Bob Souer has narrated 145 audiobooks on Listento.it by 144 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 4,519 ratings. The most-rated is Too Much and Never Enough.
Heaven on Earth
Summary
Socialism was man's most ambitious attempt to supplant religion with a doctrine claiming to ground itself in "science". Each failure to create societies of abundance or give birth to "the New Man" inspired more searching for the path to the promised land: revolution, communes, social democracy, communism, fascism, Arab socialism, African socialism. None worked, and some exacted a staggering human toll. Then, after two centuries of wishful thinking and bitter disappointment, socialism imploded in a fin de siecle drama of falling walls and collapsing regimes. It was an astonishing denouement but what followed was no less astonishing. After the hiatus of a couple of decades, new voices were raised, as if innocent of all that had come before, proposing to try it all over again. Joshua Muravchik traces the pursuit of this phantasm, presenting sketches of the thinkers and leaders who developed the theory, led it to power, and presided over its collapse, as well as those who are trying to revive it today. Heaven on Earth is a story filled with character and event which at the same time gives us an epic chronicle of a movement that tried to turn the world upside down - and for a time succeeded.
©2002, 2003, 2019 Joshua Muravchik (P)2019 Tantor
Wisdom from Babylon
Summary
What does it mean to provide leadership for the church in an increasingly secular context? When religion is privatized and secularism reigns in the public square, Christians are often drawn toward either individualist escapism or constant cultural warfare. But might this context instead offer a fresh invitation for the church to adapt and thrive? Gordon Smith is passionate about the need for capable, mature leaders to navigate and respond to a changing society. In this book, he draws on his extensive experience as a university president, pastor, and international speaker to open a multidisciplinary conversation about the competencies and capacities essential for today's leaders. After analyzing the phenomenon of secularization in the West and charting common Christian responses, Smith introduces four sources of wisdom to help guide us through this new terrain: the people and prophets of Judah during the Babylonian exile, the early church in its pagan environment, contemporary churches across the Global South, and Christian thinkers in post-Christian Europe. From these resources he identifies practices and strategies that can give shape to faithful, alternate communities in such a time as this.
©2020 Gordon T. Smith (P)2020 eChristian
Our Grandchildren, Redesigned
Summary
A panoramic overview of biotechnologies that can endlessly boost human capabilities and the drastic changes these "superhuman" traits could trigger. Biotechnology is moving fast. In the coming decades, advanced pharmaceuticals, bioelectronics, and genetic interventions will be used not only to heal the sick but to boost human physical and mental performance to unprecedented levels. People will have access to pills that make them stronger and faster, informatic devices will interface seamlessly with the human brain, and epigenetic modification may allow people to reshape their own physical and mental identities at will. Until recently such major technological watersheds - like the development of metal tools or the industrialization of manufacturing - came about incrementally over centuries or longer. People and social systems had time to adapt: They gradually developed new values, norms, and habits to accommodate the transformed material conditions. But contemporary society is dangerously unprepared for the dramatic changes it is about to experience down this road on which it is already advancing at an accelerating pace. The results will no doubt be mixed. People will live longer, healthier lives, will fine-tune their own thought processes, and will generate staggeringly complex and subtle forms of knowledge and insight. But these technologies also threaten to widen the rift between rich and poor, to generate new forms of social and economic division, and to force people to engage in constant cycles of upgrades and boosts merely to keep up. Individuals who boost their traits beyond a certain threshold may acquire such extreme capabilities that they will no longer be recognized as unambiguously human. In this important and timely book, prize-winning historian Michael Bess provides a clear, nontechnical overview of cutting-edge biotechnology and paints a vivid portrait of a near-future society in which bioenhancement has become a part of everyday life. He surveys the ethical questions raised by the enhancement enterprise and explores the space for human agency in dealing with the challenges that these technologies will present. Headed your way over the coming decades: new biotechnologies that can powerfully alter your body and mind.
