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

Journey With David Brainerd

Catherine Booth

Catherine Booth: A Biography of the Cofounder of the Salvation Army

Elisabeth Eliot

Through Gates of Splendor

David Brainerd

Diary & Journal of David Brainerd

The Life and Diary of David Brainerd: With Notes and Reflections

Journey With David Brainerd

 Corrie ten Boom

The Hiding Place

Tramp for the Lord

George Müller

The Autobiography of George Müller

Augustine of Hippo

The Confessions of Saint Augustine

Augustine of Hippo

Martin Luther

Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World

Martin Luther: A Life Inspired

Here I Stand

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

William Tyndale: A Biography 

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

Fanny Crosby's Life Story: Autobiography of a Christian Poet, Lyricist and Mission Worker Blind from Infancy

Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby

Adoniram Judson

Adoniram Judson: A Bicentennial Appreciation of the Pioneer American Missionary (Studies in Baptist Life and Thought)

Adoniram Judson: Devoted for Life (History Maker)

Saint Francis of Assisi

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.