Biographies

MARTIN LUTHER

Eric Metaxas

From the Publisher:

On All Hallow’s Eve in 1517, a young monk named Martin Luther posted a document he hoped would spark an academic debate, but that instead ignited a conflagration that would forever destroy the world he knew. Five hundred years after Luther’s now famous Ninety-five Theses appeared, Eric Metaxas, acclaimed biographer of the bestselling Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, paints a startling portrait of the wild figure whose adamantine faith cracked the edifice of Western Christendom and dragged medieval Europe into the future. Written in riveting prose and impeccably researched, Martin Luther tells the searing tale of a humble man who, by bringing ugly truths to the highest seats of power, caused the explosion whose sound is still ringing in our ears. Luther’s monumental faith and courage gave birth to the ideals of liberty, equality, and individualism that today lie at the heart of all modern life.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD

Arnold Dallimore

From the Publisher:

God’s accomplishments through George Whitefield are to this day virtually unparalleled. In an era when many ministers were timid and apologetic in their preaching, he preached the gospel with zeal and undaunted courage. In the wake of his fearless preaching, revival swept across the British Isles, and the Great Awakening transformed the American colonies.

The previous two-volume work George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival is now condensed into this single volume, filled with primary-source quotations from the eighteenth century, not only from Whitefield but also from prominent figures such as John and Charles Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, and William Cowper.

BONHOEFFER

Eric Metaxas

From the Publisher:

As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer―a pastor and author.

In this New York Times best-selling biography, Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer’s life―the theologian and the spy―and draws them together to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil.

Metaxas presents the fullest accounting of Bonhoeffer’s heart-wrenching decision to leave the safe haven of America to return to Hitler’s Germany, and sheds new light on Bonhoeffer’s involvement in the famous Valkyrie plot and in “Operation 7,” the effort to smuggle Jews into neutral Switzerland.

“Bonhoeffer is the story of a life framed by a passion for truth and a commitment to justice on behalf of those who face implacable evil. A beautifully constructed biography.  Alan Wolfe, The New Republic

THE JOURNALS OF JIM ELLIOT

Elisabeth Elliot

From the Publisher:

Jim Elliot was part of a team of young missionaries murdered in Ecuador in 1956 by the Auca Indians to whom they were witnessing. At the age of 29, he left behind a young widow, a baby daughter, and volumes of personal journals written over many years.

In 1978, Revell published the complete and unabridged journals, edited by his widow, Elisabeth, and the journals have stayed in print ever since. And it’s no wonder Jim Elliot was an intelligent thinker and strong writer in these personal, yet universal, musings about faith, work, and love.

The Journals of Jim Elliot is a wonderful account of the life of a man who yearns to know God’s plan for his life, details his fascinating missions work, and loves Elisabeth first as a single man, then as a happily married one. The Journals of Jim Elliot will intrigue fans of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, readers interested in missions, and young people struggling to find God’s plan for their lives.

JOHN WESLEY

John Pollock

From the Publisher:

John Wesley proclaimed the gospel plainly to thousands in the fields and marketplaces of the British Isles. Like Luther and Calvin before him, he wielded an enormous influence his own era and in the centuries following. 

Writing to commemorate the bicentenary of Wesley’s death (March 2, 1991), John Pollock captures the heart and soul of this remarkable servant of God in this well-researched, readable biography.

Mr. Pollock chronicles Wesley’s path to conversion and acceptance of “Free Grace,” explaining that Wesley had to fail as a missionary in America and suffer betrayal by the girl he hoped to marry before he learned to trust in Christ alone for salvation. Once converted, Wesley began to preach “Free Grace” throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, laying the groundwork for the Methodist movement. For the sake of God’s message, he willingly endured opposition from the established church and threats of murder from violent men. 

Within these pages, John Pollock describes not a plaster saint, but a man who struggled with many of the same weaknesses and temptations we do today. His story of John Wesley informs, encourages, and inspires.

REES HOWELLS – INTERCESSOR

Norman Grubb

From the Publisher:

Rees Howells was a man peculiarly taught of God: one who learned the Bible as the Spirit made him live it. Every chapter of this biography is full of drama and light, showing how he faced the implications of an entire surrender, learned to love the unlovely, found the key to prevailing prayer, became the channel of a mighty revival in America, and was taught the principles of divine healing, and progressed ever further in faith until world events were affected by his prayers. 

Here are rich truths of the Spirit for all the church of Christ today, inherent in a story told with simplicity, humanity, and humor enough to captivate any reader. 

EVER INCREASING FAITH

Smith Wigglesworth

From the Publisher:

For Smith Wigglesworth, life was a continual adventure. Always trusting God, even in the most hopeless situations, he had total confidence in the power of Christ.

Join this late evangelist in the great adventure called “faith,” where miracles were daily events. Witness the many accounts of deliverance from diabetes, tuberculosis, demon possession, and even death. Prepare to be overwhelmed as the seed of faith begins to expand and grow in your heart. Watch as God moves, touching lives with healing and deliverance–miracles that follow as signs of the power of faith.

Your faith, great or small, can multiply ever increasingly as it overflows into the lives around you, bringing glory to God and blessings to the world!

THE ROAD TO ASSISI

Paul Sabatier

From the Publisher:

Discover how privileged son of a wealthy Italian merchant became the most loved figure in Christian history since Jesus. 

He conversed with both the pope and the sultan. He transformed a taste for fine things and troubadour poetry into greater loves for poverty and joyful devotion to God. He never intended to found a traditional, religious “movement,” but he did. His brothers had to guard him closely as he died in fear that someone would try to snatch his the body of this living saint. Who was Francis of Assisi? 

Carl Sabatier (1858-1928), a French protestant and the first modern biographer of Saint Francis, sought to find the man beneath the layers of myth and legend. Sabatier portrayed a fully human Francis, much like each of us in our awkwardness, insecurities, and fear, but also a gentle mystic and passionate reformer who desired to live as Jesus taught his disciple.