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Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion
By Danya Ruttenberg. 2009
At thirteen, Danya Ruttenberg decided that she was an atheist. Watching the sea of adults standing up and sitting down…
at Rosh Hashanah services, and apparently giving credence to the patently absurd truth-claims of the prayer book, she came to a conclusion: Marx was right. As a young adult, Danya immersed herself in the rhinestone-bedazzled wonderland of late-1990s San Francisco-attending Halloweens on the Castro, drinking smuggled absinthe with wealthy geeks, and plotting the revolution with feminist zinemakers. But she found herself yearning for something she would eventually call God. As she began inhaling countless stories of spiritual awakenings of Catholic saints, Buddhist nuns, medieval mystics, and Hasidic masters, she learned that taking that yearning seriously would require much of her. Surprised by God is a religious coming-of-age story, from the mosh pit to the Mission District and beyond. It's the memoir of a young woman who found, lost, and found again communities of like-minded seekers, all the while taking a winding, semi-reluctant path through traditional Jewish practice that eventually took her to the rabbinate. It's a post-dotcom, third-wave, punk-rock Seven Storey Mountain-the story of integrating life on the edge of the twenty-first century into the discipline of traditional Judaism without sacrificing either. It's also a map through the hostile territory of the inner life, an unflinchingly honest guide to the kind of work that goes into developing a spiritual practice in today's world-and why, perhaps, doing this in today's world requires more work than it ever has.St. Augustine's Confessions
By Saint Augustine, Henry Chadwick. 1991
In his own day the dominant personality of the Western Church, Augustine of Hippo today stands as perhaps the greatest…
thinker of Christian antiquity, and his Confessions is one of the great works of Western literature. In this intensely personal narrative, Augustine relates his rare ascent from a humble Algerian farm to the edge of the corridors of power at the imperial court in Milan, his struggle against the domination of his sexual nature, his renunciation of secular ambition and marriage, and the recovery of the faith his mother Monica had taught him during his childhood. Now, Henry Chadwick, an eminent scholar of early Christianity, has given us the first new English translation in thirty years of this classic spiritual journey. Chadwick renders the details of Augustine's conversion in clear, modern English. We witness the future saint's fascination with astrology and with the Manichees, and then follow him through scepticism and disillusion with pagan myths until he finally reaches Christian faith. There are brilliant philosophical musings about Platonism and the nature of God, and touching portraits of Augustine's beloved mother, of St. Ambrose of Milan, and of other early Christians like Victorinus, who gave up a distinguished career as a rhetorician to adopt the orthodox faith. Augustine's concerns are often strikingly contemporary, yet his work contains many references and allusions that are easily understood only with background information about the ancient social and intellectual setting. To make The Confessions accessible to contemporary readers, Chadwick provides the most complete and informative notes of any recent translation, and includes an introduction to establish the context. The religious and philosophical value of The Confessions is unquestionable--now modern readers will have easier access to St. Augustine's deeply personal meditations. Chadwick's lucid translation and helpful introduction clear the way for a new experience of this classic. About the Series:For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.A Path Through the Sea: One Woman's Journey from Depression to Wholeness
By Lillian V. Grissen. 1993
In this frank, instructive, and heartening personal story, Lillian Grissen tells about the severe depression that she herself experienced. Her…
pain - mental, emotional, and physical pain - was excruciating, and at first she felt hopelessly trapped in it. But with the help of a gifted Christian psychiatrist, Grissen began to stop blaming herself and to confront the core of her problem - her relationship as a child with her mother. Over a period of five long years - also with her husband's support, her pastor's compassionate counsel, and the right combination of therapy and medication, and God's gracious strength - Grissen gradually climbed out of the pit of her depression. A profound yet simple book about a complex condition: clinical depression. Only one who has experienced the pain of the darkness of depression and the joy of the light of recovery could have had the courage to trace the arduous journey. - Katie Funk Wiebe, author of Bless Me Too, My FatherA shrewd synthesizer, gifted popularizer, and inspiring founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance movement, A.B. Simpson (1843–1919) was enmeshed…
