Walter Wangerin Jr.

An intimate portrait of a complex individual through whom God was at work, turning the world upside down. With vivid imagination and scholarly depth, award-winning author Walter Wangerin Jr. weaves together the history of the early church with the life story of its greatest apostle--Paul. Wangerin begins to unfold Paul's incredible life by imagining the childhood and early family life of a boy then called "Saul." A fierce prosecutor of Christians before his conversion, Paul never lost his fiery dedication, boldness, and strong personality. After his shocking encounter with God on the road to Damascus, he applied his formidable strengths to spreading the gospel. Wangerin deftly reveals Paul's character through each stage of his life, and enables us to see Paul the person, living and complex, viewed through the eyes of his contemporaries: Barnabas, James, Prisca, Seneca, and Luke. Paul's rich interaction and brilliant dialogue with friends and foes, leaders and slaves, Jews and Greeks, creates a swift and intense historical drama around the man who spread the seed of the Gospel to the ends of the known world.

From master storyteller Walter Wangerin, Jr. comes this familiar biblical saga told in a fresh, transfixing way. Melding historical accuracy with imaginative detail, Wangerin uses the biblical books of Judges and Ruth to explore themes of love, faith, grief and community set against a backdrop of war and political instability.The widow Naomi grieves the deaths of her two adult sons after the shocking murder of a beloved adopted daughter, while pondering her responsibilities toward her Moabite daughters-in-law. Ancient Israel is in chaos. When her daughter-in-law, Ruth, begs to return to Israel with Naomi, events are set in motion that will change the course of history.In the tradition of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent and Elissa Elliott's Eve: A Novel of the First Woman, Wangerin imbues his tale with strong female characters and an earthy realism that gives the timeless Old Testament narrative so much power. You'll find echoes of contemporary issues throughout: deceit, heartbreak, loss, war, and, of course, the power of love. Naomi's combined strength and tenderness becomes the pivot upon which a nation turns; her decisions ultimately lead to the founding of the family lineage of Jesus Christ.Breathtaking descriptions, shocking violence, and inspirational courage make this spellbinding novel by a beloved award-winning author a story you won't soon forget. It's the perfect novel for your book group, and a satisfying read for those who love thoughtful biblical fiction.

Acts of the Almighty by beloved, National Book Award-winning author Walter Wangerin Jr. carries us sequentially through the sweep of the Bible's story in daily devotional readings.One of the greatest modern writers on faith and spirituality, Walter Wangerin Jr. is the author of more than forty books - including The Book of God and The Book of the Dun Cow - and the recipient of the National Book Award. In Acts of the Almighty, Wangerin's deep biblical insight and poetic heart help us explore how the Bible fits together into one grand story.This 365-day devotional invites us to understand more fully God's redeeming works through five sections: Genesis and Exodus, David and Solomon, the prophets, the life of Christ, and the birth of the Church. The short, daily readings capture Wangerin's signature voice as well as his profound wisdom. Each dated entry contains a biblical passage that focuses on a single moment from the Bible's epic story, a brief meditation from Wangerin, and a prayer.Sink deep into this unique devotional that takes you through the Bible in one year. Acts of the Almighty offers a beautiful opportunity to read the Bible's expansive and arresting story in a brand-new way.

With eloquence and beauty, the award-winning author of Book of the Dun Cow, The Book of God, and Paul: A Novel turns his pen to history’s most compelling figure: Jesus of Nazareth. In vibrant language, Walter Wangerin Jr. sweeps away centuries of tradition and reveals a man of flesh-and-heart immediacy. Passionate, intelligent, and irresistibly real, this is a Jesus pulsing with life who will captivate you as thoroughly as he did the men and women who walked with him across Galilee’s golden countryside. Days of centuries past become today, lit with bright colors of the imagination. Wangerin shows you Jesus through the eyes of the two people who were with him at very the foot of the cross, the two who knew and loved him best: John the apostle, and Jesus’ beloved mother, Mary. . . . Angels in legions sang when you were born, my beautiful Yeshi! At midnight they poured down from the heavens, every one a whirling star, ten thousand voices in a skyborne choir. “Glory,” they sang, and I felt the bedrock tremble. You popped your eyes open. You peered around, seeking the source of the music and waving your hands as if to catch the stars in them! Here is a magnum opus of image and emotion: Jesus bringing his father the sacrificial lamb in Jerusalem’s temple . . . Mary desperately searching for her son in the wind-lashed rain . . . the cry of gratitude from a leper’s lips . . . the loving intimacy of Jesus in prayer . . . the fury of religious leaders . . . the agony of an iron crucifixion spike piercing human sinew . . . Loving son, intimate friend, and brilliant teacher, tender in heart, fierce in anger, wholehearted in joy and in grief, deeply human yet unmistakably divine—this is the Jesus who lives and breathes in these pages. The Jesus of the Bible, revealing God’s heart in the midst of time and culture.

A new and updated edition of this classic collection. This volume of stories, essays, prayers, and poems portrays children and adults as they grapple with the deep realities of life. This new, updated edition contains twelve new stories.

A trustworthy guide to an intimate and refreshing relationship with God Award-winning author Walter Wangerin Jr. gracefully explores the dynamics of prayer--of speaking, of listening, of waiting, and of hearing God’s voice. With luminous prose, he surveys the landscape of communication with God--what prayer feels like, looks like, and sounds like. He points out that whole prayer is a circle, closed and complete. We pour out our hearts and minds to God, who listens as we do. Then we listen intently for his voice when he speaks. Wangerin encourages readers not to eliminate any part of the circle so we don’t cut the conversation short.

