The Core of Johnny Appleseed

Now Featured in the Patheos Book Club
The Core of Johnny Appleseed
The Unknown Story of a Spiritual Trailblazer
By Ray Silverman

The Core of Johnny Appleseed: The Unknown Story of a Spiritual Trailblazer is a spiritual biography that explores the stories and the popular misconceptions about Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman, as well as the truths behind the legends.

Recent biographies of John Chapman have portrayed him as anything from a schizophrenic, wandering ascetic to a hedonistic pleasure-seeker. But who was the real man behind the misconceptions? 

Chapman was not only a savvy businessman with nurseries and land holdings throughout several states, he was a compassionate friend and neighbor.  But it is only when we talk about Chapman's spiritual convictions that we come to the core of who he was - a thoughtful and joyful Christian who was deeply moved by the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

About the Author
Ray Silverman is the author of Rise Above It: Spiritual Development through the TenCommandments (co-authored with his wife, Star) and the editor of Helen Keller's spiritual autobiography Light in My Darkness. More recently, he authored the introduction for the stand-alone edition of Helen Keller's inspirational essay How I Would Help the World.

He currently serves as Associate Professor of Religion, English and Moral Philosophy at Bryn Athyn College, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, and as Adjunct Instructor at Urbana University, home of the Johnny Appleseed Education Center and Museum and the Chapman School of Leadership in Sustainability in Urbana, Ohio.

About the Illustrator
Nancy Poes was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and received a BA in history from the University of California, Berkeley. She studied illustration at George State University in Atlanta. Since 2006, she has lived and painted in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after twenty years in Hawaii and extensive time in Portugal. Her work is part of many international public, corporate, and private collections.