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Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life
By Amber Scorah. 2019
A riveting memoir of losing faith and finding freedom while a covert missionary in one of the world's most restrictive…
countries. A third-generation Jehovah's Witness, Amber Scorah had devoted her life to sounding God's warning of impending Armageddon. She volunteered to take the message to China, where the preaching she did was illegal and could result in her expulsion or worse. Here, she had some distance from her community for the first time. Immersion in a foreign language and culture--and a whole new way of thinking--turned her world upside down, and eventually led her to lose all that she had been sure was true. As a proselytizer in Shanghai, using fake names and secret codes to evade the authorities' notice, Scorah discreetly looked for targets in public parks and stores. To support herself, she found work at a Chinese language learning podcast, hiding her real purpose from her coworkers. Now with a creative outlet, getting to know worldly people for the first time, she began to understand that there were other ways of seeing the world and living a fulfilling life. When one of these relationships became an "escape hatch," Scorah's loss of faith culminated in her own personal apocalypse, the only kind of ending possible for a Jehovah's Witness. Shunned by family and friends as an apostate, Scorah was alone in Shanghai and thrown into a world she had only known from the periphery--with no education or support system. A coming of age story of a woman already in her thirties, this unforgettable memoir examines what it's like to start one's life over again with an entirely new identity. It follows Scorah to New York City, where a personal tragedy forces her to look for new ways to find meaning in the absence of religion. With compelling, spare prose, Leaving the Witness traces the bittersweet process of starting over, when everything one's life was built around is gone.Wallis Simpson is known as the woman at the center of the most scandalous love affair of the 20th century,…
but in this surprising new biography, bestselling author Anna Pasternak redeems a women wronged by history with new information revealed by those who were close to the couple—presenting Wallis as a convenient scapegoat to rid England of a king deemed unworthy to rule. The story that has been told repeatedly is this: The handsome, charismatic, and popular Prince Edward was expected to marry a well-bred virgin who would one day become Queen of England when he ascended the throne. But when the prince was 37 years old, he fell in love with a skinny, divorced American woman—Wallis Simpson. No one thought the affair would last, and when the prince did become king, everyone assumed the affair would end. But instead the new king announced he wanted to marry the American divorcee, and Wallis was accused of entrapping the prince in a seductive web in order to achieve her audacious ambition to be queen. After declaring that he could not rule without the woman he loved at his side, the king gave up his throne, and his family banished him and his new wife from England. The couple spent the rest of their days in exile, but happy in their devoted love for each other. Now, Anna Pasternak’s The Real Wallis Simpson tells a different story: that Wallis was the victim of the abdication, not the villain. Warm, well-mannered, and witty, Wallis was flattered by Prince Edward’s attention, but like everyone else, she never expected his infatuation to last. She never wanted to divorce her second husband or marry Edward. She never anticipated his jealous, possessive nature—and his absolute refusal to let her go. Edward’s true dark nature, however, was no secret to the royal family, the church or the Parliament; everyone close to Edward knew that beyond his charming façade, he was immature, self-absorbed, and uneducated—utterly unfit to rule. Wallis begged Edward to stay on the throne and let her go, foreseeing the verdict history would pass on her. Caught in Edward’s fierce obsession, she became the perfect scapegoat for those who wished to dethrone the king they feared to rule. On the night Wallis died, Princess Margaret told a friend, “It wasn’t her we hated, it was him.” Rejecting the sinister schemer at the center of a dark royal fairytale, Anna Pasternak reveals Wallis Simpson as an intelligent woman, written off by cunning, powerful men and forced into a life she never wanted in a complex, riveting, and tragic true story of manipulation and betrayal.Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief (Library of Religious Biography (LRB))
