Product Description

Zacharias invites readers to 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 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #380857 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
"A frank, endearing story of a respected apologist and evangelical statesman's life....[It] starkly contrasts the real implications of rejecting or accepting the lordship of Jesus. Nothing short of meaning in life is at stake, and Walking from East to West exposes the silliness of much popular religious pluralism by underscoring the gravity of worldview selection....This is storytelling in the fashion of C. S. Lewis: rational argumentation expressed in narrative." — Christianity Today

(Christianity Today )

From the Back Cover
“Outside were stray animals and people, each about some pursuit. Sometimes it was a beggar at the door, sometimes a leprous hand reaching for a handout with a plea for compassion. Life with all its hurts and pains squinted at you, squatted before you, and stared you down daily. This was the street where I grew up.” Ravi Zacharias has lived an extraordinary life. He has walked with great leaders, slept in the villages and homes of the poor, and crossed continents to bring the good news of the gospel to the world. Already a man of two worlds by the time he was twenty, Ravi never dreamed that God would lead him from his birth home in India to Canada and the United States, and eventually to a platform on the world stage. For thirty-three years he has spoken all over the world. He has addressed writers of the peace accord in South Africa, the president’s cabinet and parliament in Peru, and military officers at the Lenin Military Academy and the Center for Geopolitical Strategy in Moscow. He has given the keynote address at the National Day of Prayer in Washington, DC, and has spoken twice at the Annual Prayer Breakfast at the United Nations in New York. Walking from East to West is Ravi’s life story, a deeply personal journey into his past. Dr. Zacharias invites you back to the southern India of his early childhood, and into his troubled youth in the sophisticated capital city of Delhi. He recalls the importance of a mother’s love and his difficult relationship with his father. He tells about his long search for truth in wrestling with Eastern thought and the newer ideas of Christianity, the cry for help in a dark moment when he tried to take his own life—and the dramatic turning point that led to a life lived for Christ. Zacharias recalls his early days as a new convert, what it was like to find a new life in the Western world, and the eventual birth and growth of a worldwide ministry. This is a story about an amazing man. Yet it is also everyone’s story about belief—how it begins, how it grows, and the struggles associated with it. Walking from East to West is a heartfelt personal story of one man’s discovery that God is the author of our destinies, no matter how dark the shadows that hide the light.

About the Author
For over thirty-five years Ravi Zacharias has spoken all over the world in great halls and universities, notably Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford. He is listed as a distinguished lecturer with the Staley Foundation and has appeared on CNN and other international broadcasts. The author of several books for adults and children, he powerfully mixes biblical teaching and Christian apologetics. His most recent works include Walking from East to West, a memoir, The Grand Weaver, an exploration of God’s intention and pattern in both the ordinary and the startling elements of life, and The End of Reason, a rebuttal of the claims of the so-called New Atheists. His weekly radio program, Let My People Think, is broadcast over 1,500 stations worldwide, and his weekday program, Just Thinking, is on almost 400. He is founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional offices in Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Zacharias and his wife, Margie, have three grown children and reside in Atlanta.

Ravi Zacharias, master en divinidades de Trinity International University, es un orador reconocido así como presidente de Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. Su programa semanal de radio, Let My People Think, se retransmite por más de mil quinientas emisoras de todo el mundo. Es autor de varios libros para adultos y niños. Su último libro, De Oriente a Occidente, fue editado por Editorial Vida en el año 2006. El Dr. Zacharias y su esposa residen in Atlanta, Georgia.

Customer Reviews

Do You Feel a Nudge?
While the Donald Millers of the world have brought new vitality and honesty to writings on the Christian life, others, such as Philip Yancey and Ravi Zacharias, continue to dig deep into the intellectual side of the modern Christian's struggle. This depth makes their writings less accessible, yet so vital for many who are searching for answers.

In this gracious autobiography, Zacharias gives us doses of his trademark apologetics and wisdom, while providing a chronological view of his journey from suicidal teen to world-renowned evangelist. He offers glimpses into his cultural roots in India, along with helpful understanding of the eastern mindset. He shows restraint in his accounts of his family's issues, but he still manages to be honest with faults. He challenges his readers to move beyond their own search for fulfillment into a greater comprehension of who they are created to be.

As a missionary kid, I spent six months in India, experiencing some of the sights that Zacharias grew up around. I savored his anecdotes. This is a thoughtful, inspiring account of what God can do through those who are willing to "live, because he lives." Be patient, soak in the philosophical and theological musings, and see if you aren't nudged by the content of these pages.

