fascination with him.

One of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the history of Western thought, St Thomas Aquinas established the foundations for much of modern philosophy of religion, and is famous for his arguments for the existence of God. In this cogent and multifaceted introduction to the great saint's work, Edward Feser argues that you cannot fully understand Aquinas' philosophy without his theology, and vice-versa. He covers Aquinas' thoughts on the soul, natural law, metaphysics, and more.

Ever since he was a young boy dreaming of writing "God is Love" on the moon so that all the world's people could see it, Loren Cunningham has committed his life to reaching the whole world with the Good News of Jesus Christ, ministering in every nation on earth. Through his unswerving belief that nothing is impossible for God, Loren's vision of waves of young people became the reality of Youth With A Mission, unleashing young Christians in missionary service when that was unheard of.

The story of Muhammad is extremely fascinating, and leaves us wondering where the boundaries exist between reality and myth. All of the world's great religions have this trait in common, without exception. But Muhammad's life has a whiff of the fabulist about it that reminds us of the great literary traditions of Islam, more especially of the style of the tales in the Arabian Nights. Everything about Muhammad, from his birth to his death, displays an aura of inevitability and dramatic tension.

A Prophet with Honor is the biography Billy Graham himself invited and appreciated for its sympathetic but frank approach. Carefully documented, eminently fair, and gracefully written, it raises and answers key questions about Graham's character, contributions, and influence on the world religious scene. In this engaging and comprehensive book, William Martin gives readers a better understanding of the most successful evangelist in modern history, and the movement he led for over fifty years.

This is not your typical Zen book. Brad Warner, a young punk who grew up to be a Zen master, spares no one. This bold new approach to the "Why?" of Zen Buddhism is as strongly grounded in the tradition of Zen as it is utterly revolutionary. Warner's voice is hilarious, and he calls on the wisdom of everyone from punk and pop culture icons to the Buddha himself to make sure his points come through loud and clear.

The Columbine tragedy in April 1999 pierced the heart of our country. We later learned that the teenage killers specifically targeted Rachel Scott and mocked her Christian faith on their chilling, homemade videotapes. Rachel Scott died for her faith. Now her parents talk about Rachel's life and how they have found meaning in their daughter's martyrdom in the aftermath of the school shooting. Rachel's Tears comes from a heartfelt need to celebrate this young girl's life, to work through the grief and the questions of a nation, and to comfort those who have been touched by violence.

For almost a century, historians could only speculate about the role Grigory Rasputin played in the downfall of tsarist Russia. But in 1995 a lost file from the state archives turned up, a file that contained the complete interrogations of Rasputin's inner circle. With this extensive and explicit amplification of the historical record, Edvard Radzinsky has written a definitive biography, reconstructing in full the fascinating life of an improbable holy man who changed the course of Russian history.

Monastic life and its counter-cultural wisdom come alive in the stories and lessons of Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO, during his more than five decades as a Trappist at the Abbey of Gethsemani. He served as a novice under Thomas Merton, and he also welcomed some of the monastery's more well-known visitors to Merton's hermitage. In Praise of the Useless Life includes Quenon's quiet reflections on what it means to live each day with careful attentiveness. The humble peace and simplicity of the monastery and of Quenon's daily life are beautifully portrayed in this memoir.

Hollywood Park is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.

By the time he was 19, Frank Schaeffer’s parents had achieved global fame as best-selling evangelical authors and speakers, and Frank had joined his father on the evangelical circuit. He would go on to speak before thousands and publish his own best seller. But while coming of age as a rising evangelical star, Schaeffer felt increasingly alienated, and as a result, he experienced a crisis of faith that would ultimately lead to his journey out of the fold - even if it meant losing everything.

Do you want to live? That’s the question Scott Fedor was forced to confront after he suffered a catastrophic injury while diving into a lake. His life forever changed in seconds. Facing the darkest and most debilitating days that nearly cost him his life on several occasions, Scott was determined to rekindle his spirit, ultimately discovering that the boldest of pursuits come in all shapes and sizes. Head Strong is a gripping tale of determination, perseverance, incredible faith, and human triumph that proves we are stronger than we realize.

Dodie Osteen, mother of Joel Osteen, gives listeners a personal account of her extraordinary life and shares what she has learned about love, faith, and family. As the wife of 44 years to the late Pastor John Osteen, founder of Lakewood Church, Dodie Osteen stood as a wife, mother, and first lady of the church, even when life felt anything but steady. Today, she continues to stand by her son, Pastor Joel Osteen, and the rest of their family as they lead Lakewood. In this revealing memoir, Dodie shares that her path, though glorious, has not always been easy.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) - philosopher, historian, sociologist, economist, current affairs journalist, and editor - was one of the most influential and revolutionary thinkers of modern history, but he is rarely thought of as a Jewish thinker, and his Jewish background is either overlooked or misrepresented. Avineri puts Marx's Jewish background in its proper and balanced perspective, and traces Marx's intellectual development in light of the historical, intellectual, and political contexts in which he lived.