Religious Biographies

What happens when the “perfect” prescribed life becomes a beautiful prison? For fifteen years, Camille Love Nichols numbed herself to fit a life she was prescribed—faithful, filtered, and quietly falling apart. Until one holy-shit moment cracked her open and lit a fire she couldn't ignore. Holy Shit, There Is a God! is the raw, hilarious, and ultimately hopeful story of one woman's journey from spiritual suffocation to authentic faith. Part memoir, part spiritual guide, it offers practical tools for anyone tired of living someone else's version of faith, success, or happiness.

From his earliest childhood, C.S. Lewis loved to hear and tell stories. Persuaded that stories could reveal the truth about the real world in a unique way, the literature professor would write more than thirty books, including science fiction, theology, literary criticism, and fantasy. (1898 -1963) In an era marked by two world wars, Lewis attacked tough questions about life and faith headfirst.

In jail by age sixteen, few people would have believed that George Müller would become a great hero of the faith. He and his wife cared for over 10,000 orphans. Discover the incredible true story of the man of faith whose missionary work was built on prayer and who still inspires us today.

In his fourth God’s Generals volume, Roberts Liardon chronicles God’s great healing evangelists of the 20th century. As you hear about the lives of these ministry pioneers, your faith for signs and miracles will grow as you anticipate seeing God’s mighty hand move in the church today.

The Happiest People on Earth is the fascinating story of ordinary people who had themselves qualified to achieve extraordinary things. This classic about the life of Demos Shakarian, who was a very success-ful dairy farmer in California, will also inspire you!

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.

An inspirational and truly dedicated servant of the lord, David Brainerd endured hardship after hardship while maintaining a singularly devoted heart and mind for God. Not only did his faith remain true and steadfast, but his determination to bring God’s light to others provided an even greater element of encouragement even to the pastors and missionaries working alongside him. Traveling thousands of miles and struggling with illness and physical hardships, Brainerd brought the word of God to remote Native Americans despite the many limitations of his day and of his own health and wellbeing.

Too many people stumble through life with an inaccurate view of who God is. They believe in His existence, but don't know how to relate to Him in a practical and meaningful way. As a result, they fail to achieve anything beyond a superficial relationship with their Creator, and live less-than-fulfilling lives. In Whatever, God, Fr. Anthony Messeh shares his unique story and the lessons he's learned that helped him go from a "don't get too close to God because He might ruin your life" Christian, to a fully devoted "I can't get enough of God in my life" believer.

New York Times bestseller One of PW’s Best Books of the Year One of Amazon’s Best Books of the Month Why is religion still around in the twenty-first century? Why do so many still believe? And how do various traditions still shape the way people experience everything from sexuality to...

St. Paul is known throughout the world as the first Christian writer, authoring fourteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. But as Karen Armstrong demonstrates in St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate, he also exerted a more significant influence on the spread of Christianity throughout the world than any other figure in history.

On the day her first book came out—a new translation of Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross—Mirabai Starr’s daughter, Jenny, was killed in a car accident. “My spiritual life began the day my daughter died,” writes Mirabai. Even with decades of spiritual practice and a deep immersion in the greatest mystical texts, she found herself utterly unprepared for “my most powerful catalyst for transformation, my fiercest and most compassionate teacher.”

You may have wondered what it would be like to have known the truly great masters; to have witnessed first-hand their intense will, determination, and desire to uplift humanity. To have looked into their eyes and been inspired by their deep, selfless compassion and love for all. The King Who Came To Earth gives a glimpse into such an enlightened master, who came among us in order to lay new foundations for this Age.

He is perhaps most well-known for being exiled from the league for praying—instead of standing and saluting the flag–during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games throughout the 1995-96 season. Abdul-Rauf’s protest sent shockwaves through the NBA that can still be felt today. With wit and candor, Abdul-Rauf tells the story of how he rose to the top of his game—only to have his career taken away in the blink of an eye when he stood up for his principles.

On April 27, 1934, a little boy was born who grew up to become a vagabond evangelist in patchwork pants fiercely daring us to believe a line too good to be true—God loves you as you are and not as you should be. His name was Brennan Manning. He boldly preached of the love of Jesus vast, unmeasured, boundless, and free. And he always faithfully pointed to a tender, elemental fury that blows where it wills; in a word, grace.

How does a kid raised by atheists end up in a convent? In her forties, Celia McBride abandoned her worldly life to follow a “sense of call” and explore the idea of becoming a Catholic nun. There was only one problem: she wasn’t Catholic. Discerning the call to become something she wasn’t turned into the greatest spiritual challenge of her life, as she was forced to confront her deepest values and beliefs and make a humble decision.

A dazzling and uplifting biography of the great Saint Francis of Assisi who gained the world by giving up worldly goods to be be independent of all. Less is more at the highest level. Told in a remarkably astute, nuanced, optimistic, uplifting biography by G. K. Chesterton, known as the Prince of Paradox.

The epic true story of one man’s documented journey from borderline atheism to the Kingdom of God. The Divine Intervention: UFO Chronicles for Christ reveals how the American Dream can suddenly turn into a nightmare when darkness and deception invade a life that seemed perfect on paper. Jason Ford was an ex–minor league baseball player turned finance professional, living by the ocean with his family. He had success, stability, and everything to be thankful for—until the shadows came.

In 1963, following twenty-three years of hard labor and abuse in Russian prison camps, Walter J. Ciszek, S.J., finally returned to America. Had he come back a bitter man, or a man of diminished faith, it would have been hard to fault him. But he didn’t. For the remainder of his years, until his death in 1984, Fr. Ciszek’s grace, faith, and wisdom touched—often in profound and lasting ways—everyone who came into contact with him.

This text presents the life of Fr. Roman Braga, while also exploring the broader historical context in which he lived. Most fundamentally, it reveals the transfigured life of a man who is close to us in time, but who passed far beyond us in his spiritual life, who was not broken but rather transformed by Gods grace, even in the midst of the horrors of torture and imprisonment. He continues to shine as a beacon of God's love, and a witness to His power to overcome even the greatest of evils.

It’s easy to talk about freedom. But unless someone has lived in a world that suffocates freedom, it’s difficult to appreciate the liberty found in America. This is the true story of a Pakistani Muslim who immigrates to the United States for college and discovers five transformational freedoms along the way: the freedom to fail and start over, to love, to choose one’s faith, to be an entrepreneur, and to self-govern.