29 Christian Biographies You Need to Read
By Jeff Cranston
I have found more help spiritually by reading the biographies of godly men and women than from any other source outside of the Bible itself. None of the people were perfect, of course, but all of them have shown me in practical ways what it means to walk in the truth of God’s Word.
We should read biographies because worthy portraits of our fellow human beings help us to make sense of the world and our Christian faith.
As Benjamin Disraeli, a famous author as well as Queen Victoria's favorite Prime Minister, once remarked, biography is "life without theory." In other words, at their best, biographies take us into the real lives of real persons as they really lived.
I highly recommend that you read about the lives of these great saints from the past:
D.L. Moody
The Life of Dwight L. Moody: The Official Authorized Edition by his son William
D.L. Moody: A Life: Innovator, Evangelist, World Changer
Catherine Booth
Catherine Booth: A Biography of the Cofounder of the Salvation Army
Elisabeth Eliot
David Brainerd
Diary & Journal of David Brainerd
The Life and Diary of David Brainerd: With Notes and Reflections
Corrie ten Boom
George Müller
The Autobiography of George Müller
Augustine of Hippo
The Confessions of Saint Augustine
Martin Luther
Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World
Martin Luther: A Life Inspired
Katie Luther
Katie Luther, First Lady of the Reformation: The Unconventional Life of Katharina von Bora
Luther and His Katie: The Influence of Luther's Wife on his Ministry
William Tyndale
The Obedience of a Christian Man
George Whitefield
George Whitefield: America's Spiritual Founding Father
George Whitefield: God’s Anointed Servant in the Great Revival of the Eighteenth Century
Fanny J. Crosby
Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby
Adoniram Judson
Adoniram Judson: Devoted for Life (History Maker)
Saint Francis of Assisi
Robert Murray
The Biography of Robert Murray
C.S. Lewis
A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C. S. Lewis
Jeff Cranston is lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, S.C.