in the most crucial threads of evangelical Christianity at the turn of the twentieth century. Daryn Henry presents Simpson's life and ministry as a vivid, fascinating, and paradigmatic study in evangelical religious culture, during a time when the conservative wing of the movement has often been overlooked. Simpson's ministry, Henry explains, fused the classic evangelical emphasis on revivalist conversion with the intensification of that sensibility in the quest for the deeper Christian life of holiness. Recovering the practice of divine healing, Simpson emphasized a dynamically empowered and supernaturally animated Christianity that would spill over into nascent Pentecostalism. His encouragement of cross-cultural missions was part of a trend that unleashed the dramatic rise of world Christianity across the Global South. All the while, his Biblical literalism, antagonism to modernist theology, campaigns against evolution, and views on premillennialism, Biblical prophecy, and the role of Israel in the end times made Simpson a precursor of the fundamentalist melees of subsequent decades. From his upbringing in rural Canada and confessional Scottish Presbyterianism, Simpson journeyed into the heart of American evangelicalism revolving around his base in New York City. Against most previous writing on Simpson, Henry's biography presents both continuities and discontinuities in the development of modern interdenominational evangelicalism out of the denominational evangelicalism of the nineteenth century.Out Of Islam: One Muslim's Journey to Faith in Christ
By Christopher Alam. 2006
Click Here For Sample ChapterChristopher Alam&’s life and ministry have been filled with one adventure and miraculous event after another.…
Out of Islam traces the adventures of Alam as a young Pakistani convert to Christianity from a traditional Muslim family to his emergent worldwide evangelistic and healing ministry. With his father being a devout Muslim and lifelong military officer who once trained fighters alongside Osama bin Laden, and his mother an India-born performing artist, Alam knew a privileged life that few experience. After Alam&’s conversion, his father had him arrested and sought to have him beheaded for betraying the family faith. Through a series of miraculous events, Alam ultimately escaped to Sweden, where he met and married his wife, Britta. Together they have launched their ministry, which has been praised by evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, the late Kenneth E. Hagin, and Ray McCauley. Alam has preached in more than sixty nations, with millions making firsttime decisions for Christ and hundreds of new churches started. This book will encourage the hearts of readers to rise above hardships and move into the supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit, while offering faith lessons for evangelists. About the AuthorChristopher Alam is founder and director of Christopher Alam Ministries International, also known as Dynamis World Ministries, which has a full-time crusade team on the field in Africa and numerous evangelists and church-planters working in Asia.Called Out: A Former Lesbian's Discovery of Freedom
By Janet Boynes. 2008
Janet Boynes leads readers through her inspiring testimony, from her decision to try the homosexual lifestyle, to the trauma and…
pain she suffered during her 14-year walk as a lesbian, and finally, to her glorious homecoming back to God in 1998. Janet discusses with honorable candor many of the issues so aggressively guarded by the gay agenda. This book is also recommended for anyone who knows or is related to a member of the homosexual community and desires to love them as Christ would love them.In His Footsteps
By Gabby Heusser. 2014
Walking to Freedom God's &“sweet interruption&” brings wholeness to a broken life Young mother-of-two Gabby Heusser was unable to walk…
more than a few steps without crippling pain—until God came with an unexpected promise of healing. As Gabby began to recover physically, He also led her gently back into the past to touch the broken places of her childhood. A myriad of troubles including abuse, an eating disorder, and poor teenage choices had left deep scars. Join Gabby on her journey from fear to freedom, from shame and insecurity to joy and confidence in her true identity as one of God's beloved daughters. Once virtually chair-bound, now she dances with joy. Her moving experience of His &“sweet interruption&” will encourage you to believe that God wants to touch and restore your areas of hurt, too, so that you can walk free and tall...and follow joyfully in His footsteps.Acts 29: The Ministry of Peter Hakim Hosein, Apostle to the Caribbean
By W. Douglas Cowie. 2015