You Will Probably Enjoy This as Much as You Enjoy His Radio Shows. Ravi Listeners will Enjoy This Autobiography!
I really enjoy hearing Ravi Zacharias on his weekly radio show. He is probably the most intellectual of any of the radio preachers that I hear broadcast on Christian radio in my area. Ravi is from India, but he converted to Christianity as a teenager in India, and his missionary career consists of intellectually applying logic to support Biblical concepts, to audiences across the globe. That's my explanation of what he does, at least. So when I heard he had an autobiography out, I was curious enough to check it out.

It is pretty interesting to read the details of his growing up in India. It is very different from growing up in the USA, in many aspects, yet the human condition and human plight of us all is shown to have just as much in common whether growing up in India or the USA, or anywhere else in the world.

WALKING FROM EAST TO WEST: GOD IN THE SHADOWS is about 240 pages long. He writes about the exotic Indian neighborhood where he grew up, and how he ended up being the black sheep of the family, the one child whom his father found the most frustration and irritation with. He could never really please his father with anything he did, which is very important to be able to do, especially within the culture in which he grew up.

Ravi was bored with school, but he excelled in sports, especially playing cricket. His dad wanted the opposite from Ravi, and his father did not care about his sports abilities. Ravi talks about skipping school regularly, until the day that his father found out and gave Ravi the beating of his life for it! Then Ravi talks about his emerging plan to commit suicide over his despair and depression. This takes us up to about page 85.

After his failed suicide attempt, he gets Saved, with the help of some Christian missionaries. Like most Saved people, this turns his life around, and he becomes very serious and productive with his schooling--the most driven in his family, for a change!

He and his brother immigrate to Canada, to lay the foundation of a home base for the rest of the family to eventually join them. Canada is where he meets his future wife, Margie (pronounced with a hard G as in Margaret), and the rest of the book covers his college and missionary career, traveling the world, and right up to the present day.

These days, he is now an internationally known lecturer, and they have three full grown kids. What a wonderful, blessed life for this terrific Christian speaker!

The book is broken into three separate sections, which each show a few grainy b/w photos from his life on the starting page of each major section, but there are no captions. I guess you can figure out who is who just by reading the book. My favorite looks to be a photo from his wedding.

There is not too much of the typical Christian philosophy or apologetics. This book is meant to not get in-depth in those areas covered by his other books and works. This book is meant to be an autobiography of his life story.

He makes some interesting observations and comparisons between people and cultures, east and west. Such as, when he gives talks in the west, people are introduced onstage with a bio of themselves, but in the east, people are introduced by describing a brief family history.

If you really enjoy listening to Ravi Zacharias' weekly radio show, then you will probably find his autobiography just as enjoyable.

Interesting look at a humble leader
In Walking from East to West, Ravi Zacharias gives readers a glimpse into his life, focusing on his years growing up in India and what God used to ultimately shape him into a worldwide evangelist.

There is humble heartbreak expressed throughout the book, as Zacharias explains his tumultuous relationship with his father, who early on labeled him a failure. His sense of hopelessness and despair eventually led him to attempt suicide, and through that, the truth of God's Word was able to penetrate his heart. Zacharias provides a balanced view of his childhood, never blaming his father for the abuse, instead carefully revealing insight into the family situation and how the Lord eventually changed Zacharias and later, his father. He describes God as being in the shadows of his life, never absent, but simply waiting on His perfect timing to bring Ravi into the family of God.

The book is broken into two major sections: his early years in India and re-establishing in Canada. There is a third part, which is more of an epilogue, where Ravi describes his trips back to his homeland and what it means to him looking back. The story that Zacharias weaves of his past is mesmerizing, threading together anecdotes, parables, and history into a fine narrative worth reading on its own. On top of that, he entwines his own grasp of Eastern thinking and culture, in a way that Westerners can understand. One example is how the framework of ancestors is critical to the identity of Indians, and how that affects their society today. Readers will also get a foretaste into Zacharias' ability to reason with skeptics, and know that it comes from his own beginnings as a questioner of life. He also reveals the thinkers and theologians who influenced his faith, without going into the doctrines themselves.

This is not a typical leader-of-the-faith autobiography. Instead, Zacharias shows how the Lord uses the humble and weak to bring about His purposes. Even if readers know nothing about the man and his ministry, they will be uplifted and encouraged to pursue God with whole hearts. -- Anne Walker, Christian Book Previews.com