By Roger Lundin. 1998
Garnering awards from Choice, Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and the Conference on Christianity and Literature when first published in…
1998, Roger Lundin's Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief has been widely recognized as one of the finest biographies of the great American poet Emily Dickinson. Paying special attention to her experience of faith, Lundin skillfully relates Dickinson's life -- as it can be charted through her poems and letters -- to nineteenth-century American political, social, religious, and intellectual history. This second edition of Lundin's superb work includes a standard bibliography, expanded notes, and a more extensive discussion of Dickinson's poetry than the first edition contained. Besides examining Dickinson's singular life and work in greater depth, Lundin has also keyed all poem citations to the recently updated standard edition of Dickinson's poetry. Already outstanding, Lundin's biography of Emily Dickinson is now even better than before., the volume begins with a look at early christology and covers the whole of the New Testament from the Gospels to Revelation.PEOPLE Harry & Meghan: One Year Later
By The Editors of PEOPLE. 2019
Mama's Boy: A Story from Our Americas
By Dustin Lance Black. 2019
This heartfelt, deeply personal memoir explores how a celebrated filmmaker and activist and his conservative Mormon mother built bridges across…
today’s great divides—and how our stories hold the power to heal. Dustin Lance Black wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Milk and helped overturn California’s anti–gay marriage Proposition 8, but as an LGBTQ activist he has unlikely origins—a conservative Mormon household outside San Antonio, Texas. His mother, Anne, was raised in rural Louisiana and contracted polio when she was two years old. She endured brutal surgeries, as well as braces and crutches for life, and was told that she would never have children or a family. Willfully defying expectations, she found salvation in an unlikely faith, raised three rough-and-rowdy boys, and escaped the abuse and violence of two questionably devised Mormon marriages before finding love and an improbable career in the U.S. civil service. By the time Lance came out to his mother at age twenty-one, he was a blue-state young man studying the arts instead of going on his Mormon mission. She derided his sexuality as a sinful choice and was terrified for his future. It may seem like theirs was a house destined to be divided, and at times it was. This story shines light on what it took to remain a family despite such division—a journey that stretched from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to the woodsheds of East Texas. In the end, the rifts that have split a nation couldn’t end this relationship that defined and inspired their remarkable lives. Mama’s Boy is their story. It’s a story of the noble quest for a plane higher than politics—a story of family, foundations, turmoil, tragedy, elation, and love. It is a story needed now more than ever.El Latin Hit Maker
By Rudy Pérez. 2019
Por primera vez, Rudy Pérez, leyenda de música, comparte su extraordinario proceso desde un pobre niño refugiado en Miami hasta…
la composición de las mejores canciones de éxito en el escenario mundial. Nombrado el compositor latino más exitoso de la historia, Rudy Pérez es el creador de algunos de los discos más vendidos de Beyoncé, Julio Iglesias, Christina Aguilera e Il Divo.En sus exclusivas memorias, Rudy cuenta sobre su infancia en Cuba y las apasionantes visitas a su padre en la cárcel durante el apogeo de la revolución comunista. Al mirar atrás al peligroso escape de su familia en uno de los últimos vuelos de la libertad a los Estados Unidos, Rudy nos cuenta sobre los años de pobreza y lo que es crecer en un vecindario asolado por el crimen. Estos recuerdos contrastan con los tiernos momentos de baile con sus hermanos junto la banda de música, escuchando los clásicos favoritos de su madre y balanceándose con melodías de blues junto a su padre. A una temprana edad, Rudy intentó recrear la música que amaba, y su talento lo llevó a una carrera sin precedentes con más de trescientas canciones exitosas.Con años de arduo trabajo, creatividad incesante y una fuerte fe, Rudy fue el primer artista de música latina en ganar el Premio Billboard Producer of the Decade. Repasando su legado ganador de cinco Premios Grammy, él comparte historias de fe poco conocidas y anécdotas de su trabajo con estrellas como Fergie, Jaci Velasquez, Michael Bolton, Simon Cowell y Sam Moore.El Latin Hit Maker es una lectura obligada para todos los amantes de la música, una historia genuina del paso de la pobreza a la riqueza, llena de inspiración, detalles fascinantes y un poderoso recordatorio de la gracia de Dios y la creatividad transformadora.The Pocket Guide to Royal Scandals