A MODERN-DAY PAULMiracles and Salvation in the Islands What would it be like if the Book of Acts wasn't…
finished? It would be something like the dynamic life and ministry of Peter Hakim Hosein, who touched the Caribbean and elsewhere in the Western World with the power of the Holy Spirit. During his time of grief over the loss of a three year old son, Hosein's father promised the God he himself had never met personally, that he would dedicate his next born son to His full time service. Undeterred by death threats, he traveled from village to village to heal the sick, cast out demons, and share the good news with power. Like a modern-day apostle Peter or Paul, he established churches in Trinidad and Tobago, and throughout the surrounding islands.Acts 29: The Ministry of Peter Hakim Hosein, Apostle to the Caribbean records the largely unknown ministry of a remarkable but humble man with simple faith in a powerful God. Drawn together from interviews with Hosein himself, and conversations with the family and fellow workers, this account will inspire you to believe God for the miraculous today--and in your own world.Vanya: A True Story
By Norm Evans. 1974
A Classic That's Inspired Millions! Out of the dark shadows of Soviet atheism rose a fearless young man whose boldness…
for Christ would make him a testimony to millions of believers around the world. This is the true story of Ivan (Vanya) Moiseyev, a soldier in the Soviet Red Army who was ruthlessly persecuted and incarcerated for his faith. Through two years of trial and torture, he never denied his Savior, and he never hesitated to share the gospel with anyone who would listen. You'll be inspired to live for Christ in your own world as never before after you experience the gripping story of a believer named Vanya.Through the Eyes of Hope: Love More, Worry Less, and See God in the Midst of Your Adversity
By Lacey Buchanan. 2017
Understand how God turns tragic circumstances into something beautiful for His glory, while you love more, complain less, and see…
God at work in the most unlikely of places. &“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.&” Hebrews 11:1, MEV What happens when things don&’t go as planned? What happens when the storm you face is completely out of your control? The Buchanans&’ precious son Christian was born with a medical condition that is so incredibly unique, it&’s one of only fifty known cases in the world. This story has captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands. In Through the Eyes of Hope Lacey Buchanan tells this compelling story of trusting God in the face of adversity. You will be moved and inspired to hold on to God&’s promises when things go wrong and find joy in midst of any storm.What happens when a nineteen-year-old boy leaves home and heads into the jungles to evangelize a murderous tribe of South…
American Indians? For Bruce Olson, it meant capture, disease, terror, loneliness, and torture. But what he discovered by trial and error has revolutionized then world of missions. Bruchko, which has sold more than 300,000 copies worldwide, has been called “more fantastic and harrowing than anything Hollywood could concoct.” Living with the Motilone Indians since 1961, Olson has won the friendship of four presidents of Colombia and has made appearances before the United Nations because of his efforts. Bruchko includes the story of his 1988 kidnapping by communist guerrillas and the nine months of captivity that followed. This revised version of Olson’s story will amaze you and remind you that simple faith in Christ can make anything possible. “[Bruchko is] an all-time missionary classic. Bruce Olson is a modern missionary hero who has modeled for us in our time the reaching of the unreached tribes.” --Loren Cunningham Co-founder, Youth With A MissionLove Like Fire: The Story of Heidi Baker, Mother to Nations
By Cassandra Soars. 2016
Love Like Fire is a timely, inspiring story of a modern-day Mother Teresa who embodies self-sacrifice and love. Amidst her…
passionate humanitarian work in Mozambique, Heidi Baker&’s husband contracted cerebral malaria and soon after was diagnosed with dementia, the doctors giving him a death sentence. Heidi and her husband founded IRIS Ministries, a nonprofit Christian ministry. It has expanded to include well drilling, free health clinics that service the poor and sick, feeding programs, primary and secondary schools, and now over five thousand churches in Mozambique and more than ten thousand churches in over twenty nations. The Bakers have been listed among the most influential leaders in world Pentecostalism. Cassandra Soars relays a true story that embodies faith and healing; the joy of community; freedom from oppression, sexism, and poverty; and what love truly looks like.Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle, the powerful sequel to Bruce Olson's best-selling missionary classic, Bruchko, is a remarkable tale of…