©2015 Michael Bess (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
John Adams: A Life
Summary
John Ferling has nearly 40 years of experience as a historian of early America. The author of acclaimed histories such as A Leap into the Dark and Almost a Miracle, he has appeared on many TV and film documentaries on this pivotal period of our history. In John Adams: A Life, Ferling offers a compelling portrait of one of the giants of the Revolutionary era. Drawing on extensive research, Ferling depicts a reluctant revolutionary, a leader who was deeply troubled by the warfare that he helped to make, and a fiercely independent statesman. The book brings to life an exciting time, an age in which Adams played an important political and intellectual role. Indeed, few were more instrumental in making American independence a reality. He performed yeoman's service in the Continental Congress during the revolution and was a key figure in negotiating the treaty that brought peace following the long War of Independence. He held the highest office in the land, and as president, he courageously chose to pursue a course that he thought best for the nation, though it was fraught with personal political dangers. Adams emerges here a man full of contradictions. He could be petty and jealous, but also meditative, insightful, and provocative. In private and with friends, he could be engagingly witty. He was terribly self-centered, but in his relationship with his wife and children, his shortcomings were tempered by a deep, abiding love. John Ferling's masterful John Adams: A Life is a singular biography of the man who succeeded George Washington in the presidency and shepherded the fragile new nation through the most dangerous of times.
©1992 The University of Tennessee Press (P)2018 Tantor
The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes
Summary
In a time of political turmoil and religious upheaval, Richard Sibbes sought to consistently apply the riches of Reformation theology to his hearers' lives. He emphasized the security of God's covenant, the call for assurance of salvation, and the place of the heart in the Christian life. In The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes, Dr. Mark Dever gives listeners a penetrating look into the life and theology of this fascinating figure.
©2018 eChristian (P)2019 eChristian
1777
Summary
In the autumn of 1777, near Saratoga, New York, an inexperienced and improvised American army led by General Horatio Gates faced off against the highly trained British and German forces led by General John Burgoyne. The British strategy in confronting the Americans in upstate New York was to separate rebellious New England from the other colonies. Despite inferior organization and training, the Americans exploited access to fresh reinforcements of men and materiel and ultimately handed the British a stunning defeat. Assimilating the archaeological remains from the battlefield along with the many letters, journals, and memoirs of the men and women in both camps, Dean Snow's 1777 provides a richly detailed narrative of the two battles fought at Saratoga over the course of 33 tense and bloody days. While the contrasting personalities of Gates and Burgoyne are well known, they are but two of the many actors who make up the larger drama of Saratoga. Snow highlights famous and obscure participants alike, from the brave but now notorious turncoat Benedict Arnold to Frederika von Riedesel, the wife of a British major general who later wrote an important eyewitness account of the battles.
©2016 Oxford University Press (P)2017 Tantor
The Trials of Thomas Morton
Summary
A new look at Thomas Morton, his controversial colonial philosophy, and his lengthy feud with the Puritans. Adding new depth to our understanding of early New England society, this riveting account of Thomas Morton explores the tensions that arose from competing colonial visions. A lawyer and fur trader, Thomas Morton dreamed of a society where Algonquian peoples and English colonists could coexist. Infamous for dancing around a maypole in defiance of his Pilgrim neighbors, Morton was reviled by the Puritans for selling guns to the Natives. Colonial authorities exiled him three separate times from New England, but Morton kept returning to fight for his beliefs. This compelling counter-narrative to the familiar story of the Puritans combines a rich understanding of the period with a close reading of early texts to bring the contentious Morton to life. This volume sheds new light on the tumultuous formative decades of the American experience.
©2019 Peter C. Mancall (P)2019 Tantor
The Lost Prince
Summary
Pat Conroy was America's poet laureate of family dysfunction. A larger-than-life character and the author of such classics as The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, Conroy was remembered by everybody for his energy, his exuberance, and his self-lacerating humor. Michael Mewshaw's The Lost Prince is an intimate memoir of his friendship with Pat Conroy, one that involves their families and those days in Rome when they were both young - when Conroy went from being a popular regional writer to an internationally best-selling author. Family snapshots beautifully illustrate that time. Shortly before his 49th birthday, Conroy telephoned Mewshaw to ask a terrible favor. With great reluctance, Mewshaw did as he was asked - and never saw Pat Conroy again. Although they never managed to reconcile their differences completely, Conroy later urged Mewshaw to write about "me and you and what happened... i know it would cause much pain to both of us. but here is what that story has that none of your others have." The Lost Prince is Mewshaw's fulfillment of a promise.
