Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows | 
 enlarge | Author: Ravi Zacharias
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 801661
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.1 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0310262631
Dewey Decimal Number: 269.2
EAN: 9780310262633
ASIN: 0310262631
Publication Date: March 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: Z20081115115059D
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Product Description
Zacharias invites readers to come follow him on this journey through his life and into the lives of others, and see how he has become more convinced with each year that goes by that Jesus Christ is the One who came to give us life to the fullest and to point us to the freedom and beauty of truth, for everyone, easterner or westerner, all over the world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 The story of a great apologist September 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the story of Ravi Zacharias, the international Christian apologist. The Indian born Zacharias, now based in Atlanta, has a worldwide ministry in defending the truth claims of Jesus Christ. Today he is perhaps the premier Christian apologist. He has spoken in over 50 nations; he has spoken at almost all the major universities of the world; he has discussed the big questions of life with political leaders, academics, religious leaders, and even military leaders; and he has written a number of excellent books on apologetics over the past 25 or so years.
This book contains his remarkable story. His humble beginnings did not seem to make him qualified for such a task. He was not raised as a Christian, and soon was a sceptic. He never did very well in school, nor try very hard to succeed in his education. While his brothers and sisters and peers were all doing very well, he was not. Thus by the time he was a teenager he had become very depressed and lonely.
Although good at sport - especially cricket - and surrounded with many great friends, he still felt very alone, and was constantly saddened that he had not pleased his father. His dad grew impatient with him, telling him he would never amount to anything. This growing sense of failure and despair, coupled with his father's disapproval, and his inner struggles and searching which he could not freely share with others, took its toll. So suicide was the only course of action for young Zacharias.
Shortly after his suicide attempt some Youth for Christ people helped to lead Zacharias to the Lord. The first half of this book details his years as a non-believer. The second half of the book chronicles his time as a believer, as a Christian evangelist, and as a renowned apologist. It includes his move to Canada, and later, the US. It chronicles his early evangelistic missions, and his studies at Trinity Seminary in Chicago, and his marriage to a Canadian woman.
It has been during the last three decades or so that he became convinced that there was a pressing need to reach intellectuals, academics, university students and others with the claims of Jesus Christ. He thus undertook further studies at Cambridge, and has since devoted his life to reaching sceptics and those of other - or no - faiths.
In this moving autobiography Zacharias speaks of many hardships and difficulties along the way, and the costs of serving the Lord. But he sees with hindsight the ways God was directing his paths and using past hurts - even his suicide attempt - as means to bring greater glory to God and to reach many who also are lost, struggling, hurting and in despair. And he notes how strong friends, mentors and counsellors have helped him along the way. As Zacharais says, "There is no greater discovery than seeing God as the author of your destiny."
Zacharias is absolutely right when he says, "Outside of the gospel, there are no answers for humanity's most fundamental questions". This powerful volume contains many stories of changed lives and hope restored. It deserves a wide reading.
Fantastic read - Couldn't put it down!!!! July 7, 2008
This is an autobiography that tells of cultural differences, religious differences and really reveals personal and intimate stories of a man who is in the spotlight across the world. If you like good endings, good story-telling, and seeing pieces of a puzzle come together, this book is for you. But more than that, Ravi's story is really amazing!! He was quoted as saying that writing this book brought back a lot of hurt, and one can see why when you read this book. Even historians, I think will be interested in this, as he refers to the war between India and Pakistan, and again, cultural differences from east to west. I cannot recommend a book more highly!
God in the Shadows June 9, 2008
I read this and was well pleased with this book. i even lent it to someone to read it because i was so blessed by it :)
Insightful autobiography May 31, 2008
Ravi Zacharias is quite well known for his in-depth philosophical preaching. East to West takes a candid look at the heart that shaped the man: his Christian development, his heartaches, self esteem issues rooted in family issues, and his growing up in India. A fascinating look behind the curtain of his life. Genuine, real and quite insightful.
God's Apologist from the East April 14, 2008
Last week I picked up Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows by Ravi Zacharias and finished it over the weekend. I don't remember the last time I read a book so moving.
Walking from East to West is an autobiography of sorts; in the preface Ravi describes it as a book of memoirs. As the title implies, Ravi begins his life in the East and later moves to the West. But what does the one have to do with the other? One of the most wonderful qualities of this book is Ravi's constant emphasis of the sovereignty of God. Ordinarily, no-one would think that a person who is trained in one part of the world is being divinely-prepared for another. Yet countless times throughout the book Ravi lists God as the great weaver of his destiny, pulling everything together into a beautiful tapestry for his glory.
Ravi's stories are sometimes painful and other times joyful. But even the painful moments have been transformed by Christ for Ravi's good. The most painful event of Ravi's life was his suicide attempt in his teenage years. He felt like his life had no meaning or hope. Yet looking back through the lens of providence, Ravi confesses that it was on the hospital bed after his failed suicide attempt that God reached him through Scripture and changed his life. This is the book's power: It's not just in the good events that the glory of God is most clearly seen, but in both the good and the bad. Ravi's point is that while he was messing up his life, even to the point where he nearly destroyed himself, God was using all of that to set him on a path of meaning and purpose for His glory.
After Ravi's conversion his family moved to the West, to Canada, and he along with them. It was there that God prepared Ravi for a life of ministry. Ravi began to preach all over the world, which did much to confirm and seal God's call on his life, but academically he trained at a Bible College in Canada and then at a Seminary in the United States. Having been born and raised in the East, God now saw fit to use Ravi in the West.
His stories from the ministry field are some of the most God-glorifying anecdotes I've ever read. I cried close to ten times while reading his stories. They are so powerful in their testimony of God's goodness and grace. Without giving anything away I'll simply note that it is impossible to read this book and walk away without acknowledging the reality of God and without appreciating the grace of God.
Like every autobiography, Walking from East to West picks up momentum as it goes on. That may have something to do with the theme of the book: The tapestry that God is weaving together for his glory slowly unfolds with every event. We won't be able to gaze upon the finished work of art at the beginning of the process, but as time goes on we are shown glimpses of what God is doing, and eventually we will see it all. Only God can bring together things that seem to us disconnected, defragmented and ruined. Walking from East to West is, above all, a story of the triumph of God in the life of a man who was raised in the East to then live in the West to then be used in both, indeed, throughout the whole world.
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