adventure, tragedy, faith, and love. It shows how, despite incredible dangers and obstacles, one humble man and a tribe of primitive, violent Indians by joining together in simple obedience have been transformed forever by the sovereign will of god. This book, which details Olson’s missionary work and events from the 1970s to the present, will stir and encourage the hearts of readers to serve and follow God passionately.The Day I Died: My Astonishing Trip to Heaven and Back
By Freddy Vest. 2014
Freddy Vest was on the back of a horse, competing in a calf-roping event in front of a crowd when…
he suddenly collapsed due to a heart attack. He was dead before he hit the ground. One moment he was sitting on his horse. The next moment he was somewhere else--somewhere beyond description. He had moved on. Without travel, transport, angelic assistance, or the passage of time he was with Jesus, where he discovered firsthand that heaven is a real place and God is a real person and that death is not the end but the beginning of true life. In The Day I Died, Vest touches on the transformation from death to heaven and some of the benefits of finding oneself in that place, including: The unforgettable awareness of God’s presence The sense of His immeasurable love The freedom from the constraints of time The ease of communication with the Lord The peace and security that attend His presence The understanding that prayers are instantly heard by God.In Your Eyes I See My Words, Volume 2 contains Pope Francis’s homilies and speeches spanning from 2005 to 2008.…
Continuing what began in the first volume of this three-volume publication, Volume 2 shows Archbishop Bergoglio’s growth as a pastor and a theologian/scholar in the midst of his people. At the same time, it shows him emerging as an international voice calling for changes in the way the Church carries out its ministry and its educational task on behalf of children, youth, adults, and church ministers. In his homilies from Christmas, Easter, and especially in his response to the tragic fire and deaths of 194 people at the nightclub Republica Cromañon, we see Bergoglio speak passionately to his parishioners, challenging them with equal portions of tenderness and righteous anger. Perhaps uniquely, we also watch as his audiences, prominence, and influence grow globally, foreshadowing who he will become in 2013 when he is elected Pope.On the larger national and international scale, Bergoglio addresses various conferences, such as the Argentina Press Association and the Episcopal Conference of Argentina of which he was elected President in 2005 and served the maximum possible term of six years. We see and read as his work takes him outside his country to Rome (2007) at the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; to Brasil (2007), where his presentation on the Crisis of Civilization and Culture at the Fifth CELAM Conference ends up shaping much of the Aparecida Conclusions; and finally, to Quebec (2008) as he speaks at the Forty-Ninth International Eucharistic Congress.All told, In Your Eyes I See My Words, Volume 2 is a glimpse into a period of time in which Archbishop Bergoglio grows immensely in thought, reflection, and action, laying the groundwork for the mature, thoughtful, and beloved Pope Francis he has come to be known as around the world.From New Age To New Life: A Passage from Darkness to the Light of Christ
By Sandra Clifton. 2007
&“Whether or not you believe that psychics are real is not the point of this book,&” writes Clifton. &“Obviously there…
is ongoing appeal for such things, or God&’s Word would not keep warning against them. The point of my book is to show triumph over sin and darkness.&”The former professional psychic, then known as Sandra McNeil, reveals the true nature of New Age thought and practices and how God opened her eyes to deception and set her free. She presents practical insight for tactful dialogue with individuals caught in the web of such beliefs, as well as tips for intercessory prayer. The inclusion of prayer strategies and discussion questions makes From New Age to New Life both theological and practical.With great experience as an author and editor, as well as a doctorate of ministry from Oral Roberts University, Clifton does an excellent job of telling her story in five significant parts: &“My Journey,&” &“Reflections,&” &“What Can Be Done?&” &“Prayer Strategies,&” and &“Talking It Over.&” Like sharing snapshots from a trip, she also includes distinct scenes from her life. Each is followed by reflection, in which she looks back on her experiences or thoughts with theological and biblical perspectives. In the process, she addresses how to help lost people out of the occult and New Age.Readers of this wonderfully written book will come away feeling warm inside knowing good still comes out on top.Never Be Discouraged: With God, All Things Are Possible
By Alice Crespo. 2013
