Religious & Inspirational Audiobooks | Fiction & Literature

Surprised by Love: Her Life and Marriage to C.S. Lewis

"...a story which surprises and intrigues, a very human story of struggle, pain and triumph." -Patricia Morley, The Birmingham-News In late 1956, an item in The Times of London stunned England's literary set. Confirmed bachelor and celebrated Christian apologist C.S. Lewis announced his marriage to Joy Gresham. His choice could not have been more unlikely. Joy was an American, a divorcee, an ex-communist, and a former atheist. Yet this extraordinary and fascinating woman made a great impact on Lewis and his writings in the short time they together.

Lyle W. Dorsett (Author), Kate Reading (Narrator)

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Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith

Leaving the Saints is an unforgettable memoir about one woman's spiritual quest and journey toward faith. As Mormon royalty within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church's high elders known as the apostles and her existence was framed by their strict code of conduct. Wearing her sacred garments, she married in a secret temple ceremony but only after two Mormon leaders ascertained that her past contained no flirtation with serious sins, such as committing murder or drinking coffee. She went to church faithfully with the other brothers and sisters of her ward. When her son was born with Down syndrome, she and her husband left their graduate programs at Harvard to return to Provo, Utah, where they knew the supportive Mormon community would embrace them. However, soon after Martha began teaching at Brigham Young University, she began to see firsthand the Church's ruthlessness as it silenced dissidents and masked truths that contradicted its published beliefs. Most troubling of all, she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the Church's most prominent authorities. This book chronicles her difficult decision to sever her relationship with the faith that had cradled her for so long and to confront and forgive the person who betrayed her so deeply. This beautifully written, inspiring memoir explores the powerful yearning toward faith. It offers a rare glimpse inside one of the world's most secretive religions while telling a profoundly moving story of personal courage, survival, and the transformative power of spirituality. From the Hardcover edition.

Martha Beck (Author), Bernadette Dunne, Martha Beck (Narrator)

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Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith

Leaving the Saints is an unforgettable memoir about one woman’s spiritual quest and journey toward faith. As “Mormon royalty” within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church’s high elders—known as the apostles—and her existence was framed by their strict code of conduct. Wearing her sacred garments, she married in a secret temple ceremony—but only after two Mormon leaders ascertained that her “past contained no flirtation with serious sins, such as committing murder or drinking coffee.” She went to church faithfully with the other brothers and sisters of her ward. When her son was born with Down syndrome, she and her husband left their graduate programs at Harvard to return to Provo, Utah, where they knew the supportive Mormon community would embrace them. However, soon after Martha began teaching at Brigham Young University, she began to see firsthand the Church’s ruthlessness as it silenced dissidents and masked truths that contradicted its published beliefs. Most troubling of all, she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the Church’s most prominent authorities. This book chronicles her difficult decision to sever her relationship with the faith that had cradled her for so long and to confront and forgive the person who betrayed her so deeply. This beautifully written, inspiring memoir explores the powerful yearning toward faith. It offers a rare glimpse inside one of the world’s most secretive religions while telling a profoundly moving story of personal courage, survival, and the transformative power of spirituality.

Martha Beck (Author), Bernadette Dunne (Narrator)

Audiobook

So Help Me God: The Ten Commandments, Judicial Tyranny, and the Battle for Religious Freedom

Moore's refusal to follow a court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state court building cost him his position as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. In this fascinating memoir, he reflects on his struggle to comply with the law and be true to his faith. His essential premise is that our Founding Fathers, via the Declaration of Independence, acknowledged the sovereignty of God in the life of our nation, notwithstanding the clause forbidding the establishment of a national religion. He notes the prominence of God in the swearing of oaths and other aspects of court procedures, as well as our nation's continuing Judeo-Christian traditions. Moore sees the efforts by the ACLU and other groups to remove all references to religion as a reflection of the nation's downward moral drift. His passion in asserting his own religious commitment reflects his personal courage in standing up for his beliefs, but for those who do not share them, he also makes a clear case for justifying the sanctions against him.

Roy S Moore (Author), Roy S Moore (Narrator)

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Gift from the Sea: 50th Anniversary Edition

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Author), Claudette Colbert, Reeve Lindbergh (Narrator)

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Broken On the Back Row: A Journey through Grace and Forgiveness

Sandi Patty, the most awarded female vocalist in contemporary Christian music, saw her stellar career go into a tailspin. Now she tells the story of her long road to restoration. From the agony of divorce nearly ten years ago, Sandi has moved from center stage to the back row of the church balcony and back into the spotlight.

