THE LIVES OF GREAT CHRISTIANS

William Cook's voice can be nasal, and his sibilants occasionally slur a bit. But that matters not at all because these lectures are wonderful. They demonstrate superior structure, on both the large scale (the organization of entire lectures) and the small (the cadences of individual sentences), as well as scholarship that is both passionate and compassionate. Cook opens the series by discussing the challenges involved in defining greatness within a religious tradition, and then specifically within the Christian tradition. He then moves through history, discussing individual Christians, movements, and organizations. These figures clearly live for Cook, and he makes them live for listeners, in turn. He also blends personal accounts from travel, study, and worship with his more formal histories. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2008]