Born in Britain around 390 AD, St Patrick was taken as a slave to Ireland at the age of 16. Instigated by divine dreams, he escaped to his native land and became a priest until - obeying further dreams - he returned to Ireland as a bishop around 432, converting many and establishing the first Irish church at Armagh. He died in Down, around 460. 'The Confession of St Patrick' and 'Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus' are both written by the Saint himself. The 'Confession' was penned as a response to (unfounded) attacks on Patrick's integrity, while the 'Letter' derives from a slave-collecting attack undertaken by soldiers of the Scottish Christian King Coroticus, and reveals Patrick's incandescent rhetorical style. Both these unique documents open a window to the voice of the Saint, speaking more than 1500 years before our own time. 'The Tripartite Life' is late 9th century; it is the earliest example of Irish language hagiography, and is remarkable for the most famous poem about Patrick: the 'Lorica'. Its three parts are designed to be read consecutively over the three days of the Saint's festival.

George Herbert (1593-1632): Poet of the Heavenly Court Miguel Molinos (1627-1696): The Priest Who Knew God Joseph Alleine (1634-1668): A Living Sacrifice at Thirty-four John Fletcher (1729-1785): Apostle of Madeley Mary Fletcher (1739-1815): Shepherdess of Orphans Frederick Oberlin (1740-1826): Benefactor to the Vosges Dwellers Samuel Pollard (1826-1877): He Waited for the Fulfilment of His Vision George Matheson (1842-1906): The Blind Poet Who Saw Too Much Jonathan Goforth (1859-1936): He Suffered the Loss of All Things Rosalind Goforth (1864-1942): She Climbed the Ascents With God Kate Lee (1872-1920): The Angel Adjutant W. Graham Scroggie (1877-1958): The Unusual Keswick Speaker God never repeats Himself in human experience, and it is refreshing to mark these saints as they ventured their all upon God and left us individual histories which enrich the spiritual kingdom by the delightful variety we discover in all God's "other" creations. We do not submit these sketches that they should be imitated in detail as to their search for God, or as to their evidence of that attainment. We pray rather that their faith and courage, in proving and knowing God, might encourage us to realize there is no limit, except in ourselves, to what we might discover of His kingdom while here in "time." Our situation today is much like that which existed in the time of the Judges: "Another generation grew up after them, who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel." (Judges 2:10). Such ignorance in those days issued in God's people doing evil and turning to false religion. This book describes giants of faith---people who did exploits because "they knew their God." Such devotion as we read about shames our shallowness and our failure to make a vacuum for God in the busy materialistic scramble for higher living standards. We have expensive homes and luxury cars but know little of the vast riches and resources available to one who takes time to know and understand. Our ideals are to low, and our zeal so lukewarm, and our stocks of grace so pitifully small that we need to remember great saints who all remind us, we too can make our lives sublime, and departing leave behind us, footprints in the sands of time, as Longfellow wrote: Footprints that perhaps another Sailing o'er life's solemn mane, Some forlorn and shipwrecked brother Reading may take heart again.---from the foreword.

Rediscovery of the Human Soul is the story of L. Ron Hubbard's philosophic quest and his development of the philosophy of Scientology. The volume answers questions like Why is Scientology a religion. What is Scientology and how did a man with a primarily scientific background step into this field? Various rare essays, selections and discussions from all critical junctures of his philosophic journey are included.

2012 Reprint of 1958 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. St. Therese of Lisieux, "The Little Flower," was recently declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II, the third woman to receive this honor in 2000 years. She thus ranks with such intellectual and theological giants as St. Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. This elevation is all the more astonishing when we consider her background; born to a bourgeois family in provincial 19th century France, she entered a cloistered convent at the age of 15, and died in obscurity at age 24. The posthumous publication of her spiritual journals created a sensation in the Catholic world comparable to that produced in the postwar world by "The Diary of Ann Frank." Adopted as a universal "little sister" by the French soldiers of World War I, St. Therese's naive, charming, but profound words were carried next to many an infantryman's heart. Therese's story and the effect of her powerful personality and passionate devotion have lost none of their force. "At last I have found my calling," she declared. "My calling is love." The core of her spiritual message, the "little way" is the recognition that any act, no matter how trivial, is infinitely valuable if done out of love. Her influence on other great 20th century figures such as Theresa of Calcutta and Edith Stein is obvious. This is a unique book, to be read with pleasure, with joy, and with the assurance of great spiritual benefit. The homely and human details of Therese's short life lead to the path of enlightenment. In her memoirs, she describes spiritual life: she lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God's love. "What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love." Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese's spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love.