By Andy Hughes. 2011
A must-buy book for everyone interested in history and skeletons in the regal cupboards. Discover fascinating facts about lust, greed,…
murder, envy and just plain stupidity. Read King Henry VIIIs scurrilous letters to Anne Boleyn (thought he was interested in her mind? Think again). Whilst King Charles II was known as the Merry Monarch and Queen Elizabeth Is nickname, the Virgin Queen was rumored to be a misnomer, there was a darker side to the royal family, including murder and regicide was Queen Victorias son really Jack the Ripper or did her surgeon do it? History will come alive with this fact-filled book.The creative force behind Blackberry Farm, Tennessee&’s award-winning farm-to-table resort, reveals how she found herself only after losing everything in…
this powerful memoir of resilience. &“I couldn&’t put down this wise, honest, beautifully written story.&”—Shauna Niequist, New York Times bestselling author of Present Over Perfect and Bread & WineBorn with the gift of hospitality, Kreis Beall helped create one of the nation&’s most renowned resort destinations, Blackberry Farm, in Tennessee&’s Smoky Mountain foothills. For decades, she was a fixture in the travel and entertaining world and frequently appeared in the pages of popular home and design magazines. But at the pinnacle of her success, Kreis faced a series of challenges that reframed her life, including a brain injury that permanently impaired her hearing and the conclusion of her thirty-six-year marriage to her best friend and business partner, Sandy Beall. Alone and uncertain as her world shifts and marriage ends, Kreis begins a new journey to find her faith and find God. After spending years on her beautiful exterior life and work, she begins the hardest undertaking of all: reclaiming and redesigning her interior life and soul. Kreis retreats to Blackberry Farm, moving into an unassuming, 300-square-foot shed with peeling paint on the exterior walls, &“where I met myself for the first time.&” She examines what it takes to redefine life after deep loss and acknowledges, for the first time, often unbearable truths that existed beneath the beauty she had created. By turns fiercely honest, heartbreaking, and warm, Kreis Beall&’s story will resonate with anyone who can benefit from her discovery that &“All it takes is all you&’ve got. And it is worth it.&”Sparta's Kings
By John Car. 2012
In ancient Greece, Sparta was unique in having a dual kingship two kings from different clans, the Agiads and the…
Eurypontids, reigning simultaneously. The institution was already well-developed by the 8th century BC, when Theopompos of the Eurypontid clan emerges as the first recorded Spartan king. At least fifty-seven men held office as Spartan king between Theopompos and the Agiad Kleomenes III who died in 222 BC. For almost all this period the Spartan kingship was primarily a military office, and thus the kings embody much of the military history of Sparta. Wherever Spartas main battles took place, there the kings were. Naturally, the character of the particular king would often determine the outcome of a battle or campaign. Leonidas I at Thermopylai was one example. At the other end of the scale the young and unwar-like Pleistoanax twice declined an encounter with the Athenians when sent against that city.John Carr offers a chronological account of the kings and their accomplishments (or lack thereof), from the founding Herakleidai clan to Kleomenes III and his successor, the dictator Nabis, and the Roman conquest in the middle of the 2nd century BC. The book is not intended to be a complete history of Sparta. It will be a human interest and war story, focusing attention on the kings personal qualities as well as their (or their generals) military accomplishments and, where applicable, their politics as well.The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin
By Jonathan Phillips. 2019
An engaging biography that offers a new perspective on one of the most influential figures of the Crusades In 1187,…
