In his third Heroes volume, Brennan Hill profiles eight improbable candidates for the great things they did: - Thomas Merton, at first glance, a party-going lady's man, becomes a Trappist monk and peace activist; - Helen Prejean, a quiet religious sister, befriends and advocates for the seemingly most monstrous among us--murderers on death row; - Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, a bookish, shy son of Italian immigrants, becomes one of the most outspoken prelates of our time; - Pedro Arrupe, a medical student then priest, survives nuclear holocaust and becomes a great Jesuit leader; - Jean Donovan, a Harley-riding businesswoman, turns missionary and is martyred; - Dorothy Stang, a religious sister and schoolteacher, champions the environment and loses her life doing so; - Maximilian Kolbe, a sickly, eccentric Franciscan, turns publisher and "warrior" for peace and dies in Auschwitz trading his life for a Jewish prisoner; - Karol Wojtyla, a young Polish actor whose election to pope makes him one of the most famous men on the world stage. These unlikely heroes saw great injustice, sorrow, and violence in the world and, in their own ways--some small, some universal--sought and created love, justice, peace, and hope for our time.

Describes the lives of biblical heroes, including Enoch, Joseph, Esther, and Jonah.

"It is evident after exploring these heroes' lives and writings that God remains a Mystery—a reality beyond images, descriptions, dogmas and creeds."—From the Epilogue How does a person imagine God? How does that image change as the person matures spiritually and undergoes a significant religious experience? What influences—political, social, gender, faith tradition—shape and change a person's view of God? In this compelling and inspiring book of biographical theology, Brennan Hill uses stories and historical and theological sources to tell us how eight modern religious heroes see God. Hill's religious heroes are diverse: a Hindu (Mahatma Gandhi), a Jewess who converted to Christianity (Edith Stein), a black Baptist minister (Martin Luther King, Jr.), a Catholic laywoman (Dorothy Day), a Salvadoran archbishop (Archbishop Oscar Romero), two Jesuit priests (Pierre Tielhard de Chardin and Daniel Berrigan) and a nun (Mother Teresa of Calcutta). Hill writes: "Many of my religious heroes lived out their faith in an outstanding manner. For all of these religious heroes God was often close at hand, deeply felt in the events of their lives, glimpsed in the people they met, pursuing them in their minds and hearts. God, as it were, came with many intriguing faces: as a God of truth, of the homeless and of the mountain. God came in the cosmos, as one beckoning to prophecy and as a fellow sufferer sharing the cross. Divinity appeared as the power of peace and in the poverty of the abandoned. Each one of us might now ask: What face has my God shown to me?"

Is it possible for broken, ill-equipped, faltering, or average people to merit God's highest commendation?For him to say they lived "by faith"? Yes, it is.In Unlikely Heroes: Ordinary People with Extraordinary Faith, Daniel R. Lockwood presents a cast of Old Testament characters from Hebrews 11-seriously flawed people with stories that teach us about genuine, biblical faith.Biblical insights, historical significance, and engaging storytelling carry readers across generations of faith into the adventure that is ours today, with guidance for traveling wisely and courageously. So strap on your dusty sandals, shoulder your trail-worn knapsack, pick up your reliable walking stick, and get ready to travel in the footsteps of some remarkably unremarkable individuals. You will meet people whom God himself calls faithful and discover they are people like us!

“Drawing on historical events, including King Olaf’s reign in Norway and the burning of Chartres Cathedral, Laxness revises and renews the bloody sagas of Icelandic tradition, producing not just a spectacular historical novel but one of coal-dark humor and psychological depth.” – Publishers Weekly First published in 1952, Halldór Laxness’s Wayward Heroes offers an unlikely representation of modern literature. A reworking of medieval Icelandic sagas, the novel is set against the backdrop of the medieval Norse world. Laxness satirizes the spirit of sagas, criticizing the global militarism and belligerent national posturing rampant in the postwar buildup to the Cold War. He does that through the novel’s main characters, the sworn brothers Þormóður Bessason and Þorgeir Hávarsson, warriors who blindly pursue ideals that lead to the imposition of power through violent means. The two see the world around them only through a veil of heroic illusion: kings are fit either to be praised in poetry or toppled from their thrones, other men only to kill or be killed, women only to be mythic fantasies. Replete with irony, absurdity, and pathos, the novel more than anything takes on the character of tragedy, as the sworn brothers’ quest to live out their ideals inevitably leaves them empty-handed and ruined.

Kensaro Hatanu’s soul was born the day his master handed him his first sword. Except Kensaro’s master did not hand him a sword to walk the path of the otana hanji, the sword saints of legend. His teacher handed Kensaro a broom. A broom to clean the monastery. While the other martial ascetics of Guai Lu practiced their physical and spiritual disciplines, Kensaro swept, mopped, and dusted, imagining he was slaying monsters, saving villagers, and meting out justice. Until the demons came and his broom was called to action. Master of the Flying Broom is a wuxia and xianxia-inspired noblebright martial arts fantasy of roughly 90,000 words.