The ministry of Samuel Howells and the Bible College of Wales (BCW) have touched the lives of countless numbers of people all over the world. The author invites us on a lifelong journey with Samuel, to unveil his ministry at the College, life of prayer and the support he received from numerous staff, students and visitors, as the history of BCW unfolds alongside the Vision to reach Every Creature with the Gospel. The paperback and hardback editions also includes more than 110 black and white photos, which are interspersed throughout the book.
In 1950, Samuel became Director of BCW when his father Rees Howells was taken into glory and he led the work for the next fifty-two years; living a life of faith and intercession. Samuel lived through a time of tumultuous change in the world, and oversaw the work of the Bible College and Emmanuel Grammar School as it sailed through six challenging decades. Filled with 113 Black and white photographs, with many from the time of Rees Howells, this biography remains as a historical record of the life of a great man of God, Samuel Howells, the Director of BCW, its four estates, school, and its worldwide ministry.
Richard Maton worked under Samuel's ministry for forty-seven years and provides us with a firsthand account of Samuel's life and the inner workings of BCW, with its staff and friends. Richard was converted under the preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and was called to the College in 1956 after hearing Leonard Ravenhill preaching at BCW. He has served in various roles as teacher, lecturer, dean, trustee and Principal of the College and worked closely alongside Samuel for more than twenty years. Richard is married to Kristine who joined the College family in 1936 and provides valuable insights and additions to this story. Together they spent more than 120 years at BCW

The Most Amazing Harvest is the continued love story of how a town came together for one of their own. The Most Amazing Harvest went viral because it was a love story. A group of people came together for a fellow farmer, not expecting anything in return. Someone made the comment, "A farmer can ask for no better crop than a bountiful harvest of friends". Pam Bates and Paula Patty continue this feel-good story about a farmer in a small town who gained worldwide recognition. Within The Most Amazing Harvest, they expand on the farmer's struggle battling cancer and how his fellow farmers harvested his crops all in one day. It is the God inspired humble life story of the farmer behind that day. The Most Amazing Harvest discusses who gave the farmer the peace he felt regardless of the struggles he faced and teaches how the miracles in the farmer's life gave him everlasting hope.

2020 Book Award Winner, The Gospel Coalition (History & Biography) 2020 For the Church Book Award Dutch Calvinist theologian Herman Bavinck, a significant voice in the development of Protestant theology, remains relevant many years after his death. His four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is one of the most important theological works of the twentieth century. James Eglinton is widely considered to be at the forefront of contemporary interest in Bavinck's life and thought. After spending considerable time in the Netherlands researching Bavinck, Eglinton brings to light a wealth of new insights and previously unpublished documents to offer a definitive biography of this renowned Reformed thinker. The book follows the course of Bavinck's life in a period of dramatic social change, identifying him as an orthodox Calvinist challenged with finding his feet in late modern culture. Based on extensive archival research, this critical biography presents numerous significant and previously ignored or unknown aspects of Bavinck's person and life story. A black-and-white photo insert is included. This volume complements other Baker Academic offerings on Bavinck's theology and ethics, which together have sold 90,000 copies.

Anyone who has read Patricia St. John's books already knows how her stories come alive, and this account of her own life is no exception. Her powers of description make the story leap from the page and the reader is transported to far off places and times; and the people and the things she describes can almost be touched, smelled and seen. Patricia was not just a gifted story-teller, though; she was also a deeply committed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose spiritual journey began when she was only six years old. 'My name is Patricia, ' she prayed, 'and if You are really calling me I want to come and be Yours. ' Out of that small beginning there issued a river of life and light and blessing that went on increasing right up to the end of her life. Although she always thought of herself as 'an ordinary sort of girl', her life was extraordinary because of her supreme love for Jesus Christ. The life portrayed here is not that of the self-conscious saint, concerned only with her own saintliness. On the contrary these pages offer us an inside view of someone utterly human, prone to mistakes and failures like the rest of us, yet suffused with the love of God and a contagious joy and peace that was like the bubbling up of a perpetual fountain.

Teresa de Santo Domingo, born with the name Chicaba, was a slave captured in the territory known to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Spanish and Portuguese navigators and slave traffickers as La Mina Baja del Oro, the part of West Africa that extends through present-day eastern Ghana, Togo, Benin, and western Nigeria. Upon the death of her Spanish master, she was freed to enter a convent. The Dominicans of La Penitencia in Salamanca accepted her after she had been rejected by several other monasteries because of her skin color. Even in her own religious community, race put her at a disadvantage in the highly stratified social hierarchy of monastic houses of the era. Her life story is known to us through a document entitled Compendio de la Vida Ejemplar de la Venerable Madre Sor Teresa Juliana de Santo Domingo, which is the foundational documentary evidence in the case for beatification of this nun, and as such it is the most significant and comprehensive source of information about her. This volume, the first English translation of the Compendio, is a hagiography, an example of a biographical genre that recounts the lives and describes the spiritual practices of holy people - saints officially canonized by the Church, informally recognized by local devotees, or respected ecclesiastical leaders. The effort to have Chicaba canonized continues today, as Fra-Molinero and Houchins explore in their introduction to the volume.