Saladin marched triumphantly into Jerusalem, ending decades of struggle against the Christians and reclaiming the holy city for Islam. Four years later he fought off the armies of the Third Crusade, which were commanded by Europe’s leading monarchs. A fierce warrior and savvy diplomat, Saladin’s unparalleled courtesy, justice, generosity, and mercy were revered by both his fellow Muslims and his Christian rivals such as Richard the Lionheart. Combining thorough research with vivid storytelling, Jonathan Phillips offers a fresh and captivating look at the triumphs, failures, and contradictions of one of the Crusades’ most unique figures. Bringing the vibrant world of the twelfth century to life, this book also explores Saladin’s complicated legacy, examining the ways Saladin has been invoked in the modern age by Arab and Muslim leaders ranging from Nasser in Egypt, Asad in Syria, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq to Osama bin Laden, as well as his huge appeal across popular culture in books, drama, and music.True Virtue: The Autobiography of a Western Buddhist Nun
By John Barnett, Sister Annabel Laity. 2019
The captivating autobiography of the first Western nun ordained in Thich Nhat Hanh's Vietnamese Zen lineage.In 1988, Sister Annabel Laity…
became the first Western person to be ordained as a monastic disciple in Thich Nhat Hanh's Vietnamese Zen lineage. She was given the Dharma name Chan Duc, which means True Virtue. Thirty years later, Sister Annabel is a much-loved senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village community. She teaches and leads retreats worldwide, and is widely recognized as an accomplished and insightful Buddhist scholar. In this autobiography, Sister True Virtue shares the trials and joys of her lifelong search for spiritual community. First inspired by the kind Catholic nuns who ran her primary school, she encounters Buddhism while studying ancient languages at university in England. A few years later, when teaching classics in Greece, she meets a Tibetan Buddhist nun, an encounter that changes the course of her life and eventually leads her to her teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, and to her spiritual home in Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh's practice center in France. True Virtue is a timeless testament to the importance of spiritual exploration, and offers a unique perspective on Thich Nhat Hanh's monastic community.Tutti chiamano mio padre padre
By Tim 'Dr. Hope' Anders. 2019
Questo libro è basato sulla vera storia d'amore della vita dei genitori dell'autore. Sua madre era una talentuosa attrice e…
produttrice di Brodway e suo padre era un prete cattolico. Una storia complicata e piena di emozioni.A Christian and a Democrat: A Religious Biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Library of Religious Biography (LRB))
By James Bratt, John Woolverton. 2019
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when asked at a press conference about the roots of his political philosophy, responded simply, “I am…
a Christian and a Democrat.” This is the story of how the first informed the second—how his upbringing in the Episcopal Church and matriculation at the Groton School under legendary educator and minister Endicott Peabody molded Roosevelt into a leader whose politics were fundamentally shaped by the Social Gospel. A work begun by religious historian John Woolverton (1926 2014) and recently completed by James Bratt, A Christian and a Democrat is an engaging analysis of the surprisingly spiritual life of one of the most consequential presidents in US history. Reading Woolverton’s account of FDR’s response to the toxic demagoguery of his day will reassure readers today that a constructive way forward is possible for Christians, for Americans, and for the world.Dissident Rabbi: The Life of Jacob Sasportas
By Yaacob Dweck. 2019
In 1665, Sabbetai Zevi, a self-proclaimed Messiah with a mass following throughout the Ottoman Empire and Europe, announced that the…
