Christian Biography

Amy Carmichael by Iain Murray

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amy

Are you looking for a Christian biography for the whole family? Here is one on a fine Christian lady that will appeal to everyone in your house. In addition to enjoying it myself, this volume will find use in our home school. Though the ladies might especially enjoy it, I will assure the men out there that this book and Amy Carmichael’s life will be a challenge to your own spiritual life.

Though the book is written where teenagers could easily read it, there is nothing fluffy about it. Prolific biographer, Iain Murray, whose books have been enjoyable to me on several occasions, distills her life for the greatest spiritual effect. Plus you get a real glimpse of who she is as a person. He tells what a wonderful impact Tomas Walker, the missionary she worked with, had on her life.

Amy Carmichael’s life, admittedly, makes a biographer’s task easy. She went just to be a help to a mission work and the Lord just opened a children’s ministry up to her. Not a typical ministry, however, as she was rescuing little girls from a life of forced temple prostitution and one of rescuing the lives of children who had no future in the harsh caste system in India.

Mr. Murray, in the last part of the book, examined her life critically because the two popular biographies wrote of her without one critical comment. He uncovers that she was human, was more and more autocratic as the years went by, but still with taking all that into account she was a sincere, humble, and trusting servant of Jesus Christ.

This is a fine volume on a fine lady and I highly recommend it.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

The Printer And The Preacher by Randy Petersen

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Here is the merging of two categories of reading that, if you are like me, you enjoy–Christian biography and Colonial America. You get in this volume two prominent characters in those categories–George Whitefield and Ben Franklin. It is a pleasing, somewhat stretched, and breezy read.

His premise that the friendship of these two men “invented” America failed, but the book did not. These two men made distinct contributions to what became America, and they even had some sort of friendship, but the friendship itself had nothing to with anything in forging of our nation. In fact, the friendship was much ado about nothing as he failed to uncover just how deep the friendship was. I suspect it was not that deep and we will never know for sure beyond that.

Why I will still recommend the book is that these two men with their different lives did have such an impact. The similarities and differences in the two men are fascinating and how people took to them is something Petersen did capture. He succeeded in bringing Franklin alive more than he did Whitefield in my opinion. Part of the reason, I imagine, is that he too followed the oft-discredited study of Harry Stout.

Still, with the above caveats in mind, it remains enjoyable reading.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

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What a joy to see Hendrickson Publishers select this title for their new Classic Biography series in lovely bindings. The series aims to reprint the greatest biographies and this title qualifies as, perhaps, the best of its kind. I am at a loss to tell you just how extraordinary The Hiding Place really is. Beyond the timeless story, the book is well written and designed for easy reading. Teenagers to the aged need this book.

To think of a simple, God-fearing family of watchmakers in the Netherlands and then watch this same family rise to the heights of faith and action when the Nazis overran their simple existence is a spiritual journey for every reader.

After the background of their lives is vividly set in an economy of words, the story of their work in the Underground to rescue persecuted Jews with all its twists is given. Had the story ended there it would have been a testament of love, sacrifice, and dedication.

But the story did not end there. They were arrested. The father died. The first prison seemed terrible until you read of the next one. This is when faith and a growing closeness to Christ really rose and becomes a challenge for every Christian reader.

The last prison was a city of horrors, but they found a way to trust the Lord and serve Him in an amazing way. The also saw the Lord do things that were truly miraculous in the midst of their incredible suffering. Getting the Word in each prison shows how the Lord reaches out to those who turn to Him. That Word sustained them just as the Lord promises it would.

They learned how to see the Lord’s hand and be thankful for it, all the way down to the fleas (read it, you will see). The sickly, broken Betsy faced death as the victor that in Christ she truly was.

This story is not merely moving biography, nor even inspiration. No, it is one of the greatest challenges of faith you will ever lay your hands on. Truly, one of the greatest Christian books of all time!

