Religious Biographies

Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad became famous for his popularization of an Afrocentric branch of Islam. In later years, however, the movement came under fire after critics pointed out that its ideology had very little to do with the mainstream faith. Nevertheless, Elijah’s words and teachings still managed to galvanize and capture the hearts of millions of disaffected and oppressed African Americans. During the movement’s heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Elijah extended his hand to a downtrodden people in a way that few others could.

Over 1600 years ago, God raised up a man named Patrick to take the Gospel of Christ to the people of Ireland. Seldom in church history has any missionary been blessed with a more fruitful ministry. The preaching of Patrick was used by God to transform many of the Irish people from idol-worshiping pagans into servants of the one true God of Scripture.

“If anyone knows how to be a pastor in the contemporary context that person is Eugene Peterson. Eugene possesses the rare combination of a pastor’s heart and a pastor’s art. Take and read!” (Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline) “I’ve been nagging Eugene Peterson for years to write a memoir. In our clamorous, celebrity-driven, entertainment culture, his life and words convey a quiet whisper of sanity, authenticity, and, yes, holiness.” (Philip Yancey, author of What Good is God)

Air Force pilot Captain Carlyle "Smitty" Harris was shot down over Vietnam on April 4, 1965 and taken to the infamous Hoa Lo prison—nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton." For the next eight years, Smitty and hundreds of other American POWs—including John McCain and George "Bud" Day—suffered torture, solitary confinement, and unimaginable abuse. It was there Smitty covertly taught the Tap Code—an old, long-unused World War II method of communication—to many POWs. In turn, they taught others, and it quickly became a way for POWs to communicate without their captors' knowledge.

Danny takes the listeners through his true story of how, as a young man, he was saved through God's redeeming grace. It is also a beautiful love story between a young man and an amazing young Christian girl. Danny struggled with the addiction to nicotine smoking and the abuse of alcohol, resulting many, many times in drunken behavior. This addiction and behavior started at the early age of thirteen. He tells how God got him to change his life around by using an amazing young Christian girl. When Danny dated this girl, he soon realized she was different but didn't understand why.

The name “Aleister Crowley” instantly conjures visions of diabolic ceremonies and orgiastic indulgences—and while the sardonic Crowley would perhaps be the last to challenge such a view, he was also much more than “the Beast,” as this authoritative biography shows. Perdurabo—entitled after the magical name Crowley chose when inducted into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn—traces Crowley’s remarkable journey from his birth as the only son of a wealthy lay preacher to his death in a boarding house as the world’s foremost authority on magick.

Ross Nichols was one of the key figures in the revival of interest in Druidry and Celtic Spirituality in modern times. The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, which he founded, is now the largest Druid group in the world. I Am Tough, Fantastic and Old vividly describes Nichols’ journey through life in the first complete biography of this enigmatic and influential Druid Chief, allowing us an intimate and controversial glimpse into the life and mind of one of the founding figures of the modern Pagan movement.

Begun five years after he entered the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, The Sign of Jonas is an extraordinary view of Merton's life in a Trappist monastery, and it serves also as a spiritual log recording the deep meaning and increasing sureness he felt in his vocation: the growth of a mind that finds in its contracted physical world new intellectual and spiritual dimensions.

At the core of this book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism's violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States, and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism.

Allison Hong is not your typical 15-year-old Taiwanese girl. Unwilling to bend to the conditioning of her Chinese culture, which demands that women submit to men’s will, she disobeys her father’s demand to stay in their faith tradition, Buddhism, and instead joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, six years later, she drops out of college to serve a mission—a decision for which her father disowns her.

Dr. York - a government targeted Messianic figure and product of UFO abductions as a child, called of God to raise 144,000 purified souls. Laboring day and night authoring over 500 books, mastering the languages, doing in-depth study of all the scriptures and world religions, he embarked on his mission to raise the children of God.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) was an inner-city pastor, ethics professor, and author of the famous Serenity Prayer. Time magazine's March 8, 1948, cover story called him "the greatest Protestant theologian in America since Jonathan Edwards". Cited as an influence by public figures ranging from Billy Graham to Barack Obama, Niebuhr was described by historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. as "the most influential American theologian of the 20th century".

You may be aware that G. K. Chesterton authored influential Christian biographies and apologetics. But you may not know the larger-than-life Gilbert Keith Chesterton himself - not yet. Equally versed in poetry, novels, literary criticism, and journalism, he addressed politics, culture, and religion with a towering intellect and a soaring wit. Chesterton carried on lively, public discussions with the social commentators of his day, continually challenging them with civility, humility, erudition, and his ever-sharp sense of humor.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, commonly referred to as “the Doctor,” had a successful career in medicine before abandoning it all to become a preacher in London. His sermons—displaying the life-changing power of biblical truth—diagnosed the spiritual condition of his congregation and prescribed the gospel remedy. This study of Lloyd-Jones’s life will encourage and exhort listeners to consider the role of the knowledge of God, the power of the Spirit, and the fullness of Christ in their daily lives, allowing them to discover the inseparable union of doctrine and the Christian life.

From the manger in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem, Philip Yancey presents a complex character who generates questions as well as answers—a disturbing and exhilarating Jesus who wants to radically transform your life and stretch your faith. The Jesus I Never Knew will engage your heart, mind, emotions, and senses, preparing you for a new, life-changing encounter with the real Jesus described in the Gospels.

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?

"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.

Under The Halo is an examination of whether William Branham, a twentieth-century faith-healer and evangelist, was a prophet of God as believed by an estimated 1 to 1.5 million followers who call his teachings the “Message.“ Written by a former Message member who shares his journey into and out of this cult, it’s a well-researched review of the prophecies, visions, stories, and doctrines of William Branham—things that can’t be questioned by those in the Message.

Muhammad's was a life of almost unparalleled historical importance, yet for all the iconic power of his name, the intensely dramatic story of the prophet of Islam is not well known. In The First Muslim, Lesley Hazleton brings him vibrantly to life. Drawing on early eyewitness sources and on history, politics, religion, and psychology, she renders him as a man in full, in all his complexity and vitality. Hazleton's account follows the arc of Muhammad's rise from powerlessness to power, from anonymity to renown.

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.