On 28 February 2013, a 600-year-old tradition was shattered: the conservative Pope Benedict XVI made a startling announcement. He would resign. Reeling from the news, the College of Cardinals rushed to Rome to congregate in the Sistine Chapel to pick his successor. Their unlikely choice? Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,200 years, a one time tango club bouncer, a passionate football fan, a man with the common touch.

From the prize-winning screenwriter of The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour, this is a fascinating, revealing and often funny tale of two very different men whose destinies converge with each other - they both live in the Vatican - and the wider world.

How did these two men become two of the most powerful people on Earth? What's it like to be the Pope? What does the future hold for the Catholic Church and its 1 billion followers?

The Two Popes is a dual biography that masterfully combines these two popes' lives into one gripping narrative. From Benedict and Francis' experiences of war in their homelands - when they were still Joseph and Jorge - and the sexual abuse scandal that continues to rock the Church to its foundations, to the intrigue and the occasional comedy of life in the Vatican, The Pope glitters with the darker and the lighter details of life inside one of the world's most opaque but significant institutions.

Why is Jesus a giant? Because he was the founder of Christianity, the largest religion in the world with 2 billion adherents; because Christianity is one of the five great religions of the world, with followers in every country on the planet and a history stretching back two thousand years; because there remains great interest in the teaching of Jesus, his personality and his life. The origins of a great religion which has filled so immense a place in the history of the world must surely be of interest to everyone.

Bill Lee has experienced success as a Tennessee cattle farmer and businessman, but he has also known his share of tragedy and adversity. This Road I'm On is his story of fostering resilience and developing a heart for helping others by responding to those bittersweet moments with faith, hope, and perseverance.

From his adventurous youth in a rough-and-tumble American West to his far-flung trek across a still mysterious Asia; from his two-decade search for the essence of life to the triumph of Dianetics and Scientology-such is the story L. Ron Hubbard recounts in a lecture so legendary, it has been heard by millions. How could one man discover the source of human aberration and provide an actual technology by which Man could rise to greater heights of honesty, decency and personal freedom? The answer is here, in his personal account of his long journey to bring about a new state of being Man had dreamed of for over 2,500 years, a story that could only be told by the man who lived it.

Daniel Ponce de Leon's hard-fought journey to Major League Baseball and recovery from a near-death injury, followed by his astonishing big league debut, will inspire readers to trust God in all circumstances. The path you take to achieving your dreams is not always easy. Daniel Ponce de Leon, an acclaimed pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, overcame many challenges to get to the Major Leagues. Drafted four times, he spent a long four years climbing his way up through the minors before finally reaching AAA, only one step away from the Major Leagues. Then, Daniel's dream was almost shattered when he was struck in the head by a line drive. Spending weeks in the hospital and months recovering from a large epidural hematoma, skull fracture, brain swelling, and hemorrhaging, Daniel held on to his belief that he would one day realize his dream. Fourteen months later, and fully recovered, he made his first Major League start, becoming the fifth pitcher in modern Major League history to throw seven innings of no-hit ball in his first outing. MLB.com referred to it as one of the greatest debuts in Major League Baseball history. In One Line Drive, Daniel retells his remarkable journey, sharing how he never would have made it without his faith in God and the support of family and friends. Full of grit, determination, and faith, Daniel's story is an inspiring reminder to keep pressing on regardless of any setback or disappointment.

`A major contribution to our understanding of the English Revolution.' Ann Hughes, Professor of Early Modern History, Keele University. John Goodwin [1594-1665] was one of the most prolific and controversial writers of the English Revolution; his career illustrates some of the most important intellectual developments of the seventeenth century. Educated at Queens'College, Cambridge, he became vicar of a flagship Puritan parish in the City of London. During the 1640s, he wrote in defence of the civil war, the army revolt, Pride's Purge, and the regicide, only to turn against Cromwell in 1657. Finally, repudiating religious uniformity, he became one of England's leading tolerationists. This richly contextualised study, the first modern intellectual biography of Goodwin, explores the whole range of writingsproduced by him and his critics. Amongst much else, it shows that far from being a maverick individualist, Goodwin enjoyed a wide readership, pastored one of the London's largest Independent congregations and was well connected tovarious networks. Hated and admired by Anglicans, Presbyterians and Levellers, he provides us with a new perspective on contemporaries like Richard Baxter and John Milton. It will be of special interest to students of Puritanism,the English Revolution, and early modern intellectual history. JOHN COFFEY is Reader in Early Modern History at the University of Leicester.

Our major sources for the life and death of Thomas Becket are rigorously examined in this major new book. In the wake of his murder in December 1170, an extraordinarily large number of Lives of Thomas Becket were produced.They provide an invaluable witness to the life and death of Thomas and the dramatic events in which he was involved, but they are also works of great literary value, more complex and sophisticated than has been recognised. This book, the first to be devoted to the biographers and their works, consists of an examination the individual Lives,followed by an analysis of the biographers' treatment of the major themes in Thomas's life - conversion, conflict, trial, exile and martyrdom - in the light of contemporary hagiographical, historical and theological writing and canon law. It raises points of major significance for the study of intellectual and literary life in the central middle ages and provides an important reassessment of the Becket conflict and Thomas Becket himself. Dr MICHAEL STAUNTON is Lecturer in Medieval History, School of History and Archives, University College Dublin.