The first modern biography of William Robertson, a key figure of the Scottish EnlightenmentA prominent figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, William Robertson differed from his contemporaries, such as Voltaire, Hume and Gibbon, because he used the critical tools of the Enlightenment to strengthen religion, not to attack it. As an historian, he helped shape 18th-century historiography. As a minister of the Church of Scotland, he sought to make the church fit for a polite age. And, as principal of the University of Edinburgh, he presided over a flourishing of intellectual inquiry in the midst of the Enlightenment. But despite his European fame, he was a controversial figure. Drawing extensively on his unpublished correspondence, Jeffrey Smitten captures both the man and his work in his own words. By foregrounding Robertson's religious outlook, Smitten gives us a more contextualised and nuanced interpretation of Robertson's motives, intentions and beliefs than we have had before.Key Features:Includes new biographical information drawn from archival sources and from all Robertson's largely unpublished correspondenceDiscusses Robertson's works, published and unpublishedAssesses Robertson's achievement based on fresh consideration of all facets of his career as minister, historian and principal

The first fully-realized biography of Julian--theologian, anchorite, and visionary of the Middle Ages.

A groundbreaking and sometimes controversial biography that offers full tribute to the mystic Julian of Norwich. In May 1373, a thirty year-old woman living in East Anglia suffered an illness. She received visions--what she later called "sixteen showings"--revealing to her secrets of the love of God. When she fully recovered, Julian recorded and richly explored those revelations, creating what became the first English-language book written by a woman.

Drawing on Julian's own writings, Frykholm's biography paints a vivid picture of the 14th century and this remarkable woman's place in it. Through plague, church corruption, economic devastation, and great personal loss, she presciently addressed her culture's greatest fears and anxieties. Ultimately, Julian's life is shrouded in mystery, and yet she has become a significant figure in contemporary spirituality today.
"Frykholm...has audaciously done something many people would have said was not possible: written Julian's] biography. Frykholm has combined a careful reading of Julian's writings (at times scrupulous, at times midrashic, but at all times attentive) with a deep immersion in the scholarship of 14th-century England to offer an informed and absorbing...account of Julian's life."
-Lauren F. Winner, "Books & Culture"
" Frykhom's] narrative, which she calls 'an act of empathetic imagination, ' crackles with life."
-"The Denver Post"
"A sympathetic and realistic portrayal of a saint who, as it turns out, is both holy (that is, set apart) and as complicated as you and me....It reads with the energy of a novel and the insight of a spiritual classic."
-Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, "Christianity Today"

Aaron had always thought that the Amish religion was the only way for him to get to heaven. After a rebellious youth, he had submitted to the Amish way by becoming a baptized member and following the Amish rules and traditions. But he wondered why he didn't have peace in his heart. For six long months he cried out to God for answers. Were his sins forgiven? What was missing in his life? Was he not following the Amish rules well enough? Was God still angry with him because of his sinful teenage years?God answered Aaron in a powerfully clear way; transforming his life and sustaining him with the peace he was searching for."What He's done for me" is the first in a series of testimonies titled, "God's Touch Among the Amish." They represent personal journeys through tears and pain, stories from sincere hearts that searched earnestly for answers to questions like Aaron's. Each of their journeys speak of the faithfulness of God and His love toward those who search for truth and yield their lives fully into His hands.

"Chesterton makes one despair. I have been studying St. Thomas all my life and I could never have written such a book." - Etienne Gilson

"He was a Christian liberator. Like a beneficent bomb, he blew out of the Church a quantity of stained glass of a very poor period, and let in gusts of fresh air, in which the dead leaves of doctrine danced with all the energy and indecorum of our Lady's Tumbler." - Dorothy Sayers

According to Chesterton, "once Christ had Risen, it was inevitable that Aristotle should rise again." The synthesis between Christianity and Aristotle could only strengthen the believer's affirmation of the reality and goodness of created being; and also a strange kind of interconnectedness where "the study of the humblest fact will lead to the study of the highest truth." Chesterton reveals the marvelous clarity of Thomas's mind and highlights "the intense rightness of his sense of the relation between the mind and the real thing outside the mind."