Sandi Patty (Author), Sandi Patty (Narrator)

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The Pontiff in Winter: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II

Over more than a quarter of a century, John Paul II has firmly set his stamp on the billion-member strong Catholic Church for future generations and he has become one of the most influential political figures in the world. His key role in the downfall of communism in Europe, as well as his apologies for the Catholic Church's treatment of Jews and to victims of the Inquisition, racism, and religious wars, won him worldwide admiration. Yet his papacy has also been marked by what many perceive as misogyny, homophobia, and ecclesiastical tyranny. Some critics suggest that his perpetuation of the Church's traditional hierarchical paternalism contributed to pedophiliac behavior in the priesthood and encouraged superiors to sweep the crimes under the carpet. The Pontiff in Winter brings John Paul's complex, contradictory character into sharp focus. In a bold, highly original work, John Cornwell argues that John Paul's mystical view of history and conviction that his mission has been divinely established are central to understanding his pontificate. Focusing on the period from the eve of the millennium to the present, Cornwell shows how John Paul's increasing sense of providential rightness profoundly influenced his reactions to turbulence in the secular world and within the Church, including the 9/11 attacks, the pedophilia scandals in the United States, the clash between Islam and Christianity, the ongoing debates over the Church's policies regarding women, homosexuals, abortion, AIDS, and other social issues, and much more. A close, trusted observer of the Vatican, Cornwell combines eyewitness reporting with information from the best sources in and outside the pope's inner circle. Always respectful of John Paul's prodigious spirit and unrelenting battles for human rights and religious freedom, Cornwell raises serious questions about a system that grants lifetime power to an individual vulnerable to the vicissitudes of aging and illness. The result is a moving, elegiac portrait of John Paul in the winter of his life and a thoughtful, incisive assessment of his legacy to the Church.

John Cornwell (Author), Graeme Malcolm (Narrator)

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In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart

Ruth Graham---third daughter of Billy Graham---has discovered through bitter personal experience that God does his great work in the ruins of our lives. As Ruth's life descended through divorce, depression, and shame; as she bore heartrending parental struggles; and as she faltered trying to make wise choices in the wake of bad ones, she discovered the unending embrace of a faithful, forgiving, and grace-filled God. This book surpasses the testimony of her fascinating story as she brings sharp new insight from the Word of God for all who fear their actions may be beyond forgiveness or their broken circumstances may keep them from being used by God ever again. Through the words of Jeremiah---the weeping prophet---Ruth reveals the God who makes wasted places come to life. The reader grasps the parable of the Prodigal Son as never before as Ruth discloses her own journey through that parable, first as the indignant older brother struggling to understand God's grace toward her husband's infidelity, then as the prodigal when her own actions bring deep shame and painful circumstances, and even in her role as the father, running to embrace her own children in the midst of bulimia, drug abuse, and unwed pregnancy. Finally, Ruth includes practical steps in every chapter anyone can take to offer care, support, and hope to the broken people they encounter in their lives and in the pews beside them every Sunday. The broken and those who love them will run with Ruth to the arms of the God they can trust, the Father God who embraces, sustains, and redeems.

Ruth Graham, Stacy Mattingly (Author), Ruth Graham (Narrator)

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The Pontiff in Winter: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II

John Cornwell (Author), John Lee (Narrator)

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The Wisdom of Forgiveness

This is the extraordinary documentation of the evolving friendship between the Dalai Lama and the man who followed him across Ireland and Eastern Europe, on a pilgrimage to India's holy sites, and through the Dalai Lama's near fatal illness. On this remarkable journey Victor Chan was awarded an insight into His Holiness-his life, his fears, his faith, his compassion, his day-to-day practice-that no one has reported before. We've heard the public voice of His Holiness--now we are invited to listen in on his personal explorations, and to take instruction on the Tibetan art of living.

Dalai Lama, H. H. Dalai Lama, Victor Chan (Author), Shishir Kurup, Victor Chan (Narrator)

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The Life of David Brainerd

Brainerd's spirit was on fire for God, on fire for souls. Nothing earthly, worldly, selfish came in to abate in the least the intensity of this all-impelling and all-consuming force and flame. — Edward M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer Though he was orphaned at age fourteen, repeatedly struck with debilitating illnesses, and unfairly expelled from college, Brainerd allowed nothing to deter him from serving God wholeheartedly. He traveled thousands of miles by horseback across treacherous terrain to preach the gospel to remote Indians. His calling required a rugged man—he even slept outside in the cold without cover—yet he constantly displayed a gentle and meek love for people entirely different from himself. Their benefit ultimately brought about his early death at the age of twenty-nine. Like an invigorating shower, the listener will be rejuvenated by Brainerd’s life-giving devotional insights, refreshing clarity of purpose, and heartwarming preaching. This book offers not only a captivating story, but an uplifting buoy for those who are weary, distant, or discouraged.

Jonathan Edwards (Author), Nick Cordileone (Narrator)

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St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography

Ireland's patron saint has long been shrouded in legend: he drove the snakes out of Ireland; he triumphed over Druids and their super-natural powers; he used a shamrock to explain the Christian mystery of the Trinity. But his true story is more fascinating than the myths. Late in the 4th century, Irish pirates captured a young, British citizen named Patricius from his parents' Roman villa. The boy was sold into slavery and sent to tend sheep in Ireland. After walking nearly 200 miles across bogs and mountains to the coast, he managed to escape on a ship full of pagan sailors, and returned home to the astonishment of his family. Patrick was destined for the privileged life of nobility but, when he experienced a profound religious awakening, he decided to become a priest and return to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. The Patrick who emerges is even more extraordinary than the patron saint of legend a passionate, courageous, and very human figure who exerted an incalculable impact on the course of Irish history. Freeman brilliantly reconstructs daily life in the British Isles during the last days of the Roman Empire, putting Patrick's achievements in context with the beliefs of the day.

Philip Freeman (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Religious & Inspirational Audiobooks in Fiction & Literature