Most books on marriage offer ten easy steps and twenty-five proven principles for achieving marital bliss. But Walter Wangerin side-steps such easy answers and offers us instead an intimate portrait of his own courtship and thirty-two year marriage-and a pastoral view of married life that inspires readers to view their own marriages with new honesty and hope. Wangerin's six tasks of marriage encourages couples to better understand and happily live out the vows they made, giving them tools to nurture and maintain a strong marital relationship. In his endorsement, Philip Yancey accurately describes this book as "an enduring classic and a book of wisdom, beauty, compassion, and piercing honesty."

Experience the Bible as a singular, powerful story and prepare to be swept away by Scripture as never before Wangerin's "Bible storybook for adults" features brilliant settings, dramatized scenes, and added dialogue--all gleaned from extensive research.The Book of God reads like a novel, dramatizing the sweep of biblical events, bringing to life the men and women of this ancient book in vivid detail and dialogue. From Abraham wandering in the desert to Jesus teaching the multitudes on a Judean hillside, this award-winning bestseller follows the biblical story from start to finish.Priests and kings, apostles and prophets, common folk and charismatic leaders--individual stories offer glimpses into an unfolding revelation that reaches across the centuries to touch us today. The Book of God: Follows the biblical story in chronological orderFilled with carefully researched cultural and historical background Includes biblical events viewed through the eyes of minor charactersMaster storyteller Walter Wangerin Jr. shares the story of the Bible from beginning to end as you've never read it before, retold with exciting detail and passionate energy. Experience the Bible in a beautiful new way

"Death doesn't wait till the ends of our lives to meet us and to make an end," says Walter Wangerin. "Instead, we die a hundred times before we die; and all the little endings on the way are like a slowly growing echo of the final BANG!" Yet out of our many losses, our "little deaths," comes a truer recognition of life. It is found in our relationships with ourselves, with our world, with others, and with our Creator. This is the dancing that can come out of mourning: the hope of restored relationships. Mourning into Dancing defines the stages of grief, names the many kinds of loss we suffer, shows how to help the grief-stricken, gives a new vision of Christ's sacrifice, and shows how a loving God shares our grief. We learn from this book that the way to dancing is through the valley of mourning--that grief is a poignant reminder of the fullness of life Christ obtained for us through his resurrection. In the words of writer and critic John Timmerman, Mourning into Dancing "could well be the most important book you ever read."

No story has more significance than this: the death and resurrection of Jesus. But somehow the oft-repeated tale of Christ’s passion can become too familiar, too formalized, for us to experience its incredible immediacy. The meditations in Reliving the Passion, which received a Gold Medallion Award in 1993, follow the story as given in the gospel of Mark—from the moment when the chief priests plot to kill Jesus to the Resurrection. But these readings are more than a recounting of events; they are an imaginary reenactment, leading the reader to re-experience the Passion or perhaps see it fully for the very first time. As only a great storyteller can, Walter Wangerin enables the reader to see the story from the inside, to discover the strangeness and wonder of the events as they unfold. It’s like being there. In vivid images and richly personal detail, Wangerin helps us recognize our own faces on the streets of Jerusalem; breathe the dark and heavy air of Golgotha; and experience, as Mary and Peter did, the bewilderment, the challenge, and the ultimate revelation of knowing the man called Jesus. “The story gets personal for every reader,” writes Wangerin, “for this is indeed our story, the story whereby we personally have been saved from such a death as Jesus died. “No, there is not another tale in the world more meaningful than this—here is where we all take our stands against sin and death and Satan, upon this historical, historic event. I consider it a holy privilege to participate in it retelling. “Read this book slowly. Read it with a seeing faith. Walk the way with Jesus. We, his followers of later centuries, do follow even now. Read, walk, come, sigh, live. Live! Rise again!”

Estas emotivas narraciones, algunas divertidas y otras dolorosas, siempre toman giros inesperados para encontrarnos a Dios en todos los caminos de la vida. Ahí se cifra la gracia que nos permite vivir con las respuestas que vemos y las que no. En esta colección nos encontraremos con Arthur Bias, el policía negro retirado que ama a los que odian; a Agnes Brill, la estridente maestra de piano de paciencia; Junie Piper, amorosa con las personas sin hogar; Melvin, quien honra a su anciana madre honrando a la niña en la que se ha convertido; Lucian, el amante de los ladrones; y Blue Jack, el instrumento de Dios.Los lectores descubrirán en estas historias una poderosa demostración del trabajo de Dios en la vida de todos nosotros. Encontrarán un lugar donde trabajarán incluso en la oscuridad, incluso en las luchas, incluso en las heridas. Este es el lugar donde entra la luz de Dios.Wounds Are Where Light EntersMany know the acclaimed author Walter Wangerin Jr., the storyteller who gave us the national bestseller The Book of the Dun Cow.In Wounds Are Where Light Enters, you’ll see how God’s love breaks into our lonely moments in unexplainable ways. Wangerin tells the stories of memorable characters facing the same struggles we all face as we try to trust in God’s faithfulness.Wounds Are Where Light Enters is a collection of stories that are warm, sometimes funny, sometimes not, but always taking unexpected turns to find the care of God in all the pathways of life. In them we find the grace that enables us to live with the answers we see and the answers we don’t see. In this collection we meet Arthur Bias, the retired black police officer who loves those who hate; Agnes Brill, the shrill piano teacher of patience; Junie Piper, precious of the homeless; Melvin, who honors his aging mother by honoring the little girl she has become; Lucian, the lover of thieves; and Blue Jack, the hammer of God.Readers will discover in these stories a powerful display of God’s working in the lives of all of us. They’ll find a place where he works even in the dark, even in the struggles, even in the wounds. This is the place where God’s light enters.