redemption of the world was at hand. As Jews everywhere rejected the traditional laws of Judaism in favor of new norms established by Sabbetai Zevi, and abandoned reason for the ecstasy of messianic enthusiasm, one man watched in horror. Dissident Rabbi tells the story of Jacob Sasportas, the Sephardic rabbi who alone challenged Sabbetai Zevi's improbable claims and warned his fellow Jews that their Messiah was not the answer to their prayers.Yaacob Dweck's absorbing and richly detailed biography brings to life the tumultuous century in which Sasportas lived, an age torn apart by war, migration, and famine. He describes the messianic frenzy that gripped the Jewish Diaspora, and Sasportas's attempts to make sense of a world that Sabbetai Zevi claimed was ending. As Jews danced in the streets, Sasportas compiled The Fading Flower of the Zevi, a meticulous and eloquent record of Sabbatianism as it happened. In 1666, barely a year after Sabbetai Zevi heralded the redemption, the Messiah converted to Islam at the behest of the Ottoman sultan, and Sasportas's book slipped into obscurity.Dissident Rabbi is the revelatory account of a spiritual leader who dared to articulate the value of rabbinic doubt in the face of messianic certainty, and a revealing examination of how his life and legacy were rediscovered and appropriated by later generations of Jewish thinkers.She’s My Dad: A Father's Transition And A Son's Redemption
By Jonathan Williams. 2018
Jonathan S. Williams was three months into pastoring a new, evangelical church plant when his father confessed a secret: he…
was transgender. His father, Paul, a prominent evangelical pastor, soon became Paula, and Jonathan’s life and ministry went into a tailspin. Feeling betrayed by his mentor and confidante and scared that his church would lose funding and support if Paula’s secret was exposed, Jonathan sunk into depression and alcoholism. She’s My Dad explores Jonathan’s long and winding journey toward reconciliation, forgiveness, and acceptance of his father as well as his church’s journey to become one of the few fully LGBTQ-inclusive, evangelical churches in America. Jonathan and Paula offer insight and encouragement for those with trans family members, empathizing with the feelings of loss and trauma and understanding that even being LGBTQ-affirming doesn’t mean the transition of a family member will be easy. Jonathan writes of his family’s continuing evolution, the meaning of remaining loyal to one’s father even when she is no longer a man, the ongoing theological evolution surrounding transgender rights and advocacy in the church, and the unflinching self-scrutiny of a pastor who lost his God only to find God again in his father’s transition.How Luther Became the Reformer
By Christine Helmer. 2019
No story has been more foundational to triumphalist accounts of Western modernity than that of Martin Luther, the heroic individual,…
standing before the tribunes of medieval authoritarianism to proclaim his religious and intellectual freedom, “Here I stand!” How Luther Became the Reformer returns to the birthplace of this origin myth, Germany in the late nineteenth century, and traces its development from the end of World War I through the rise of National Socialism. Why were German intellectuals—especially Protestant scholars of religion, culture, and theology—in this turbulent period so committed to this version of Luther’s story? Luther was touted as the mythological figure to promote the cultural unity of Germany as a modern nation; in the myth’s many retellings, from the time of the Weimar Republic forward, Luther attained world-historical status. Helmer finds in this construction of Luther the Reformer a lens through which to examine modernity’s deformations, among them anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Catholicism. Offering a new interpretation of Luther, and by extension of modernity itself, from an ecumenical perspective, How Luther Became the Reformer provides resources for understanding and contesting contemporary assaults on democracy. In this way, the book holds the promise for resistance and hope in dark times.The Life of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great
By Alexander Gardner. 2019
The first-ever extensive biography of Tibet's most famous nonsectarian Buddhist lamaKnown as the “king of renunciates,” Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye…
(1813–1899) forever changed the face of Buddhism through collecting, arranging, and disseminating the various lineage traditions of Tibet across sectarian lines. His extensive treasury collections of profound Buddhist teachings continue to be taught and transmitted throughout the Himalayas by all major traditions and represent the breadth and profundity of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practice. Jamgon Kongtrul was a polymath, dedicated retreatant, ritual expert, writer, and teacher from the eastern Tibetan kingdom of Derge. During the nineteenth century, while central Tibet experienced extreme sectarian divides, Jamgon Kongtrul, along with Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Chokgyur Lingpa, set