Seekers Books-Trials and Suffering

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs John Foxe
First published in 1563, this is the definitive volume of early Christian Martyrs. Beginning with the persecution of Jesus and continuing through William Tyndale, John Hus, Martin Luther and others. This is essential reading to fully grasp Christian history.

The Cost of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran Pastor living in America. As the Nazi party came into power in Germany, he became an outspoken critic. While others in the church were accommodating the regime, Dietrich returned to Germany to continue his criticism. He was arrested in 1943 and was linked to an underground group that attempted the assassination of Hitler. He was hanged by the Nazi’s in 1945. He contrasted “Cheap Grace” or grace without discipleship, with “Costly Grace”, that which Christ demands when we begin to truly follow Him.

Revelations of Devine Love Julian of Norwich
Widely considered to be the first female English writer. Desiring to more perfectly experience God’s grace, Julian made three requests of God. First, to vividly perceive Christ’s Passion, to experience a bodily sickness and for God to give her three wounds. After her thirtieth birthday God granted her wish. Falling seriously ill and convinced her death was emanant, she experienced a series of “Showings” or revelations from God. She spent the rest of her life writing about and pondering the sixteen showings.

The Hiding Place* Corrie Ten Boom
An absolute classic read by millions. Corrie became a leader in the Dutch resistance during World War II before capture and being sent to a Nazi death camp. She and her sister Betsie, whom Corrie identifies as the true heroin, continued to witness Christ under the worst possible conditions. Of her family, only Corrie survived. She went on to become one of the world’s best known and best loved evangelist.

A Grief Observed C. S. Lewis
For some, me included, this book can be unsettling. The first half is painful to read. Lewis married later in life to an American poet who was in remission from cancer. After a few joyous and blissful years, Joy’s cancer returned and she died. A Grief Observed is Lewis’s attempt to regain his faith after loosing all meaning. He wrote, “Nothing will shake a man…out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover himself.” May not be for the faint-heart.

The Spanish Inquisition Henry Kamen
A thorough exposition of the causes, processes and outcomes of the inquisition. There is a great deal of myth and false information about this phase of history. Indeed, the largest auto-de-fe’ actually took place in Mexico. Kamen provides fact based and thoroughly documented information about this highly volatile period. It may be a little academic at times but well worth the effort for those seeking truth among the legends. Near the end Kamen leaves us with this chilling quote:

“ Even today in the twenty first century other nations have had and continue to have their Inquisitions: the human condition is subject to frailties that are not limited to any one people or faith and that regularly reverse the gains made in previous generations by “progress.”

Tortured for Christ Richard Wurmbrand
Wurmbrand was a Romanian Lutheran Pastor when the communists invaded Romania in 1944. He became a significant participant in the underground church, holding secret services and smuggling Christian materials into the country. We was eventually arrested and served a total of 15 years in Soviet torture prisons for his faith. His wife was also imprisoned and tortured for her faith. He was “ransomed” in 1965 and despite Soviet Secret Police threats, went on to be a vocal opponent of communism and vocal proponent of the underground church. He chides the church in the west for its inaction.