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If I close my eyes, it all comes back—my first trip, as a five-year-old, to the "big library" in Youngstown, Ohio. Holding Grandpa Mackin's hand, we walked downstairs to the children's floor where Harold's purple crayon, Babar and Celeste, Mike Mulligan, and Horton's Who awaited our arrival.

"Your turn, Grandpa."

Clutching my borrowed treasures, we climbed the stairs to the grownup floor where everything was bigger. The chairs were bigger, the bookshelves were bigger, and the books themselves—bigger!

Grandpa always seemed to choose thick books with someone's picture on the cover. Sometimes they had pictures inside, too—of more people! How interesting was that?

Many years later, I've learned just how interesting people and their life stories are. That's why Christian Reader decided to compile a list of the best Christian biographies/autobiographies of this past century. Here are the top twelve, as identified by our panel of judges.

And first place … is a tie.

In the late 1930s, the peaceful world they knew changed. When Germany occupied Holland, the ten Booms joined the Dutch underground in Haarlem, building a "hiding place" in their home for Jews. Arrested in 1944, Corrie and Betsie faced the worst consequences: Ravensbruck concentration camp. Only Corrie survived to carry on Betsie's wish, " … tell people what we have learned here … tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen … because we have been here." Until her own death on her 91st birthday in 1983, Corrie did just that.

From an early age, Lewis felt intermittent "stabs of joy"—unexplainable longings for something beyond this world. His introduction to that other world first came through the pages of George MacDonald's Phantases, followed by G. K. Chesterton's Everlasting Man. Within his circle of professional friends at Oxford and Cambridge, many were Christians whose faith and intelligence kept Lewis searching.

In 1929 Lewis became a theist. As the arrows of joy pierced his heart, he finally embraced Christianity: "Like a man, after a long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake."

Solzhenitsyn determined to tell his own story and those of 227 others who witnessed the horrifying realities of the Gulag—stories he had committed to memory during his imprisonment.

Colson's "religion" grew in Maxwell Federal Prison Camp where he was incarcerated after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice. In that environment, a new future began that would bring Colson back to prison voluntarily with Prison Fellowship Ministries. Today his dynamic vision is carried on in 83 countries and by more than 50,000 volunteers in the United States alone.

The subsequent years would be reminiscent of West Side Story, as Wilkerson obediently hit the streets armed with God's redemptive message to the gangs of New York. One leader, Nicky Cruz, topped Wilkerson's prayer list. His less than enthusiastic response after their first meeting—"You come near me, Preacher, I'll kill you"—fueled Wilkerson's zeal.

Cruz's life was turned around and Wilkerson's ministry, Teen Challenge, launched. Forty-two years later, Wilkerson pastors Manhattan's Times Square Church and Cruz continues to reach young people with God's love.

When initial air-dropped gifts and messages for the tribe disappeared, the men made bigger plans—a face-to-face meeting. At the base camp in January 1956, their five wives awaited news via ham radio. At the pre-scheduled time, the radio remained silent.

The next morning, another Missionary Aviation Fellowship pilot, Johnny Keenan, flew to investigate. His first report back "Johnny has found the plane … All the fabric is stripped off … There is no sign of the fellows" would impact not only the families, but the world. To this day, Life photographer Cornell Capa's black and white photographs hauntingly document the martyred missionaries' sacrifice.

But when the two moved to Oxford, England, their circle of friends had something the Vanaukens didn't: an invigorating faith in God.

Sheldon and Davy began to explore Christianity—a world they knew little about. In a year's time, they read 100 books written by Christians—C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, George MacDonald, George Herbert, Dorothy Sayers, and others. Davy quietly surrendered her heart to Christ. Wrestling with the truth, Sheldon boldly wrote Lewis for help in understanding this "leap of faith."

Through their subsequent correspondence, Sheldon, too, met the divine Lover, a relationship that would sustain him when his beloved Davy died unexpectedly. A beautiful story of human and Divine love.

Born in France in 1915 to artists, Merton's path took him to Clare College (Cambridge University) in England, before transferring to Columbia College in New York. It became clear to all who knew him that Merton embraced life fully and wrote about it brilliantly.

In 1938, on a Hindu monk's recommendation, the young self-proclaimed atheist read two books: St. Augustine's Confessions and The Imitation of Christ. The books propelled Merton to faith and a desire to give all of himself to God. Briefly teaching English literature at St. Bonaventure University, Merton entered Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky, in 1941. There, a wise Father Abbot did not silence Merton's written words, assuring a prolific legacy of spiritual insights until his accidental death in 1968.

"Oliver was on his back in bed for 32 years, in the same corner of his room, under the same window. He was blind, mute. His legs were twisted. He didn't have the strength to lift his head or the intelligence to learn anything. I guess you could call him a vegetable. I called him Oliver, my brother. You would have loved him."

Thus begins a brother's scrapbook memories that started with a simple story of his severely handicapped brother and his family's enduring love. The response to the Reader's Digest article was overwhelming; de Vinck interweaves letters with his own reflections. Fittingly, Oliver's tombstone is inscribed, "Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God."

And so they did—on screen and in the 1971 written account of that "journey into compassion": Something Beautiful for God. The accompanying black and white photographs personify the commandments to love God and neighbor—commandments Mother Teresa attempted to embody every day of her life.

Martin's details of Graham's fifty-some years preaching God's Word to millions is a fascinating trip through evangelical Christianity's history. From crack Fuller Brush salesman in North and South Carolina (he prayed before knocking), Graham polished his oratory while immersing himself in the Bible. It's quintessential Billy: Bible in one hand, the other hand free to drive home the truth.

With God at his side, Billy preached his simple message wherever a door was opened—politically correct or not. His critics are hard-pressed to argue with his fervor.

When Luther questioned the practice of selling indulgences (certificates indicating forgiveness of sin), the church reacted. But Luther immersed himself in Scripture, and his theology gained muscle.

He argued that all Christians were priests, he reduced the seven sacraments to baptism and the Lord's Supper, and he told Christians they were free from the law, while they were bound in love to their neighbors.

Excommunicated and condemned as a heretic in 1521, Luther was "kidnapped" for safekeeping in Wartburg Castle. There he translated the New Testament into German. His teaching and the movement he launched changed the religious landscape forever.

A Christian Reader original article.

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
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