Religious Biographies

It has been nearly five decades since Shirley MacLaine commenced her brave and public commitment to chronicling her personal quest for spiritual understanding. Now Shirley is back - with her most breathtakingly powerful and unique book yet.

Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus examines wretched excess, self-absorption and miraculous redemption; the book is a raw, sensitive, and unforgettable journey of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and sweet salvation. Author Greg Laurie traces the lives of rock stars and entertainment figures and legends who wallowed in the decadence of both the high life and low life, as they alternately experienced Heaven and Hell on Earth. He travels with them into their demonic abysses and joyfully chronicles their ultimate ascension to their prodigal moments.

Beloved, profoundly moving account of the author's marriage, the couple's search for faith and friendship with C. S. Lewis, and a spiritual strength that sustained Vanauken after his wife's untimely death.

Four years after his father died a hero's death fighting a fire, Tim Ginocchetti was behind bars for killing his mother. How one tragedy led to another is a true story that puts a horrifying twist on the familiar one of bullied gay teens. In this case, the bully was the teen's own mother, and instead of harming himself he killed her in a momentary but irreversible explosion of rage.

Carlo Acutis, born in 1991, fully embraced the gift of life. Known as a computer whiz, he liked to play soccer, video games, and the saxophone. He enjoyed watching his favorite dramas and making short films with his cast of cats and dogs. He had many friends and enjoyed spending time with them. Yet Carlo was a little "different" at school, in the pizzerias, and on the soccer field. What set Carlo apart was his constant pursuit of holiness.

When she was 18 years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger - a man 32 years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn's heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church.

George Müller was a Christian evangelist and director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England. The Life of Trust contains his diary up to 1860, supplemented by autobiographical notes at the start and throughout the text. Mueller founded a number of orphanages in England in the 19th century whilst refusing to personally benefit in any way, fully trusting that God would provide in his financial needs. Throughout his life, he relied on God’s goodness in order to feed, clothe, and house thousands of English children under his care.

In his autobiography, Charles Finney goes into great detail about his ministry and the many revivals he spearheaded. He gives incredibly valuable details about how he operated in those revivals, the strategies he used to bring them about, his response to the constant controversies surrounding him, and much more. This book is, without a doubt, one of the greatest treasures in church history.

He played video games, excelled athletically and academically, manifested contagious joy and wit — even in suffering — and befriended all those he met. St. Carlo Acutis (1991–2006), already hailed “the greatest saint of the century,” was a Thomas Aquinas in blue jeans. It’s almost unheard of that parents take part in the beatification of their own child. So, too, is it uncommon for parents to miraculously be brought back to the Faith and dedicated Christian living by their child.

Written in a beautiful and engaging style, Seven Men addresses what it means (or should mean) to be a man today, at a time when media and popular culture present images of masculinity that are not the picture presented in Scripture and historic civil life. What does it take to be a true exemplar as a father, brother, husband, leader, coach, counselor, change agent, and wise man? What does it mean to stand for honesty, courage, and charity, especially at times when the culture and the world run counter to those values?

In middle age, Ehrenreich came across the journal she had kept during her tumultuous adolescence and set out to reconstruct that quest, which had taken her to the study of science and through a cataclysmic series of uncanny - or as she later learned to call them, "mystical" - experiences. A staunch atheist and rationalist, she is profoundly shaken by the implications of her life-long search. Certain to be a classic, Living with a Wild God combines intellectual rigor with a frank account of the inexplicable, in Ehrenreich's singular voice, to produce a true literary achievement.

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.

In his eagerly anticipated follow-up to the enormously successful Seven Men, New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas gives us seven captivating portraits of some of history's greatest women, all of whom changed the course of history by following God's call upon their lives - as women.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of C. S. Lewis' death, celebrated Oxford don Dr. Alister McGrath presents us with a compelling and definitive portrait of the life of C. S. Lewis, the author of the well-known Narnia series. For more than half a century, C. S. Lewis’ Narnia series has captured the imaginations of millions. In C. S. Lewis - A Life, Dr. Alister McGrath recounts the unlikely path of this Oxford don, who spent his days teaching English literature to the brightest students in the world and his spare time writing.

Nicky Cruz's heart had turned to stone when he was only three. His mother nicknamed him the son of Satan, and he was severely abused, both physically and mentally. After moving from Puerto Rico to New York, Nicky became the leader of a notorious street gang the Mau Maus. He turned into a violent street criminal before he was eighteen. David Wilkerson, a skinny preacher from Pennsylvania, reached out to him with relentless love. He said, Nicky, Jesus loves you, and this simple message opened the door to a new life for Nicky Cruz.

The Life of Thomas More went straight to #1 on the London Times best seller list when published in the United Kingdom. It remained in that position for over a month, garnering the kind of praise that is rarely given. Thomas More was not only a great man of the church, he was also arguably the most brilliant lawyer the English-speaking world has ever known.

During his 34-year tenure at Chick-fil-A, Steve Robinson was integrally involved in the company’s growth - from 184 stores and $100 million in annual sales in 1981 to over 2,100 stores and over $6.8 billion in annual sales in 2015 - and was a firsthand witness to its evolution as an indelible global brand. In Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A, Robinson shares behind-the-scenes accounts of key moments.

Herman Bavinck looms large as one of the nineteenth century's greatest Christian thinkers, contributing much to modern Reformed theology. Yet, despite his theological prowess, Bavinck was first and foremost concerned with being “a worthy follower of Jesus.” In this book, John Bolt―editor of the English edition of Bavinck’s four-volume masterpiece, Reformed Dogmatics―brings the great Dutch theologian’s life and work to bear on following Jesus in the twenty-first century, helping us see the direct connection between robust theology, practical holiness, and personal joy.

Elisabeth Elliot was a young missionary in Ecuador when members of a remote Amazonian indigenous people group killed her husband Jim and his four colleagues. And yet, she stayed in the jungle with her young daughter to minister to the very people who had thrown the spears, demonstrating the power of Christ’s forgiveness.

George Muller stared at the beggar girl. She was no older than five and was piggybacking her little brother. Her mother had died in the cholera epidemic sweeping England. Her father had never returned from the mines. Standing in the muddy street, this little girl gave a face to Bristol's countless orphans. With scarcely enough food or money for his own family, George Muller opened his heart and home. Sustained by God's provision, the Muller house "Breakfast Club" of thirty orphans grew to five large houses that ultimately over ten thousand children would call home.