I love biographies.
As a newly-minted biographer, surely I have some favorite Christian biographies?
Of course.
While some of these books slide between biography and memoir, they’ve all been important in my spiritual development.
(See this post for the difference between biography and memoir).
Here’s a short list in alphabetical order, of eight favorites and why I like them.
Bonhoeffer
I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer‘s The Cost of Discipleship as a 20 year-old in Europe. I’d been a Christian four years and was fascinated by the green book that sat on the shelf in our church’s bookstore.
The printing was small, the paragraphs long, the concepts dense. But some of the ideas stuck and shaped my Christian walk.
You can read my post about it here.
I picked up Eric Metaxas‘ biography when it came out in 2010. Like many, I wanted to know how a theologian justified participating in a plot to kill Adolph Hitler during WWII.
In addition to answering my question, Metaxas painted a picture of a multi-cultured and very interesting man.
The classic cover–that I read!
Born Again
I read this book in the heady days after author Charles Colson became a Christian and went on to found Prison Fellowship.
As a teenager and very young Christian, it impressed me with the importance of being humble, confessing sin and the value of turning your back on political power.
To this day, I follow Prison Fellowship and read Breakpoint every morning for insight.
Evidence Not Seen
I first heard author Darlene Diebler Rose’s story of her time in a Japanese concentration camp on the Focus on the Family radio show.
Even as I write, I can hear Rose’s voice in my head telling the inspiring memories of how God met them time and again in appalling circumstances.
She came through committed to her God, full of praise and went on to a successful life serving God on the mission field.
God’s Smuggler
I came to Brother Andrew’s story/biography just recently, but loved it. (He wrote it with John and Elizabeth Sherrill)
The man who smuggled Bibles into closed countries for years, knew Biddy Chambers–which is what caught my interest.
(He provided keen insight about her when responding to my email questions!)
Again, I adored hearing how God worked through the seemingly impossible situations of his youth, to direct him into an important ministry of hope.
You can hear him talk about it, too, here.
The Hiding Place
Corrie ten Boom‘s story has been popular with people I know forever.
An oversized personality, Corrie taught many of us the depth of God’s forgiveness of any sin.
You know? How He threw it away into the deepest part of the ocean and then posted a sign: “No fishing?”
Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God
I’ve written extensively about David McCasland’s biography of Oswald Chambers.
Suffice it to say my husband and I both were astonished about how little we knew about the “author” of a devotional we read daily.
(Much less that his wife compiled it ten years after he died!)
This book changed my writing life for five years as I wrote two books in which Chambers is a character!
The Tapestry
I’ve written here and here about author Edith’s Schaeffer’s effect on my life.
This is her story, up until the early 1980s when I read it.
She describes her youth in China (the daughter of a medical missionary), her marriage to Francis Schaeffer and then the story of L’Abri.
Along the way, she provides countless descriptions of God answering prayer in extraordinary ways.
I sit writing this as a result of insight I gleaned from her about the will of God.
Through Gates of Splendor
Elisabeth Elliott’s writing and her speaking program Gateway to Joy, both influenced my life in extraordinary ways.
From Elisabeth, I learned the disgust of self-pity, the need to be obedient despite the cost (there’s that theme again) and how God often asks us to do the impossible.
But He always provides what we need to follow His lead.
This is actually the story of her husband Jim’s life and what happened to her as a result of that dreadful day in Ecuador more than 50 years ago.
Unbroken
Bestseller Laura Hillenbrand didn’t intend to write a Christian biography when she wrote Louie Zamperini‘s story.
But Zamperini’s extraordinary life and devotion to God took over before she finished.
It’s one of the best books, hand’s down, I’ve read in the last decade.
What are some of your favorite Christian biographies and why?
Tweetables
Eight favorite Christian biographies and why. Click to Tweet
Unbroken, Abandoned, Tapestry, Born Again, Hiding Places–which biography to read? Click to Tweet
A Christian biographer’s 8 favorite Christian biographies. Click to Tweet
And don’t forget my REAL favorite biography: Mrs. Oswald Chambers!
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?