“You don’t look like brothers . . .” Peace activist and cofounder of the Enough Project, John Prendergast is known as a champion of human rights in Africa. But the not-so-public face of J.P. is the life he’s led as a Big Brother to Michael Mattocks. As a curious, driven, and emotionally wounded twenty-year-old, J.P. made the life-changing decision to form a “Big Brother/Little Brother” relationship with then seven-year-old Michael, who was living out of plastic bags and drifting from one homeless shelter to the next with his mother and siblings. Lacking a connection with his own brother and distancing himself from a disastrous relationship with his father, J.P. formed a unique bond with Michael the moment they met. Michael and J.P. became like family, with Michael and some of his siblings even living with J.P. one summer. In the years that followed, J.P. took Michael and his brothers on outings, whether it was fishing, playing basketball, patronizing cheap restaurants, or going on road trips. This friendship would continue for over twenty-five years as the two coped with varying degrees of violence, instability, and trauma in their own lives. Told in duet, Unlikely Brothers follows Michael as he grows up on the tough streets of Washington, D.C., where as a young teenager he watched his best friend get shot, dropped out of school, and started dealing crack cocaine shortly thereafter. By sixteen, Michael had become the kingpin of his neighborhood, guns and drugs always close at hand. Meanwhile, J.P. was traveling to and from African war zones. J.P. offered Michael a refuge from the streets, never really confronting the gravity of what Michael was going through in his adolescence. In turn, Michael afforded J.P. an escape from his own turbulent personal and professional life. As the years go by, the two swoop in and out of each other’s lives, slowly disconnecting as they disappear into their respective worlds, but making their way back to each other at a critical moment for both of them. The effect the two have on each other is extremely significant to both of their paths to redemption. Inspirational and deeply moving, Unlikely Brothers beautifully showcases how life’s most random moments can often be the most profound.

“Flying, Falling, Catching is a beacon of hope. It reminds us that despite all the perils and sufferings that surround us, with which we often collide, we can find healing, peace, and awe even in the most unusual detours that life offers. A must read.” — Marina Nemat, Author of international best-seller Prisoner of Tehran "In Carolyn Whitney-Brown's deft hands, Henri’s intentions literally, vividly swing alive. This is a beautiful, moving story about interconnectivity, interdependence, and life's rich, beautiful, complicated pageant. I devoured it in a sitting.” — Lisa Napoli, Author of Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie Henri Nouwen’s real-life story of his surprising friendship with a traveling trapeze troupe. What will we do with our lives, and with whom will we do it? In this story of flying and catching, Nouwen invites us all to let go and fly, even when we are afraid of falling. During the last five years of his life, best-selling spiritual author Henri J. M. Nouwen became close to The Flying Rodleighs, a trapeze troupe in a traveling circus. Like Nouwen’s own life, a trapeze act is full of artistry, exhilarating successes, crushing failures and continual forgiveness. He wrote about his experience in a genre new to him: creative non-fiction. In Flying, Falling, Catching, Nouwen's colleague and friend Carolyn Whitney-Brown presents his unpublished trapeze writings framed by the true story of his rescue through a hotel window by paramedics during his first heart attack. Readers will meet Nouwen as a spiritual risk taker who was transformed through his engagement with these trapeze artists, as well as his participation in the Civil Rights movement, his life in community with people with intellectual disabilities, his personal growth through friendships during the 1990s AIDS pandemic, and other unexpected encounters.

As a wife, you are uniquely able to honor your husband in ways no one else can. Tragically, in today's culture, the idea of honor in the marriage relationship has been lost. It's a key reason so many marriages aren't what they could be. In Eight Ways to Honor Your Husband, author Marilynn Chadwick shares how you can show this special kind of love: become strong guard your home believe the best lighten his load build him up dream big together create a culture of honor As you honor your husband, you and he will both experience new heights of fulfillment and intimacy—and you'll show others how beautiful the husband-wife union can be when it follows God's design.

What is heaven on earth? The answer lies in this true story of one young man's journey to find hope and purpose with the help of an unlikely teacher--a compassionate and wise old nun, whom the world had long-forgotten. By the time Harvard-educated John Schlimm turned 31 years old, he had worked with some of the biggest superstars in Nashville and served under the most powerful people in the White House. But something was missing. His life had come to a standstill, lost in a whirl of questions about belonging, faith, rejection, and purpose. He soon decides to return to his small-town roots in search of a new beginning. Returning home, John meets 87-year-old Sister Augustine, the beguiling self-taught artist-in-residence at the ceramic shop on the sprawling grounds of the local 150-year-old convent. John is instantly bowled over by Sister's quiet grace and vision. Before long, his weekly visits to Sister's shop become a master's class in the meaning of life, love, humility, and second chances. As she directed him on the road to self-discovery and salvation, John returned the favor by putting Sister Augustine on the front page of newspapers and showing his friend that her life still had one very important and unexpected final chapter yet to go. In Five Years in Heaven, John shares the wisdom, humor, grace, and inspiration he experienced during his hundreds of visits with Sister Augustine. Five Years in Heaven reminds us that we can find love and joy in the most unlikely of places, and that the building blocks of peace and happiness are always within our reach.