Religious Biographies

In a community struggling to overcome systemic poverty and violence, The Whole Language shows how those at Homeboy Industries fight despair and remain generous, hopeful, and tender. When Saul was thirteen years old, he killed his abusive stepfather in self-defense; after spending twenty-three years in juvenile and adult jail, he enters the Homeboy Industries training and healing programs and embraces their mission.

There’s a lie masquerading as truth that’s running rampant in our culture. It goes something like this: you are powerful enough to control your circumstances and create the life you want through positive thinking, solid planning, and dreaming big enough. But if you’ve ever tried to control your life or to strive your way to self-fulfillment, you’ve discovered what lies on the other side of this supposedly empowering message. Tara Sun explores why the quest for control is overrated—not to mention downright dangerous—and reveals the surprising, lifegiving alternative: radical surrender to God.

With his creation of the infamous Church of Satan in 1966 and his bestselling book The Satanic Bible in 1969, Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-1997) became a controversial celebrity who basked in the attention and even made a successful career out of it. But who was Anton LaVey behind the public persona that so easily provoked Christians and others intolerant of his views?

Steve Saint was five years old when his father, missionary pilot Nate Saint, was speared to death by a primitive Ecuadorian tribe. In adulthood Steve, having left Ecuador for a successful business career in the United States, never imagined making the jungle his home again. But when that same tribe asks him to help them, Steve, his wife, and their teenage children move back to the jungle.

Philip Yancey, whose explorations of faith have made him a guide for millions, feels no need to defend the church. Yancey acknowledges that many spiritual seekers find few answers and little solace in the institutional church. How did Yancey manage to survive spiritually despite early encounters with a racist, legalistic church that he now views as almost cultic? In this, his most soul-searching book yet, he probes that very question.

First-time parents Joe and Tahni Cullen were thrust into the confusing world of autism when their toddler, Josiah, suddenly lost his ability to speak, play, and socialize. The diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder. In their attempts to see Josiah recover and regain speech, the Cullens underwent overwhelming physical, emotional, and financial struggles. While other kids around him improved, Josiah only got worse.

They served God to the ends of the Earth. In his fifth God’s Generals volume, Roberts Liardon chronicles some of the great evangelists who risked their lives to take the gospel message to strange and unknown cultures around the world. The sacrifice and courage of these spiritual pioneers are sure to stoke the fires of your faith and revive within your heart a spirit of evangelism and compassion for the lost.

Most people only know her as Justin Bieber's mom, but Pattie Mallette has had an incredible journey of her own. Many people have heard of her son's rags to riches triumph. A few know she was a teen mom who had to overcome a drug and alcohol addiction. Even fewer know the rest of her story. Now, for the first time in detail, Pattie shares with the world the story of a girl who felt abandoned and unloved. Of a teenager who made poor choices. One who messed up, got pregnant, and got a second chance.

A Year of Biblical Womanhood is an exercise in scriptural exploration and spiritual contemplation. What does God truly expect of women, and is there really a prescription for biblical womanhood? Come along with Evans as she looks for answers in the rich heritage of biblical heroines, models of grace, and all-around women of valor.

George Marsden describes how Lewis gradually went from being an atheist to a committed Anglican - famously converting to Christianity in 1931 after conversing into the night with his friends, J. R. R. Tolkien and Hugh Dyson - and how Lewis delivered his wartime talks to a traumatized British nation in the midst of an all-out war for survival.

Under The Halo is an examination of whether William Branham, a twentieth-century faith-healer and evangelist, was a prophet of God as believed by an estimated 1 to 1.5 million followers who call his teachings the “Message.“ Written by a former Message member who shares his journey into and out of this cult, it’s a well-researched review of the prophecies, visions, stories, and doctrines of William Branham—things that can’t be questioned by those in the Message.

In September 2010, at the beginning of the academic year at Sarah Lawrence College, a sophomore named Talia Ray asked her roommates if her father could stay with them for a while. No one objected. Her father, Larry Ray, was just released from prison, having spent three years behind bars after a conviction during a bitter custody dispute.

She lost her arm in a shark attack and nearly died, but she never lost her faith. Now a major motion picture, Soul Surfer is the moving story of Bethany Hamilton’s triumphant return to competitive surfing and has continued to be a beacon of inspiration to all who hear it. They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the passion that drives her to surf? Or that nothing - not even the loss of her arm - could come between her and the waves?

In this eye-opening book, angelologist Father Marcello Stanzione tells the fascinating story of Father Amorth and his life as an exorcist. You'll learn of his daily schedule and how he managed to perform dozens of exorcisms each week. You'll find out what his exorcism room looked like, and how various devils responded to his bold practice. Best of all, you'll hear Father Amorth's own startling explanations of many truths about the Devil that our culture has forgotten and about the canny methods the Deceiver has adopted in recent years to corrupt believers and unbelievers alike.

St. Ignatius, first-century Bishop of Antioch, called the “God-bearer”, is one of the earliest witnesses to the truth of Christ and the nature of the Christian life. Tradition tells us that as a small child, Ignatius was singled out by Jesus himself as an example of the childlike faith all Christians must possess. In Bearing God, Father Andrew Damick recounts the life of this great pastor, martyr, and saint, and interprets for the modern listener five major themes in the pastoral letters he wrote.

Cyrus Teed was a charismatic and controversial guru who at the age of thirty had been "illuminated" by an angel in his electro-alchemical laboratory. At the turn of the 20th century, surrounded by the marvels of the Second Industrial Revolution, he proclaimed himself a prophet and led 200 people out of Chicago and into a new age. Or so he promised.

James was a vegetarian, wore only linen clothing, bathed daily at dawn in cold water, and was a life-long Nazirite. In this profound and provocative work of scholarly detection, eminent biblical scholar Robert Eisenman introduces a startling theory about the identity of James - the brother of Jesus - who was almost entirely marginalized in the New Testament.

Very few people know that Mark Twain wrote a major work on Joan of Arc. Still fewer know that he considered it not only his most important, but also his best work. He spent 12 years in research and many months in France doing archival work, and then made several attempts until he felt he finally had the story he wanted to tell.

This unique biography, told in a lively manner through six 'voices', presents the Buddha's revolutionary solution for humanity that lends to the end of ill will, craving and delusion. It goes back to the earliest sources of the Buddha's life and teachings, drawing as it does from the Pali Canon which was said to record the words that the Buddha spoke, the events that happened, and his specific teachings on which the world-wide religion was based.

The life of Lahiri Mahasaya. Spoken of many times by Yogananda in his Biography. Revered teacher of his own teacher...This is the only known record of his life in book form.