In Depth:  Gavin Matthews

'In that case I won't read it' was the response of a Christian friend of mine, on learning that the biography she held in her hand was a little critical of one of her spiritual heroes. She went on: 'I am struggling in my faith at the moment and I am not sure that I could cope with the demolition of another one of my champions.' My friend is the victim of Christian Biography Syndrome!

Christian biographies are essential reading. There is nothing more compelling than reading about men and women whose lives have been transformed by the gospel and whose life-story is the outworking of the grace of God. The problem we have is that so many biographies are written by the subject's admirers, whose aim is as much to safeguard a legacy, as it is to write good history. What so often emerges are stirring stories of great faith and the details of the achievements of great men and women. Such stories are gripping, but of little use to ordinary sinners trying to live out the Christian faith. The whitewashed images of 'great-Christians' with which we are so often presented create the impression that God has created a special class of 'saints', separate from the rest of us, through whom to achieve his purpose. Unaware readers can find themselves assuming that if they are to be used by God in any significant way, they must first experience some mystical translation to this upper rank of believers.