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

hiding place

The Korean Pentecost by Blair and Hunt

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Here is a volume coming back into print where I had heard rumors of its being outstanding. By missionaries William Blair and Bruce Hunt, this book covers the first 60 years of the Gospel coming into Korea. The title “The Korean Pentecost And The Sufferings Which Followed” gives a hint of what you will discover here. It is hard to comprehend so much happening in 60 years and that the ministries of two missionaries went through it all. What the reader gets through it all is a strengthening of faith, the amazement of seeing God’s hand at work, and the inspiration of others serving our Lord through tribulation and even death.

The authors well tell a story of the preparation for the Gospel in Korea before Mr. Blair arrived. The story of the seed sown by Robert Thomas in 1865 in chapter 3 is one you will never forget once you read it. It moved me in a way nothing has in a long time.

Then the work is described until in 1907 the Lord graciously sent revival.  It is so compelling to read of real revival, what it looks like, and what transpired. Negatives as are present in any revival were not hidden, but they were few. As you read you will catch yourself praying: “Lord, send such a revival today.”

The second half of the book tells of the sufferings that came next over several decades, first at the hands of the Japanese, then from the Communists. Amazingly, the work of the Lord continued to grow though sufferings reached horrific levels. The book was never about gratuitous violence, but just enough to explain what happened. What says more in the reader’s mind is the calm, pure dedication to Christ of those who suffered. When we have no idea of what we may face, it is good to read of what can be true in Christ in the worst of times.

The authors were humble and made the stories about the Korean Christians, yet I believe I discovered two more Christian heroes in them. This is the kind of story that needs to be in every home. More than merely biography or history, it is a gripping portrait of what Christianity should be.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

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Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Bainton

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Here is a classic biography reissued in a stunning hardback as part of the Hendrickson Classic Biography series. Though they have been publishing classic biographies for several years, they are in the process of republishing them in volumes worth collecting or displaying in libraries. Fortunately, they have managed to keep them economically priced as well. I’m glad Bainton’s volume on Luther made its way into this series.

This biography made Luther come alive. While Bainton was clearly sympathetic to Luther, he did not smooth off the edges. His background on Reformation history enriched this book in many places.

Luther’s story is amazing. He is heroic in ways hard to comprehend. When he rose up from within the Catholic Church, he traveled an uncharted course and continuously had his life on the line. He never dreamed he would start a Reformation, totally change his country, and shake a continent, but he did. While I do not personally agree with Luther on where he landed on several theological points, I was ever amazed at what he did come to see with no man really guiding him. This volume well handles his theological journey.

This volume tells the story where he finally uttered, perhaps, the most audacious statement any man ever said: ” My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.” Wow!

We get the real Luther here. Mr. Bainton does not sugarcoat, for example, his inexcusable treatment of the Anabaptists. As a Baptist myself, I just remember where he came from and I am still impressed. The story of his marriage and relationship to his wife will bring a few smiles, though perhaps not to Mrs. Luther. As you read, you will wonder if he experienced survivor’s guilt as many of his followers were executed while he never was. We even learn here that he became quit the grumpy old man. We also learn the context of his failing health and difficult life. This volume is, without question, a winner!

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

luther

7 Men by Eric Metaxas

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Here is a biographic volume consisting of seven vignettes. The subtitle of “And the secret of their greatness” hints at what author Eric Metaxes is up to. Never was an introduction more indispensable than here where we learn that he is not attempting to give an authoritative biographic word, but to examine the questions: 1) What is a man? and b) What makes a man great?

This is not profound biography. There is likely very little new here beyond what you might read in a longer biography, but his wrestling with real manhood is more of a success. At times, he rambles about his own personal thoughts or reminiscences of the subject at hand, but it all flows well. Though he has written some well-received biographies, this volume appears to be put together more in haste.

Still, it is enjoyable reading and goes fast. I left it wanting to read a fuller length biography of at least two of his 7 men. The addition of the chapter on Corrie Ten Boom was nice too.

There is a pretty good tracing of Christianity in each life and some good insights. Some of us would question Pope John Paul II being included and offered as if on the same level of Christianity as the others, but even that chapter told all I might ever want to know of him in an interesting way.

These books of collated mini-biographies can be a nice change up in our reading schedule and can suggest future reading. For what it is, it is well done.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.