about collecting, teaching, and transmitting the major practice traditions found in Tibet. Their activity—much of which did not adhere to the traditional divides of the Tibetan “schools” and included both tantric lineages coming from India as well as Tibetan treasure (terma) lineages—is one of the finest examples of Tibetan ecumenism, or Rimay, and Jamgon Kongtrul is perhaps the most famous among Tibet’s Rimay masters. This is the most accessible work available on Jamgon Kongtrul’s life, writings, and influence, written as a truly engaging historical biography. Alexander Gardner provides an intimate glimpse into the life of one of the most important Tibetan Buddhist teachers to have ever lived.Rainha Elizabeth Tudor: Tornando-se Gloriana
By Laurel A. Rockefeller. 2019
A Rainha Elizabeth Tudor ainda é conhecida hoje como “Gloriana”, por conta de sua pequena frota de navios ágeis que…
derrotou a Armada Espanhola, que possuía 131 galeões, no Canal da Mancha em 6 de agosto de 1588. Mas como isso aconteceu, e por que a tardia Era Elisabetana ficou conhecida como “A Era do Ouro”? Nesta bela e criativa narrativa biográfica, você conhecerá Elizabeth como nunca antes. Se você é fã da Dinastia Tudor ou se esta é sua primeira vez explorando a história inglesa, você ganhará conhecimentos valiosos sobre a mente da, talvez, mulher mais lendária da história mundial, contada pelos olhos de seu famoso—ou infame—relacionamento com Robert Dudley. A história continua com Mary, rainha dos escoceses (explorada no terceiro volume) e seu julgamento e impacto em Elizabeth. Contém seis músicas medievais e elisabetanas, uma linha do tempo detalhada, e uma longa lista de leituras sugeridas.The Miracle Lady: Kathryn Kuhlman and the Transformation of Charismatic Christianity
By Amy Collier Artman. 2019
A smart, powerful, charismatic preacher brought back to lifeOn October 15, 1974, Johnny Carson welcomed his next guest on The…
Tonight Show with these words: “I imagine there are very few people who are not aware of Kathryn Kuhlman. She probably, along with Billy Graham, is one of the best-known ministers or preachers in the country.” But while many people today recognize Billy Graham, not many remember Kathryn Kuhlman (1907–1976), who preached faith and miracles to countless people over the fifty-five years of her ministry and became one of the most important figures in the rise of charismatic Christianity.In The Miracle Lady Amy Collier Artman tells the story of Kuhlman’s life and, in the process, relates the larger story of charismatic Christianity, particularly how it moved from the fringes of American society to the mainstream. Tracing her remarkable career as a media-savvy preacher and fleshing out her unconventional character, Artman also shows how Kuhlman skillfully navigated the oppressive structures, rules, and landmines that surrounded female religious leaders in her conservative circles.Atisa Dipamkara: Illuminator of the Awakened Mind (Lives of the Masters)
By James B. Apple. 2019
The first-ever biography with selected writings of one of the greatest Indian Buddhist masters in history.Few figures in the history…
of Buddhism in Tibet have had as far-reaching and profound an influence as the Indian scholar and adept Atiśa Dīpaṃkara (982–1054). Originally from Bengal, Atiśa was a tantric Buddhist master during Vajrayana Buddhism’s flowering in India and traveled extensively, eventually spending the remaining twelve years of his life revitalizing Buddhism in Tibet. Revered by all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Atiśa and his students founded what came to be known as the Kadam school, whose teachings have influenced countless Buddhist masters. These teachings, cherished by all major traditions, are preserved by the Geluk in particular, the school of the Dalai Lamas. Although Atiśa was an influential practitioner and scholar of Tantra, he is best known for introducing many of the core Mahayana teachings that are widely practiced throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world, including the Stages of the Path to Awakening and Mind Training (lojong), as well as having contributed to highly influential commentaries on Madhyamaka that synthesize various schools of thought. This succinct biography of Atiśa’s life, together with a collection of translations, represents for the first time the full range of Atiśa’s contribution to Buddhism. As the most comprehensive work available on this essential Buddhist figure, this book is an indispensable resource for scholars and Buddhist practitioners alike.