Biography: religious and spiritual Books

Book SynopsisIn 1892 hunger, poverty and desolation were endemic in the area around Foxford in County Mayo in the aftermath of the great famine and the Land War. It was in this context that Agnes Morrogh-Bernard, a member of the Irish Sisters of Charity, achieved what many thought was impossible. She was a pioneering and visionary woman who, in a male dominated society, managed to establish the world famous Foxford Woollen Mills, which to this day provide an important source of employment to the surrounding area. This is her incredible story. She lived through a time spanning the 19th and early 20th centuries, 1842–1932, a time of strife and unrest, emigration and eviction. Into this mix, this woman brought hope where there was despair, light where there was darkness and joy where there was once sadness. She also had absolute trust in Providence, which was her bastion in this quest. Her story is a fascinating one, whether you are familiar with the area or not.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe so-called 'missing years of Jesus' - the 18 years that are unaccounted for in the Bible from when Jesus was a boy of 12 to his sudden reappearance at the age of 30. Archaeologist and classical scholar Dennis Price has investigated the clues in Blake's evocative poem 'Jerusalem' and has paid meticulous attention to the accounts in the ancient Aramaic and Greek versions of the Bible, and he's also conducted an exhaustive and unprecedented study into the myths and legends of Christ in Britain. With the assistance of specialists in their own fields and by viewing this enthralling subject as a modern missing person's investigation, Dennis Price has pieced together the various pieces of the jigsaw and now presents compelling and highly original evidence that Christ did indeed visit Britain in the company of Joseph of Arimathea 'in ancient times'. The weight of new material suggests that Christ remained in Britain for several years before eventually returning to his homeland in the east, and this truly extraordinary book now provides a wealth of new information for all those who are intensely curious about this otherwise undocumented period in the life of the most famous person the world's ever known. The implications are astonishing and they are presented here, in 'the greatest story never told'.Trade ReviewThis is a book I would recommend to everyone who is interested in archaeology and in the history of religion. -- - Colin Wilson, author and philosopher, one of the world's greatest living authorities on ancient mysteries.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'The View in Winter' is a timeless and moving study of the perplexities of living to a great age, as related by a wide range of men and women: miners, villagers, doctors, teachers, craftsmen, soldiers, priests, the widowed and long-retired. Their voices are set in the context of what literature, art, religion and medicine over the centuries have said about ageing. The result is an acclaimed and compelling reflection on an inevitable aspect of our human experience.Trade Review"True to form, this book is beautifully crafted. The perceptions of ageing gleaned from the aged themselves, illuminate the ageing process both sharply and eloquently. Interspersed with Ronald Blythe's own insights the narrative although grounded in earthly experience, touches the soul and lifts the spirit heavenward.(...) As the ultimate antidote to the plethora of accounts of celebrity lifestyles, this is an absolute must." -- Sue Harry Reader, St John's, Lakenham Norwich, Across the Sea, July/August 2005.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAlfred Hope Patten was a larger than life figure, terrifying to some, but determined to realise his vision of restoring the medieval shrine in the Norfolk countryside that had been closed at the Reformation. Colin Stephenson's account of his ambitious enterprise, his successes and failures (including a failed attempt to establish religious communities of men and women at Walsingham), his penchant for flamboyant clerical dress, his love of the Roman Church but his dislike of Roman Catholics, does not claim to be the last word in historical scholarship, but is a warm, engaging and entertaining account of one the highest achievements of Anglo-Catholicism in the last century and of one of its most colourful and controversial personalities.

Read more less

Book SynopsisUnhappy Child, troubled adolescent, dissatisfied wife, a woman at odds with convention. This was Elizabeth Fry, known to her family and friends as Betsy. in 1816, at the age of 36, when she had been a minister of the Society of Friends for five years, Betsy walked alone into the hell of Newgate Gaol. The transformation she wrought among it wretched female inhabitants propelled her onto the stage of world history. In the following years she transformed her generation's perception of offenders, and helped create a professional prison service. She was also a catalyst in the long struggle that eventually saw women achieving recognition in the world beyond family and home.Trade Review'A fine written and well-researched life of great British hero' Lord Baker of Dorking (Kenneth Baker)

Read more less