Religious Biographies

A Silent Patriarch is the first scholarly biography of the desert hermit who became a most unlikely patriarch. Until now, the details of his life have remained hidden. As patriarch, Kyrillos inherited a bleeding church, one confronted by political Islamism, an indifferent Muslim president, and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood.

If you think ghosts are only responsible for hauntings, think again. The Demonologist reveals the grave religious process behind supernatural events and how it can happen to you. Used as a text in seminaries and classrooms, this is one book you can't put down. For over five decades, Ed and Loraine Warren have been considered America's foremost experts on demonology and exorcism. With over 3,000 investigations to their credit, they reveal what actually breaks the peace in haunted houses. Don't miss the Warrens in the new blockbuster movie The Conjuring.

Katherine’s story begins with tragedies, but God touched her heart at a crusade and led her to Uganda as a missionary to the children. Leaving her prestigious job and home, she went to a land of mud huts and polluted water. In the midst of sickness and poverty, she loved and cared for the orphans of the war-torn country as she faced witch doctors and Muslim agitators. Katherine shares her life story to help us know we can all make a difference - if only we let God....

Karl Marx, coauthor of the revolutionary text The Communist Manifesto, grew up in a Christian family, and his early writings showed belief in a Christian worldview. Yet in his adulthood, Marx embraced a deep personal rebellion against God and all Christian values. In Karl Marx and the Satanic Roots of Communism, Richard Wurmbrand explores the development of Marx’s antireligious perspective that led to the philosophical foundations of communism.

Widely hailed as a spiritual classic, this inspirational and unfailingly powerful story reveals the life and visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and the tragic history of his Sioux people during the epic closing decades of the Old West. In 1930, the aging Black Elk met a kindred spirit, the famed poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt (1881–1973) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

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.

Taking Religion Seriously is Murray’s autobiographical account of the decades-long evolution in his stance toward the idea of God in general and Christianity in particular. He argues that religion is something that can be approached as an intellectual exercise. His account moves from the improbable physics of the Big Bang to recent discoveries about the nature of consciousness, from evolutionary psychology to hypotheses about a universal Moral Law.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of the heroes of World War II. Not only did he preach God’s word fearlessly, he spoke and actively resisted the evil of the Nazi regime. Discovered to be one of the people behind the plot to assassinate Hitler, he was arrested and eventually martyred. Today, he is remembered for his writings, including his letters from prison and commentaries. Not long before his death, he was engaged to be married, and this unfulfilled marriage is one of the bittersweet notes to his story.

Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) was one of the most successful and controversial religious leaders of nineteenth-century America, publishing the Book of Mormon and starting what would become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He built temples, founded a city-state in Illinois, ran for president, and married more than thirty women. This self-made prophet thrilled his followers with his grand vision of peace and unity, but his increasingly grandiose plans tested and sometimes shattered their faith.

Before his death in 1968, Padre Pio was known throughout the world as a very holy man—many even called him a living saint. This humble Italian priest who bore the wounds of Christ received thousands of letters and visitors each year, seeking his spiritual counsel, healing, and prayer. Padre Pio’s intense spirituality and holiness remain legendary and life-changing. This is the comprehensive life story of the priest who became world famous for his stigmata, miracles, and supernatural insights.

In 1967, not long after the Six-Day War, three young Arab men ventured into the town of Ramle, in what is now Jewish Israel. They were cousins, on a pilgrimage to see their childhood homes; their families had been driven out of Palestine nearly 20 years earlier. One cousin had a door slammed in his face, and another found his old house had been converted into a school. But the third, Bashir Al-Khairi, was met at the door by a young woman called Dalia, who invited them in.

A thorough introduction to Saint Francis’s extraordinary character and spiritual journey, Chesterton’s biography is both a fascinating historical account of the man’s life, as well as a profound meditation on holiness and humility. Chesterton portrays Saint Francis not only as a holy man, but also as a gentle lover of animals, and a radical spiritual revolutionary. He unveils how Saint Francis renounced a life of comfort and wealth to dedicate himself wholly to God, evoking the man’s loving and joyful spirit.

Still Learning is India Oxenberg’s intimate, first-person account of how she was lured into and, seven years later, escaped from the NXIVM cult, DOS. As the secret sorority within NXIVM's vast Ponzi network, DOS was created by Keith Raniere and his acolytes to serve as a source of "slaves" to Keith and the other “masters”. Despite the fantastical headlines, the focus of Still Learning reflects what many parents and age peers of India’s will recognize as a far more familiar 20-something conundrum - a new adult trying to discover who she is.

Bare-Faced Messiah tells the extraordinary story of L. Ron Hubbard, a penniless science fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology, became a millionaire prophet, and convinced his adoring followers that he alone could save the world. Bare-Faced Messiah exposes the myths surrounding the fascinating and mysterious founder of the Church of Scientology - a man of hypnotic charm and limitless imagination - and provides the definitive account of how the notorious organization was created.

ON A DARK WINTER NIGHT with little to do, Rivvy Neshama took a "Find Your Highest Purpose" quiz. And the funny thing was, she found it: to live a sacred life. Problem was, she didn't know how.

D. A. Carson's father was a pioneering church-planter and pastor in Quebec. He ministered during a transformative era for French Canada, navigating the harsh realities of persecution and imprisonment faced by Baptist ministers, and ultimately witnessing the spectacular growth and revival in the 1970s. Through Tom Carson's journals and written prayers, along with the narrative and historical background provided by his son, listeners gain a firsthand account of the life of an ordinary pastor during a pivotal era in North American church history.

The late Fr. Amorth—well-known as an exorcist —enjoyed over two decades of a close friendship with the holy, quirky Padre Pio, whom he considered his spiritual father. Adding his own personal experience to a foundation of biographical research, Amorth gives an entertaining and illuminating account of perhaps one of the best-known saints of the twentieth century.

Hannah kept a promise. Daniel remained faithful to God in difficult times. Peter repented. And Joseph of Arimathea was kind and generous. What do these and the other Bible heroes featured in this book have in common? They weren’t perfect, but they were courageous and bold, each in their own way. Each short, accessible chapter profiles a different Bible hero and shows how they exhibited bravery and overcame their own weakness and seemingly impossible challenges to achieve amazing things. This kind of epic courage can only be found when we place our faith in God.

Sigrid Undset's Catherine of Siena is critically acclaimed as one of the best biographies of this well-known and amazing 14th-century saint. Known for her historical fiction, which won her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928, Undset based this factual work on primary sources, her own experiences living in Italy, and her profound understanding of the human heart.

The papal tiara has been worn by a number of infamous men through the course of its history. Some have been accused of murder, many have had mistresses, while others sold positions in the church to their followers or gave land and wealth to their illegitimate children. E. R. Chamberlin examines the lives of eight of the most controversial popes, from the reign of Pope Stephen VI, who had his predecessor exhumed, put on trial and thrown in the Tiber, in the ninth century, through to Pope Clement VII, whose failed international policy led to the Sack of Rome in 1527.