Alice Crespo was born in New York City, raised in Brooklyn, and grew up totally blind. She had to learn…
many things, and she realized that, with God's help, there was nothing that she couldn't do. The sky was the limit. Alice is now sixty years of age, and she wants to share her experiences and her life lessons with you. Here is her story. Contains image descriptions.Daughter of the Saints: Growing Up In Polygamy
By Dorothy Allred Solomon. 2004
"Probably the best book ever written about polygamy. Neither an apologia nor an exposé."—Salt Lake City Tribune "I am the…
daughter of my father's fourth plural wife, twenty-eighth of forty-eight children—a middle kid, you might say." So begins this astonishing and poignant memoir of life in the family of Utah fundamentalist leader and naturopathic physician Rulon C. Allred. Since polygamy was abolished by manifesto in 1890, this is a story of secrecy and lies, of poverty and imprisonment and government raids. When raids threatened, the families were forced to scatter from their pastoral compound in Salt Lake City to the deserts of Mexico or the wilds of Montana. To follow the Lord's plan as dictated by the Principle, the human cost was huge. Eventually murder in its cruelest form entered when members of a rival fundamentalist group assassinated the author's father. Dorothy Solomon, monogamous herself, broke from the fundamentalist group because she yearned for equality and could not reconcile the laws of God (as practiced by polygamists) with the vastly different laws of the state. This poignant account chronicles her brave quest for personal identity. Originally published in hardcover under the title Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk.The Betrayal of the Duchess: The Scandal That Unmade the Bourbon Monarchy and Made France Modern
By Maurice Samuels. 2020
Fighting to reclaim the French crown for the Bourbons, the duchesse de Berry faces betrayal at the hands of one…
of her closest advisors in this dramatic history of power and revolution. The year was 1832 and the French royal family was in exile, driven out by yet another revolution. From a drafty Scottish castle, the duchesse de Berry -- the mother of the eleven-year-old heir to the throne -- hatched a plot to restore the Bourbon dynasty. For months, she commanded a guerilla army and evaded capture by disguising herself as a man. But soon she was betrayed by her trusted advisor, Simon Deutz, the son of France's Chief Rabbi. The betrayal became a cause célèbre for Bourbon loyalists and ignited a firestorm of hate against France's Jews. By blaming an entire people for the actions of a single man, the duchess's supporters set the terms for the century of antisemitism that followed. Brimming with intrigue and lush detail, The Betrayal of the Duchess is the riveting story of a high-spirited woman, the charming but volatile young man who double-crossed her, and the birth of one of the modern world's most deadly forms of hatred.The Glass Church: Robert H. Schuller, the Crystal Cathedral, and the Strain of Megachurch Ministry
By Mark T. Mulder, Gerardo Martí. 2020
Robert H. Schuller’s ministry—including the architectural wonder of the Crystal Cathedral and the polished television broadcast of Hour of Power—cast a…
broad shadow over American Christianity. Pastors flocked to Southern California to learn Schuller’s techniques. The President of United States invited him sit prominently next to the First Lady at the State of the Union Address. Muhammad Ali asked for the pastor’s autograph. It seemed as if Schuller may have started a second Reformation. And then it all went away. As Schuller’s ministry wrestled with internal turmoil and bankruptcy, his emulators—including Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, and Joel Osteen— nurtured megachurches that seemed to sweep away the Crystal Cathedral as a relic of the twentieth century. How did it come to this? Certainly, all churches depend on a mix of constituents, charisma, and capital, yet the size and ambition of large churches like Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral exert enormous organizational pressures to continue the flow of people committed to the congregation, to reinforce the spark of charismatic excitement generated by high-profile pastors, and to develop fresh flows of capital funding for maintenance of old projects and launching new initiatives. The constant attention to expand constituencies, boost charisma, and stimulate capital among megachurches produces an especially burdensome strain on their leaders. By orienting an approach to the collapse of the Crystal Cathedral on these three core elements—constituency, charisma, and capital—The Glass Church demonstrates how congregational fragility is greatly accentuated in larger churches, a notion we label megachurch strain, such that the threat of implosion is significantly accentuated by any failures to properly calibrate the inter-relationship among these elements.