A Personal History

Fisher Humphreys

​“The Bible is filled with stories about people’s lives. The four Gospels contain many stories about the life of Jesus, and the Book of Acts contains many stories about the first followers of Jesus. In the years following the events recorded in the New Testament, Christian writers not only copied and preserved the biblical stories, they also added new ones. They wrote about martyrs, missionaries, bishops, saints of the deserts, theologians, Christian rulers, and founders of religious orders.

​“Of course, those were all important people who made a big difference in the world. Is there any justification for telling the stories of ordinary people who made at most a tiny difference in the world? Theologically, the Christian belief that all human beings have been created in God’s image and the belief that God loves and cares for every person without exception, suggest that the telling of any person’s story is an appropriate activity for Christians.

​“And there is something else. Somewhere in my forties it occurred to me that if one of my parents or grandparents had written down stories about his or her life or about the lives of his or her ancestors, I would treasure that book. It was a short move from there to the idea that my children and grandchildren, and perhaps in the future their children, might someday come to treasure a book like that. That is when I decided to write this book.” (from the Preface)

Paperback, 246 pages, $20

978-0-914520-71-9