A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story (Updated Edition)

Description

A Prophet with Honor is the biography Billy Graham himself invited and appreciated for its sympathetic but frank approach. Carefully documented, eminently fair, and gracefully written, it raises and answers key questions about Graham's character, contributions, and influence on the world religious scene. In this engaging and comprehensive book, William Martin gives readers a better understanding of the most successful evangelist in modern history, and the movement he led for over fifty years. A Prophet with Honor makes a vital contribution to the Billy Graham legacy and allows us to understand why his words, actions, and personality endeared him to popes and preachers, kings and presidents, and millions of Christians in virtually every nation and culture around the world. Martin draws on extensive conversations with Graham himself nearly two hundred interviews previously untouched resources, including documents from six presidential libraries and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association archives personal observation of Graham's crusades and conferences in the United States and Europe decades of research on evangelical Christianity Martin pays particular attention to Graham's controversial relationships with Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. He also describes how Graham's lifelong determination "to do something great for God" led him to organize international conferences that spearheaded the worldwide spread of the liberating message of Jesus, and prompted him to help strengthen religious freedom in the Soviet bloc and China. Tracing Graham's life and ministry from his rural and religious roots in North Carolina to his place as the elder statesman of American evangelicalism, examining both his triumphs and his tribulations, Martin shows the multidimensional character of the man who has become one of the most admired persons in the world.

William Martin (BD, PhD, Harvard) is the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Emeritus Professor of Religion and Public Policy in the Department of Sociology at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Since his retirement from teaching in 2005, he has served as the Chavanne Senior Fellow for Religion and Public Policy at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice. He has appeared on many national radio and television programs, including 60 Minutes, Nightline, 20/20, Today, Frontline, and All Things Considered. He has been published in numerous national and regional periodicals, including The Atlantic, Harper's, Esquire, and Texas Monthly.

'Thoroughly researched, lucidly written, and brilliantly crafted, it is sure to become a classic in the field of American religion.' * Harry S. Stout, Yale University * 'One of the most important books ever written on American religious history.' * David E. Harrell, Auburn University * 'A detailed portrait of Graham that far surpasses anything yet written about him.' * The Washington Post * 'Beautifully limned, often painfully funny, sometimes nothing short of inspired... If [fairness] is the criterion for sainthood, Martin should be canonized.' * Christian Century * 'A brilliant and comprehensive study of one of the most important leaders in the history of Christendom.' * Anthony Campolo *