This book is a splendid introduction to both Thomas the man and the significance of his work for his own time and ours. No less a scholarly light than Etienne Gilson remarked that "I consider it as being without possible comparison the best book ever written on St. Thomas. Nothing short of genius can account for such an achievement."

This book captures the author's efforts to find his way out of a spiral of depression - a tortuous path through mental anguish and suicide attempt(s) into the grace that brought him spiritual rebirth, sanity and a life of service to others. Crossing Myself will speak to those who have come through depression and those who still struggle with it. It can be appreciated by men and women, adults or teens for its literary style and personal insights of redemptive faith.

* Well-known and well-loved bishop of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion This official biography tells the compelling story of the Rt. Rev. Mark Dyer: Irish Catholic boy from New Hampshire, U.S. Navy vet, Roman Catholic then Episcopal priest, bishop, and seminary professor-and one of the most influential, beloved leaders of the American Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. Following a dispute with ecclesiastical authorities, Dyer left the Roman Church for the Anglican Church of Canada. Later received as priest in the Episcopal Church, his gifts as teacher, preacher, and pastor were recognized with election as Bishop of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There, he established a new model of leadership, delegating administrative duties to concentrate on spiritual direction, pastoral care, and creating mission projects at every church in his diocese. Also renowned as a story-teller, many of his favorite stories appear here, told in his own voice. Called by leadership of the Anglican Communion to a variety of roles, for more than 20 years Bishop Dyer was on the front lines of the most contentious issues facing the church throughout the world, including ordination of women and gay people. He also was co-chair of the ecumenical dialogue between the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches, which produced a landmark agreement after 17 years of meetings.

A brush with fame blossomed into something far more spiritual, much longer lasting and infinitely more beautiful

Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle will never forget the first time she laid eyes on Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Hunched, frail, shorter than one of Donna's own children, the aging servant of the poorest of the poor cut an unassuming figure awaiting the start of Mass with Her Missionary of Charity sisters. They would speak briefly after the liturgy and then spend the next ten years intermittently sharing hopes, dreams, and prayers through the mail and in face-to-face conversations.

With Mother Teresa and Me, Donna-Marie invites you to step inside her deeply personal experiences with one of the greatest souls of modern times. Take her up on the offer and don't be surprised if you, too, find your heart blessed and your soul inspired by the diminutive nun who left an enormous impression on Donna-Marie and on the whole world.

Society turns a blind eye to people with eating disorders as they are often considered as merely seeking attention. This is extremely ignorant as it goes way beyond that,' says Finding Sarah's troubled but captivating protagonist, 26-year-old Sarah Picton. For more than nine years, Sarah has been purging her food in any place she can find: public toilets, plastic bags, coffee mugs. When she couldn't satisfy her bulimic addiction, she restricted her diet to the point that she weighed only 41 kilograms, a weight better suited to a girl less than half her age. She has lost teeth and her gag reflex. She has lost her energy and her friends. She has come close to losing her life. But then she decided to do something about it. Sarah reveals her story in brutally honest detail to author Joanne Jowell, setting herself on a path of enlightenment for herself, her family and anyone who might hear her story. No holds are barred as Sarah describes the selfishness of the illness, the shame surrounding her condition, and the deceptive ends to which she will go to hide her addiction. Along the way, Joanne meets the players in this story, including Sarah's mother, friends, ex-boyfriend and psychiatrist. And, of course, there is Sarah herself - cowed but not beaten, searching for herself even as the author does, sharing her life story so that she can reach out to the countless others who suffer in the shadow of addiction.

What do Abraham Lincoln, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Louis Pasteur, Frederick Douglass, Florence Nightingale, and John D. Rockefeller Sr. all have in common? They all changed the world--and they were all Christians. Now the little-known stories of faith behind twelve influential people of history are available in one inspiring volume. They Were Christians reveals the faith-filled motivations behind some of the most outstanding political, scientific, and humanitarian contributions of history. From the founding of the Red Cross to the family crisis that drove America's favorite president to his knees and cracked his religious skepticism, the fascinating stories of these faithful history-makers will inspire, encourage, and entertain readers of history and biography.

When Corrie ten Boom was in her late forties, she became part of the underground Christian resistance movement during World War II when Hitler's army occupied Holland. The account of Corrie's experience during this time period can be read in her best-selling book, The Hiding Place.

In My Father's House is the story of Corrie's life with her mother, father, and the rest of the family before they began hiding Jewish people in their home. This book is a testament to how God prepared one family through a father's faithfulness to his Savior and the Word of God for the most sacrificial service a family could do.

Beginning in the years before Corrie was born, In My Father's House details the events in the Ten Boom family.