©2019 Michael Mewshaw (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
The Art of Rivalry
Summary
Rivalry is at the heart of some of the most famous and fruitful relationships in history. The Art of Rivalry follows eight celebrated artists, each linked to a counterpart by friendship, admiration, envy, and ambition. All eight are household names today. But to achieve what they did, each needed the influence of a contemporary - one who was equally ambitious but who possessed sharply contrasting strengths and weaknesses. Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas were close associates whose personal bond frayed after Degas painted a portrait of Manet and his wife. Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso swapped paintings, ideas, and influences as they jostled for the support of collectors like Leo and Gertrude Stein and vied for the leadership of a new avant-garde. Jackson Pollock's uninhibited style of "action painting" triggered a breakthrough in the work of his older rival, Willem de Kooning. Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon met in the early 1950s, when Bacon was being hailed as Britain's most exciting new painter and Freud was working in relative obscurity. Their intense but asymmetrical friendship came to a head when Freud painted a portrait of Bacon, which was later stolen.
©2016 Sebastian Smee (P)2016 Tantor
The Hum of Angels
Summary
Would you recognize an angel if you saw one? The majority of earth's inhabitants believe in angels. Yet so few of us can claim to have seen one. Why? Perhaps it's because in order to encounter one, we first have to learn what to look for and how to look! We live in a world where the natural and supernatural overlap. Angels are constantly on a mission from God and constantly at work in this world. From the Garden of Eden to the book of Revelation, Scripture is filled with hundreds of references to these wondrous creatures. In this creative work, Scot McKnight explores what the Bible says - and doesn't say - about these majestic beings. And that's deeply important because angels are still on a mission today. They express God's love, confirm his presence, and even lead humans in redemptive worship. Don't just believe in angels. Learn how to recognize these messengers of God that are all around us, and know how God might be using them to affect our lives. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 WaterBrook (P)2017 Oasis Audio
The Treasury of David, Vol. 2
Summary
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, often regarded as the greatest preacher of the 19th century, crafted The Treasury of David over the span of nearly half his ministry. Concise and provocative, Spurgeon's magnum opus on the Psalms has been prized by Christians ever since. Available for the first time in unabridged audio, this collection features Spurgeon's crucial commentary on Psalms 37-74.
Public Domain (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully
Summary
Herbert - Whitefield - Lewis In the sixth volume of the Swans Are Not Silent series, John Piper celebrates the importance of poetic effort by looking at three influential Christians whose words magnificently display a commitment to truth and a love of beauty. Examining the lives of George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis, Piper helps us appreciate the importance of carefully crafted words by exploring how Christians can use them to testify to God's glory, wonder at his grace, and rejoice in his salvation. Whether exploring Herbert's moving poetry, Whitefield's dramatic preaching, or Lewis's imaginative writing, this book highlights the importance of Christ-exalting eloquence in our praise of God and proclamation of his gospel.
©2019 John Piper (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing
None Other
Summary
The Bible's teaching on God's love, holiness, and sovereignty is often met with questions about human responsibility, suffering, and evil. If God is in control of everything, can we make free choices? If God is good and all-powerful, how can we account for natural disasters and moral atrocities? Answers to these questions are often filled with technical jargon and personal assumptions that don't take into account the full scope of biblical truth. In None Other: Discovering the God of the Bible, Dr. John MacArthur shows that the best way to discover the one true God is not through philosophical discourse but a careful study of Scripture - the primary place where God has chosen to reveal himself.
©2017 eChristian (P)2017 eChristian
Emerging Gender Identities
Summary
This book offers a measured Christian response to the diverse gender identities that are being embraced by an increasing number of adolescents. Mark Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky offer an honest, scientifically informed, compassionate, and nuanced treatment for all listeners who care about or work with gender-diverse youth: pastors, church leaders, parents, family members, youth workers, and counselors. Yarhouse and Sadusky help listeners distinguish between current mental-health concerns, such as gender dysphoria, and the emerging gender identities that some young people turn to for a sense of identity and community. Based on the authors' significant clinical and ministry experience, this book casts a vision for practically engaging and ministering to teens navigating diverse gender-identity concerns. It also equips listeners to critically engage gender theory based on a Christian view of sex and gender.
