Best Books on Biographies
Reformed biographies retell the lives of the preachers, theologians, and reformers God used to build His church, showing how doctrine and character were forged under trial. They ground abstract theology in real history and give the reader models of gospel-shaped living. Read from a Reformed perspective, they highlight God's sovereign providence in raising up and sustaining His servants.
Start Here
basic
Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
Top pickEric Metaxas · 2007
A gripping, widely read account of a Christian's decades-long fight to abolish the slave trade.
John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace
Jonathan Aitken · 2007
Traces the slave trader turned hymn writer and pastor, ideal for readers new to Reformed biography.
Spurgeon: A New Biography
Arnold Dallimore · 1985
A one-volume, easy-reading introduction to the Prince of Preachers by a master biographer.
George Muller: Delighted in God
Roger Steer · 2008
An accessible life of the orphanage founder famed for radical, prayer-fueled dependence on God.
Go Deeper
intermediate
George Whitefield: America's Spiritual Founding Father
Top pickThomas S. Kidd · 2016
A balanced, well-researched narrative of the itinerant evangelist of the Great Awakening.
The Forgotten Spurgeon
Iain Murray · 1966
Traces Spurgeon's theological battles, especially the Down-Grade Controversy, in more depth.
John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life
Herman J. Selderhuis · 2009
Portrays Calvin through the roles of exile, pastor, and sufferer rather than as a marble statue.
The Life and Diary of David Brainerd
Jonathan Edwards · 1749
The classic missionary diary that has stirred missions-minded readers for over 250 years.
For Study
advanced
Jonathan Edwards: A Life
Top pickGeorge M. Marsden · 2003
The definitive, award-winning scholarly biography of America's greatest theologian.
Calvin
Bruce Gordon · 2011
A rigorous academic portrait of Calvin's complexity, set against the sixteenth-century Reformation.
William Tyndale: A Biography
David Daniell · 2001
The major scholarly life of the martyr whose English Bible shaped the Reformation and the KJV.
John Owen and English Puritanism: Experiences of Defeat
Crawford Gribben · 2016
An academic reassessment of Owen's life and theology through the lens of political and personal failure.
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A tiered reading guide of the best books on Biographies.