Bøger i Library of Religious Biography serien

What role did Laura Ingalls Wilder's Christian faith play in her life and writing? The beloved Little Housebooks by Laura Ingalls Wilder have sold over 60 million copies since their publication in the first half of the twentieth century. Even her unpolished memoir, Pioneer Girl, which tells the true story behind the children's books, was widely embraced upon its release in 2014. Despite Wilder's enduring popularity, few fans know much about her Christian beliefs and practice. John J. Fry shines a light on Wilder's quiet faith in this unique biography. Fry surveys the Little Housebooks, Pioneer Girl, and Wilder's lesser-known writings, including her letters, poems, and newspaper columns. Analyzing this wealth of sources, he reveals how Wilder's down-to-earth faith and Christian morality influenced her life and work. Interweaving these investigations with Wilder's perennially interesting life story, A Prairie Faith illustrates the Christian practices of pioneers and rural farmers during this dynamic period of American history.

"If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture.Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shape her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams as enlightening as the iconic singer herself"--

In 1946, God gave Oral Roberts a new Buick. And this just one of many miracles the young, broke preacher learned to expect, as Oral Roberts would go on to build an evangelistic ministry worth millions of dollars, a medical complex, and a university. How do we interpret the life of a man who seemed to combine rampant consumerist excess with a sincere devotion to the gospel?Seeking to answer this question, Jonathan Root weaves together accounts of Oral Roberts's life in a balanced and engaging narrative. This fresh biography covers Roberts's early life during the Great Depression in Oklahoma, his family's financial struggles during his early career as a Pentecostal preacher, his healing ministry's explosive growth in popularity via the new media of radio and television, and his empire's eventual collapse. Root pays special attention to how Roberts introduced the "prosperity gospel" to American Protestants with his affirmation that God intends his followers to be both spiritually and physically fulfilled.Root's engaging narration looks to primary sources on Roberts's life as well as the mythologized stories he told years later. The man who emerges is both deeply flawed and entirely earnest in his devotion to Christ. Oral Roberts and the Rise of the Prosperity Gospel will be an absorbing read for all those interested in American religious history and one of its most colorful figures.

"A short biography of Charles Lindbergh that traces his varying interests in faith and spirituality and explores how this aspect of his life influenced both his famous achievements and his infamous sympathies for white supremacy and eugenics"--

When asked at a press conference about the roots of his political philosophy, President Franklin Roosevelt responded, "I am a Christian and a Democrat." This volume tells the story of how the first informed the second, showing how FDR's upbringing formed him into a leader whose politics were fundamentally shaped by the social gospel.

This absorbing biography offers unique insight into McPherson's Canadian and Salvation Army roots and the motivation that led her towards evangelism later in life.

"Her Heart Can See" offers an intimate, informed look at Fanny J. Crosby (1820 1915), the most prolific of all American hymn writers. Having lost her sight in infancy through a doctor's negligence, Fanny went on to compose more than 9,000 hymns, as well as various other songs, cantatas, and lyrical productions. Crosby's hymns, including such all-time favorites as "Blessed Assurance," "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior," "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross," "Rescue the Perishing," "Safe in the Arms of Jesus," and "I Am Thine, O Lord," continue to be sung around the world.Celebrated in her own day for her gospel hymns, Crosby was also very publicly involved with New York City's rescue missions and with other benevolent efforts. She rubbed shoulders with the likes of Henry Clay, Grover Cleveland, Winfield Scott, Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey, Jenny Lind, P. T. Barnum, and many other famous figures who people these pages. More than two dozen black-and-white photographs depict the people and settings among which Crosby moved.Drawing on primary sources -- including thousands of unpublished Crosby manuscripts -- Edith Blumhofer sorts fact from fiction in the life of this remarkable woman. Blumhofer responsibly limns Crosby's life as a gifted nineteenth-century northeastern Protestant woman, in the process showing why "this diminutive woman" was -- and is -- so beloved."