©2020 Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky (P)2020 eChristian
The Treasury of David, Vol. 1
Summary
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, often regarded as the greatest preacher of the 19th century, crafted The Treasury of David over the span of nearly half his ministry. Concise and provocative, Spurgeon's magnum opus on the Psalms has been prized by Christians ever since. Available for the first time in unabridged audio, this collection features Spurgeon's crucial commentary on Psalms 1 - 36.
Public Domain (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Hope for This Present Crisis
Summary
Is it possible our world has gone mad? We are under siege and the war is not from without; it is from within. The collapse of the Roman Empire occurred in a single generation and was not so much the result of invasions by their enemies but the result of moral decay and internal corruption. Similar patterns are emerging in America. We neglected or abandoned our traditional institutions long ago, but now it’s time to take them back. Today, forces are at work to strip the principles and precepts of faith from public venues or minimize their significance. Many progressive leaders are convinced that when Christianity disintegrates, it will create peace on earth. But the loss of our heritage will merely create a spiritual vacuum that will be filled with folly, crammed with chaos, or invaded by Islam. The reality is Western civilization will become so decadent and reckless that America will collapse like a house of cards. In Hope for This Present Crisis, Dr. Youssef provides a diagnosis of the insanity of the current culture and a seven-step prescription for restoring sanity to a world gone mad. Here’s the seven-step path to restoring a world gone mad: Remember the Truth - Stand firm on the truth of the gospel Restore the Soul - Seek God’s approval - not the approval of other people Revitalize the Family - Guard your children from the horrors of the internet Reestablish the Classroom - Support conscientious, caring public school teachers Respect our Freedoms - Know your rights Reform our Society - Morally and spiritually purify yourself Revive the Church - Demonstrate the forgiving love of Jesus at all times
©2021 Michael Youssef (P)2021 Frontline
How Can I Be Sure I'm a Christian?
Summary
Nearly everyone wants to go to heaven when they die. Nearly everyone assumes they will go there. And yet the Bible paints a picture of the "road that leads to eternal life" being found and traveled by few. Careful students of the Scriptures often find themselves wondering, How can I be sure of my salvation? Veteran Bible teacher Donald S. Whitney guides us carefully and patiently through the Bible's teachings on salvation and eternal life - steering us clear of misplaced confidence and pointing us always toward Christ, our hope. If doubts about your salvation ever disturb your peace, turn again and again to this audiobook for refreshing clarity and confidence in the God who guides your steps.
©1994, 2019 Donald S. Whitney (P)2019 eChristian
The Mystery of the Holy Spirit
Summary
Dealing sensitively with touchstone issues, R.C. Sproul sends a challenge to deepen your understanding of the Holy Spirit through the scriptures. Come to know this mysterious member of the Trinity and see his work in your life.
©2017 eChristian (P)2017 eChristian
The First Thousand Years
Summary
How did a community that was largely invisible in the first two centuries of its existence go on to remake the civilizations it inhabited, culturally, politically, and intellectually? Beginning with the life of Jesus, Robert Louis Wilken narrates the dramatic spread and development of Christianity over the first thousand years of its history. Moving through the formation of early institutions, practices, and beliefs to the transformations of the Roman world after the conversion of Constantine, he sheds new light on the subsequent stories of Christianity in the Latin West, the Byzantine and Slavic East, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Through a selected narration of particularly noteworthy persons and events, Wilken demonstrates how the coming of Christianity set in motion one of the most profound revolutions the world has known. This is not a story limited to the West; rather, Christian communities in Ethiopia, Nubia, Armenia, Georgia, Persia, Central Asia, India, and China shaped the course of Christian history. The rise and spread of Islam had a lasting impact on the future of Christianity, and several chapters are devoted to the early experiences of Christians under Muslim rule. Wilken reminds us that the career of Christianity is characterized by decline and attrition as well as by growth and expansion.
©2012 Robert Louis Wilken (P)2020 Tantor
Church Discipline: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus
Summary
Church discipline is essential to building a healthy church. So how exactly do we practice church discipline? Jonathan Leeman helps us face the endless variety of circumstances and sins for which no scriptural case study exists, sins that don't show up on any list and need a biblical framework to be corrected appropriately in love. Here is a contemporary and concise how-to guide that provides a theological framework for understanding and implementing disciplinary measures in the local church, along with several examples of real-life situations and the corresponding responses.
©2016 eChristian (P)2016 eChristian