"Previously published in hardcover as King's Cross"
The most influential man to ever walk the earth has had his story told in hundreds of different ways for thousands of years. Can any more be said?
Now Timothy Keller, "New York Times "bestselling author of "The Reason for God "and the man "Newsweek "called a "C. S. Lewis for the twenty-first century," unlocks new insights into the life of Jesus Christ as he explores how Jesus came as a king, but a king who had to bear the greatest burden anyone ever has. "King's Cross "is Keller's revelatory look at the life of Christ as told in the Gospel of Mark. In it, Keller shows how the story of Jesus is at once cosmic, historical, and personal, calling each of us to look anew at our relationship with God. It is an unforgettable look at Jesus Christ, and one that will leave an indelible imprint on every reader.

When a party of French and Indians attacked Deerfield, Mass., in 1704, 49 people were killed, including Reverend Williams's wife and two of their children. Williams&#39s life was spared but he was taken captive. This is the story of the massacre and William's eventual release in his own words.

On March 4, 1681, King Charles II granted William Penn a charter for a new American colony. Pennsylvania was to be, in its founder's words, a bold "Holy Experiment" in religious freedom and toleration, a haven for those fleeing persecution in an increasingly intolerant England and across Europe. An activist, political theorist, and the proprietor of his own colony, Penn would become a household name in the New World, despite spending just four years on American soil. Though Penn is an iconic figure in both American and British history, controversy swirled around him during his lifetime. In his early twenties, Penn became a Quaker-an act of religious as well as political rebellion that put an end to his father's dream that young William would one day join the English elite. Yet Penn went on to a prominent public career as a Quaker spokesman, political agitator, and royal courtier. At the height of his influence, Penn was one of the best-known Dissenters in England and walked the halls of power as a close ally of King James II. At his lowest point, he found himself jailed on suspicion of treason, and later served time in debtor's prison. Despite his importance, William Penn has remained an elusive character-many people know his name, but few know much more than that. Andrew R. Murphy offers the first major biography of Penn in more than forty years, and the first to make full use of Penn's private papers. The result is a complex portrait of a man whose legacy we are still grappling with today. At a time when religious freedom is hotly debated in the United States and around the world, William Penn's Holy Experiment serves as both a beacon and a challenge.

On a hot and dusty December day in 1980, the bodies of four American women- three of them Catholic nuns- were pulled from a hastily dug grave in a field outside San Salvador. They had been murdered two nights before by the US-trained El Salvadoran military. News of the killing shocked the American public and set off a decade of debate over Cold War policy in Latin America. The women themselves became symbols and martyrs, shorn of context and background.In A Radical Faith , journalist Eileen Markey breathes life back into one of these women, Sister Maura Clarke. Who was this woman in the dirt? What led her to this vicious death so far from home? Maura was raised in a tight-knit Irish immigrant community in Queens, New York, during World War II. She became a missionary as a means to a life outside her small, orderly world and by the 1970s was organizing and marching for liberation alongside the poor of Nicaragua and El Salvador.Maura's story offers a window into the evolution of postwar Catholicism: from an inward-looking, protective institution in the 1950s to a community of people grappling with what it meant to live with purpose in a shockingly violent world. At its heart, A Radical Faith is an intimate portrait of one woman's spiritual and political transformation and her courageous devotion to justice.

In this seminal work on the declining vocabulary of faith in America, one of this generation's most prolific and respected religion writers breathes new life into ancient expressions and helps readers communicate their beliefs in fresh ways. When religion writer Jonathan Merritt moved from the Bible Belt to New York City, he ran into an unexpected language barrier. Whenever conversations turned to faith, his words became stilted. Words, both ancient and modern, that Jonathan had used for decades to describe matters of the soul no longer translated to those he encountered. In an America rapidly transitioning to a secular, more pluralistic society, many modern believers struggle to talk about faith and their relationships with God, when understanding of terms like "grace" or "gospel" can no longer be assumed. Some words, like "sin" and "hell," have become so negative they are nearly conversation-enders. The desire to express faith more clearly sends Jonathan on a quest to excavate anew some of the most meaningful words in a believer's dictionary.

In this biography the author extends our understanding of the personality and work of the man he has characterized as "essentially a reformer whose ideal was the pure church." Since 1915, the date of the last similar study of Hus, a great deal of new information has become available, especially in the Czech language. Professor Spinka has based his study on these new materials and on critical works about Hus. He has also abstracted Hus' writings, in Latin and in Czech, thereby clarifying what Hus taught. Originally published in 1968. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.