Religious Biographies

Since the 16th century we have been fascinated by Henry VIII and the man who stood beside him, guiding him, enriching him, and enduring the king's insatiable appetites and violent outbursts until Henry ordered his beheading in July 1540. After a decade of sleuthing in the royal archives, Diarmaid MacCulloch has emerged with a tantalizing new understanding of Henry's mercurial chief minister, the inscrutable and utterly compelling Thomas Cromwell.

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.

"The world is too small," Saint Frances Cabrini (1850–1917) once declared. "I would like to embrace it all, to reach every corner." This compelling, authoritative biography chronicles the astounding life of a petite Italian-born religious sister who, with the heart of a missionary, conquered all odds to become the first American citizen canonized a saint.

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.

As a child, Elias Chacour lived in a small Palestinian village in Galilee. When tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed and nearly one million forced into refugee camps in 1948, Elias began a long struggle with how to respond. In Blood Brothers, he blends his riveting life story with historical research to reveal a little-known side of the Arab-Israeli conflict, touching on questions such as: What behind-the-scenes politics touched off the turmoil in the Middle East?

This audiobook offers a vast look at the life of St. Teresa. Authored by her own hand, she details her life and experiences, along with her mystical encounters with God.

Leyla King has been a keeper of family stories since long before she sat down across from her grandmother with a tiny cassette tape recorder. And in this beautifully crafted memoir, she braids matriarchal memory into a vivid saga of love and survival as her ancestors flee war and poverty. From Haifa to Ramallah, Damascus, Beirut, and finally Texas, Leyla makes global politics deeply personal as family squabbles, ambition, mental illness, romance, and religion shape their immigrant journey.

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.

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.

Grammy Award–nominated artist Kem shares his life in this “breathtaking” (Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author) and revealing memoir tracing his transformative journey from homelessness to gold-selling artist.

Gang-fighters! Drug addicts. Teenage runaways and prostitutes! The toughest and most hopeless kids that New York's ghettos had to offer. Then a young preacher from the Pennsylvania hills arrived on their turf and began preaching a message of renewal, miracles, and God's love. This is one of the century's great true stories. Over 14 million copies in print!

In this follow-up to the hugely popular Angels in the ER, Dr. Robert D. Lesslie shares more of his life-changing emergency-room encounters with nurses, doctors, patients, friends, and strangers who’ve served as God’s hands in the direst of circumstances. You’ll be deeply moved by these tales of both triumph and tragedy from the ER front line, as well as by the profound faith that has sustained Dr. Lesslie for more than 30 years on the job.

This book delves into the life and mysteries surrounding Rajneesh, later known as Osho, exploring questions that have long intrigued followers and critics alike. Why did he go to America, and who was the woman who followed him like a shadow? How did he encounter his past-life mother and lover in this life? Why did he declare himself "Bhagwan," only to renounce the title later?

Albert Einstein remains renowned around the world for revolutionizing our understanding of the cosmos, but very few realize that the celebrated scientist had a deep spiritual side. Einstein believed that one wondrous force was woven through all things everywhere—and this sense of the pervasive sacred influenced every aspect of his existence, from his marvelous science to his passionate pacifism.

In "The Gift of With," Janelle McGuckin invites listeners on an intimate journey of faith, resilience, and profound transformation. Through deeply personal stories, Janelle shares how she discovered the treasures of living a "with-God" life, even in the midst of struggles, uncertainties, and heartache. From navigating the trials of a cancer diagnosis to uncovering unexpected moments of divine presence on an oceanfront bench, Janelle’s honest reflections remind us that God is always near, offering love and hope in every season of life.

Over the last few decades, many dark secrets have been pouring out of Christian communities around the world. Most of them focus on some form of misuse of trust or abuse at the hands of church leaders. For centuries religious leaders have “circled the wagons” in an attempt to preserve the money-making institutions they lead. The result has been a continual cycle of abuse and the disillusioned leaving the institutional church world in droves. From 1982-1989, author Bob Scott founded and pastored the Kansas City Fellowship with his friend and then brother-in-law Mike Bickle.

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.

When we rewind history to Abraham's era, we encounter people who concocted false superstitions to explain the unexplainable. Powerful kings claimed to be gods, building massive pyramids in an attempt to achieve immortality. Out of this mass of misunderstandings, this collage of confusion, one man emerged. Why, thousands of years later, are we still discussing the faith of this desert nomad? Chuck Swindoll answers that question and many more in this compelling and insightful biography that will inspire your own faith.

As a member of the strictly religious Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism, Deborah Feldman grew up under a code of relentlessly enforced customs governing everything from what she could wear and to whom she could speak to what she was allowed to read. Yet in spite of her repressive upbringing, Deborah grew into an independent-minded young woman whose stolen moments reading about the empowered literary characters of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott helped her to imagine an alternative way of life among the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

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.