Religious Life

In For a Greater Purpose: The Life and Legacy of Walter Bradley, authors Robert Marks and William Dembski detail the story of this remarkable man whose passion for God, science, higher education, and human empowerment provides an excellent model of someone who integrates faith and learning.

Dr. Elisa Medhus never believed in life after death. As an accomplished physi­cian, she placed her faith in science. All of that changed after her son Erik took his own life and then reached out from the other side. Intimate, heartbreaking, and illuminating, this audiobook takes listeners on an incredible journey from grief and skepticism to healing and belief. Based on Medhus's wildly popular blog, Channeling Erik, My Son and the Afterlife provides answers to the most universal questions of being human.

This is a story of the days of chivalry in England and of young Myles Falworth, son of a lord unjustly disgraced for treason, who was forced to make his fortune as best he might in the days when men seemed made of iron. How he entered the service of a powerful lord, rose to knighthood, defeated his father's old enemy in thrilling combat, and at last won the friendship of the king is told against a background of the dangerous times of the 14th century that makes them live again.

Anya and the Dragon is the story of fantasy and mayhem in 10th century Eastern Europe, where headstrong 11-year-old Anya is a daughter of the only Jewish family in her village. When her family's livelihood is threatened by a bigoted magistrate, Anya is lured in by a friendly family of fools, who promise her money in exchange for helping them capture the last dragon in Kievan Rus. This seems easy enough, until she finds out that the scary old dragon isn't as old - or as scary - as everyone thought. Now Anya is faced with a choice: save the dragon, or save her family.

Henry Bennion Eyring was born on May 31, 1933, in Princeton, New Jersey, bearing the first name of his father, who was fast building a reputation as a brilliant scientist, and the family name of his mother, who didn't care for the name "Henry" and insisted that he be called Hal. In 1970, Hal received an impression to make a daily record of his activities. Years of journals form the backbone of this personal biography, a candid look at his walk through life with his beloved companion, Kathy.

In his signature style of stand-up comedy bits, Jeff Allen shares the inspirational and at times laugh-out-loud story of how God rescued him from alcoholism and despair through the book of Ecclesiastes. At times, his story is tragic and even tear-jerking—but in the end, it demonstrates that God takes a customized approach to reaching each of His children. Known as “the King of Clean Comedy,” Allen’s memoir won’t disappoint.

Augustine is widely considered to be the most influential theologian in church history after the apostle Paul. Dramatically converted from a life of licentiousness to one of wholehearted devotion to Christ, the humble North African pastor quickly established himself as a leading figure within the ancient church. In Augustine on the Christian Life, historian Gerald Bray explores the rich spirituality of this extraordinary man, examining his historical context, approach to the Christian life, and work as a preacher and teacher of God’s Word.

With his mother dead, his father gone, and his older brothers and sisters unable to help, eight-year-old Ethan Cooper knows it's his responsibility to keep him and his younger siblings together - even if that means going to an orphanage. Ethan, Alice, Simon, and Will settle into the Briarlane Christian Children's Home, where there's plenty to eat, plenty of work, and plenty of talk about a father who never leaves. Even so, Ethan fears losing the only family he has. How can he trust God to keep him safe when almost everything he's known has disappeared?

The Wisdom of John Paul II is a powerful, illuminating distillation of the Pope's most moving, wise, and penetrating statements on a range of important issues. In this compilation by Nick Bakalar and Richard Balkin, the Pope addresses spirituality in modern life, human rights and religious freedom, marriage and family, morality, peace, prayer, women's roles, poverty, and many other concerns vital to Christian life and thought.

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.

Based on the writings of The XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet, A Sacred Life traces the journey of this humble leader from the time he left his home as a child through his escape from Tibet to the winning of the Nobel Prize in 1989. This Charkha audiobook, with its divine soundtrack and narrative, reveals the compassion and optimism of this great emissary of peace. Through the compelling voices of Rajiv Mehrotra and Shernaz Patel, the listener accompanies the Dalai Lama on his quest for peace and achieving universal responsibility.

Three years after giving birth to twin daughters, Kate and Jon Gosselin became pregnant again - with sextuplets. Kate's candid and emotionally-charged book chronicles the exhausting challenges she and Jon faced from the time the babies were conceived through the first two years of their lives, and the faith it took to get through each day.

From a peak in church attendance in the mid-20th century, Christianity has been on a trajectory of decline in the United States. Today Christianity is viewed negatively, and Christian morality is openly repudiated and viewed as a threat to the new moral order. In Life in the Negative World, author Aaron M. Renn looks at the lessons from Christian cultural engagement over the past 70 years and suggests specific strategies for churches, institutions, and individuals to live faithfully in the "negative" world—a culture opposed to Christian values and teachings.

Why do we buy what we buy, vote the way we vote, eat what we eat, and say what we say? Why do we have the friends we have, and work and play as we do? It's our choice? Yes, but there are forces, often unseen, that shape every decision we make and every action we take. These hidden, life-shaping values and ideas are not promoted through organized religions or rival philosophies but fostered by cultural habits, lifestyles and the institutional structures of society.

At age 14, Wendy Gossard was drawn by the tranquil blue eyes and personal magnetism of a man known as Yahowah, leader of a spiritual group called the Source Family. Fleeing her own family and becoming a fugitive from justice in the state of California, Wendy followed the 1970s cult group across settlements in California and Hawaii on a quest for spiritual direction, communal harmony, and basic survival. Growing up, the teenager, called Mushroom by Yahowah, had questions about her pregnancy, relationships, and place in the universe.

A Life Observed tells the inspiring story of Lewis' spiritual journey from cynical atheist to joyous Christian. Drawing on Lewis' autobiographical works, books by those who knew him personally, and his apologetic and fictional writing, this spiritual biography brings the beloved author’s story to life while shedding light on his best-known works.

Lady Sabine harbors a skin blemish that, if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. Sir Bennet is returning home to protect his family from an imminent attack by neighboring lords who seek repayment of debts. Without fortune or means to pay those debts, Sir Bennet realizes his only option is to make a marriage match with a wealthy noblewoman. As a man of honor, he loathes the idea of courting a woman for her money, but with time running out for his family’s safety, what other choice does he have?

Included in this three-in-one collection are the titles Candy Bombers, Beetle Bunker, and Smuggler’s Treasure, which together follow a family from the end of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall, with each entertaining story highlighting what kids experienced at key moments in history.

The phrase "the meaning of life" for many seems a quaint notion fit for satirical mauling by Monty Python or Douglas Adams. But in this spirited Very Short Introduction, famed critic Terry Eagleton takes a serious if often amusing look at the question and offers his own surprising answer.

I present thee with the life and death of Mr. Badman indeed: Yea, I do trace him in his life, from his childhood to his death; that thou mayest, as in a glass, behold with thine own eyes, the steps that take hold of Hell; and also discern, while thou art hearing of Mr. Badman's death, whether thou thy self art treading in his path thereto.