Spiritual Biography

Singer Julie Roberts is no stranger to overcoming hard times through determination, hard work, and strength. Having escaped the emotional residue of her alcoholic father’s actions and insults, Julie moved from South Carolina to Nashville to attend school and work at Mercury Records - all while secretly pursuing her dream of becoming a singer. Julie’s lyrics resonated with country music fans, and her emotion-soaked debut album was an instant success. Journey with Julie as she walks through the highs and lows of her career, the personal struggles she’s endured, and more.

Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision unpacks this oft-ignored, but essential, element of Toni Morrison's work - her religion - and in so doing, gives listeners a deeper, richer understanding of her life and her writing.

When Julie Jacky was 38, she felt shame and heartache as she took money out of her son's savings account to keep the lights on. After she climbed her way out of bankruptcy, she realized she needed to deal with other shameful secrets from her past that were holding her back and preventing her from becoming the person she wanted to be.

More than any other world leader in recent times, George W. Bush is a man of faith...a conservative Christian who has brought the power of prayer and the search for God's will into the Oval Office. His faith has proven to be a bedrock of strength and resolve during two of the most tumultuous years in our nation's history.

Can you find faith in an episode of "Friends"? Can Adam Sandler teach us about the love of God? Can Kermit the Frog and Alanis Morissette teach us about prayer? Can Harry Potter help save us? Jesuit Father Mark Mossa says yes! Fr. Mossa has served as a minister for young adults in various parts of the northeast and southern U.S. He currently teaches theology at Fordham University in New York City.

At the age of eight, Chad Gibbs attended his first Southeastern Conference football game. Since then he has been in a constant battle to not let his love of all things pigskin consume him. As a Christian, Gibbs knows he cannot serve two masters, but at times his faith is overwhelmed by his fanaticism. He is not alone. In 2008 over six million people attended an SEC football game.

Unwilling to return to the darkness of her former life, Sherry Gore attacks her faith head on. Soon the life she remakes for herself and her children as she seeks to follow the teachings of the Bible features head coverings, simple dress, and a focus on Jesus Christ. Only then does she realize, in a fit of excitement, that there are others like her. They are called Amish and Mennonite, and she realizes she has found her people.

In the first book of its kind, an acclaimed South African journalist and former parliamentary spokesperson for the ANC shares how Nelson Mandela balanced his Christian faith with his political views, exploring how the beloved leader reconciled his own beliefs with the hard truth that religion had often been used as a tool to oppress his people.

Growing up in abject poverty, terrorized by a boarder who lived in the root cellar, Athena Demetrios repressed the memories, thrusting her into a downward spiral of melancholy and despair. Transcendence and healing would come through reliving the horrors of her past through hypnotic regression. A powerful spiritual experience opened doors into other dimensions, which began an odyssey where truth became stranger than fiction.

Chattanooga 1906. The town erupts when a young white woman is assaulted in a dark cemetery. After a quick, flawed trial, a black man named Ed Johnson is convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. Despite a direct order from the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, a mob lynches Johnson. The infuriated high court holds Captain Joseph Shipp, the ambitious county sheriff, responsible for the outrage and charges him with contempt.

Case Keenum has traveled one of the most unique paths in the NFL. Recruited by just one college, undrafted, and released three times, Case has overcome every obstacle to become a successful starting quarterback. Keenum shares stories from every stage of his life, starting out as a ball boy for his father’s college team in West Texas, going on to win a state title in high school, and rewriting the NCAA record book at the University of Houston. A devastating knee injury almost derailed his football career, but helped him get closer to the woman who would soon become his wife.

Unexpected Places is the personal story of gospel singer Anthony Evans, son of well-known pastor Tony Evans and brother of author Priscilla Shirer. In this intimate and moving memoir, Anthony shares the details of his struggles with depression and doubt and encourages listeners with the unique story of his search for purpose and identity. From growing up duty-bound to his name, to his time as a finalist and then talent producer on The Voice, Anthony explores the pressures he experienced as a child and as a young man in Hollywood.

In Following the Red Bird, Kate Rademacher describes how she came to embrace a relationship with God after maintaining a pick-and-choose approach to spirituality for many years. Part memoir and part meditation on Christian teachings, Following the Red Bird: First Steps into a Life of Faith explores not only the why of Christianity, but also the how. The image from the title becomes a metaphor for the ways Rademacher slowly discovers answers to these questions as she stumbles into a new life in the church.

Many of us would say it takes guts and a little bit of crazy to step toe-to-toe with a powerful, 1700-pound bull. For hall-of-fame bullfighter, Jeremy Sparks, it took faith. Sparks' remarkable and illustrious journey began at a young age when he received a God-given calling to become a professional bullfighter.

Ruth Graham - third child and youngest daughter of Billy and Ruth Bell Graham - offers a rare, inside look at the 20th century's most influential evangelist. In this substantive portrait, Ruth reflects on several different subjects, including her father's love for the world, his humility, grace, and loyalty. She concludes the book with a chapter on authenticity, written just after Dr. Graham's final crusade, which was held in New York in June 2005.

Most people equate success with having more, but Sanya's quest was always for less. She started running track as a little girl in Jamaica and began competing when she was only seven. At 31 she's had a career's worth of conditioning to run a 400-meter race in 50 seconds, hopefully 49, or, even better, 48.

“Keep me real. Sometimes, I am standing right beside you. I haven’t gone anywhere. Just keep me real.” This message was clearly relayed to the author in a session with a medium shortly after her brother’s death. Over the next two years, Cathryn navigated through her grief, doubt, and fear to do just that. The result is this spiritual memoir. Is it real...or imagined?

As a college professor, Dr. Arik Greenberg had studied religion all his life, earning advanced academic degrees in his field. But none of this would sufficiently prepare him for his true spiritual journey. In The Exile, the first book of a trilogy, his challenge would be to rescue the family home from his mother’s deadly compulsive hoarding, and to protect his parents from their mental illnesses, borne out of a family legacy of abuse.

Jason Lozano is a true living miracle and has led an inconceivable life of remarkable achievements. He is known and admired by people all over the world for his passionate pursuit to see lives powerfully transformed by God. As a young man, Jason Lozano never imagined a life that didn’t involve drugs, violence, and chaos. His life was riotously spiraling deeper into darkness and destruction.

Can drugs, sex, and revolution lead to lasting fulfillment and love? This memoir by Eli Jaxon-Bear, framed as a teaching story, using Joseph Campbell’s model of the hero journey, answers this question in an exciting, funny, and deeply personal memoir.