September 6, 2006   • BEHIND THE NEWS   • September 11 Remembered; Two Authors on Hand • SHORT TAKES   • 'My Secrets' Pastor on Today; Yancey on Tour • Q&A   • Robert Spencer: The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion • BOOKS BRIEFLY   • Bringing The Golem to Life Again • RELIGION IN REVIEW   • Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on September 11   • A Starred Review Coming in PW on September 11 • BESTSELLERS: September Borders Inc. Religion Bestsellers • COMING ATTRACTIONS • HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE BEHIND THE NEWS September 11 Remembered; Two Authors on Hand by Lynn Garrett Next Monday, on the 5th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Loyola School in New York City will sponsor an evening of remembrance at Wallace Hall, under the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on Park Ave (between 83rd and 84th). James Martin, Roman Catholic priest and the author of Searching for God at Ground Zero (Sheed & Ward); and Jim Dwyer, New York Times reporter and author (with Kevin Flynn) of 102 Minutes (Times Books), will speak. Said Fr. Stephen Katsouros, president of the Loyola School, "Our school is a close community, and we suffered a number of losses that day, both alumni and parents. This year is an important marker, and we wanted to make a place for people to go on a difficult day." Beginning at 6:30 p.m., there will be a brief prayer service, followed by an open book discussion with Martin and Dwyer and time for questions and answers. When Martin learned of the attacks, he went to a local hospital to see what he could do to help. Over the next two days he worked at a triage center and counseled families at St. Vincent's Hospital. "Then on September 13th I saw a police officer and asked him if there was anything I could do for them downtown. He flagged down a patrol car and they immediately drove me to Ground Zero, where I joined other Jesuits who were ministering to rescue workers. I worked there until mid-October." Read the full story... SHORT TAKES 'My Secrets' Pastor on Today; Yancey on Tour by Lynn Garrett Craig Groeschel, author of Confessions of a Pastor (Multnomah), appeared this morning on The Today Show. Groeschel is head pastor of LifeChurch.tv, a video and internet church with nine campuses in four states. Following on Groeschel's teaching series, "My Secrets," the church put up a Web site, www.mysecret.tv, where people can go to confess their secrets. The Web site and Groeschel were featured in an article in the New York Times this past Friday (Sept. 1); since then the site has been getting "over 1,000 hits per minute," according to Multnomah, which plans a September 22 release date for Groeschel's book. Philip Yancey is currently on a 14-city, 19-event tour for his latest book for Zondervan, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Oct.; PW starred review Aug. 28). The tour began at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Ill., on August 23. The next tour events are in Boulder and Denver, Colo. (Sept. 10-12). For complete tour information go to the Zondervan Web site.   Q&A Robert Spencer: The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion by David Klinghoffer A controversial scholar, director of Jihad Watch, and author of the bestselling Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) takes on the most sacred figure in Muslim history. RBL: In your first chapter you note that, in writing a frank biography of Muhammad, you are "fully aware of the risks involved." Are you afraid? What precautions can you and your publisher take for your safety? Spencer: I am aware of the risk, but I'm not afraid. Everyone dies, no one knows when or how he will, and I would rather do what I think must be done rather than bow to intimidation in a bid to live longer. We are taking precautions, but of course if I detailed what they were, they'd be less effective. RBL: What about a book tour? Spencer: I don't think this is planned—not because of the nature of this book in particular. Regnery has always preferred TV and radio interviews. RBL: Did you consider including any amusing cartoons of your biographical subject in the book? Spencer: No, although I respect the Danish cartoonists' courage in defense of free speech. My intention is not to satirize, but to present solid evidence about Muhammad from Muslim sources. Read the full story... BOOKS BRIEFLY Bringing The Golem to Life Again by David Klinghoffer Jews around the world today feel a renewed vulnerability to anti-Semitism. So the time seems ripe for a renewed interest in the Golem, the supernatural man-made creature said to have been created by a rabbi and cabbalist in 16th-century Prague to protect that city’s Jews from their enemies. But when Norton senior editor Amy Cherry bought Joachim Neugroschel’s proposal for a translation of a famous Yiddish play by H. Leivick, The Golem (Aug.), it was five years ago, before the more recent worries about global anti-Semitism set in. For Jews in particular, Cherry told RBL, “It wasn’t such a terrible time as this past year.” The resulting book also includes translations of Yiddish short stories on the same theme. Cherry said she commissioned the work from Neugroschel because of another vulnerability she noted in the Jewish community—that of Yiddish itself. It is a dying tongue that becomes harder to render into other languages with each generation as the number of fluent speakers dwindles. Read the full story... RELIGION IN REVIEW Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on September 11 Soul Cravings Erwin McManus. Nelson Books, $19.99 (256p) ISBN 0-7852-1494-1 McManus’s collection of essays reads like a series of lively late-night college bull sessions about the meaning of life, with enough transitions and common threads to pull reader-participants from piece to piece. READ FULL REVIEW The Mormon Tabernacle Enquirer: LDS News, Advice and Opinion Edited by Christopher Kimball Bigelow. Pince-Nez Press [777 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 81402; 415-218-0010], $17.95 paper (300p) ISBN 1-930074-17-0 If a mature religion is one that can laugh at itself, then Mormonism is growing up. The ranks of the heretofore slim world of LDS satirists (dominated by cartoonists Pat Bagley and Calvin Grondahl and columnist Robert Kirby) have been swelled by the next generation: this compilation of ruthlessly funny articles is as irreverent as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is decorous. READ FULL REVIEW What Paul Meant Gary Wills. Viking, $24.95 (208p) ISBN 0-670-03793-1 This slender volume is something of a sequel to Wills’s blockbuster What Jesus Meant. Here, Wills defends Paul from detractors who insist that the apostle corrupted Jesus’ radical message. READ FULL REVIEW Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen James Ishmael Ford. Wisdom Publications, $15.95 paper (244p) ISBN 0-86171-509-8 Taxonomists rejoice: For all who have wondered about the difference between a roshi and a sensei, this book sorts these two kinds of Zen Buddhist teachers and offers lots more information about Zen schools and influences. READ FULL REVIEW A Starred Review Coming in PW on September 11 Finding Hope: Cultivating God’s Gift of a Hopeful Spirit Marcia Ford. SkyLight Paths, $16.99 paper (200p) ISBN 1-59473-211-6 In a time when cynicism seems to reign, a book about finding hope is refreshing. Ford, a religion writer, PW freelancer (The Sacred Art of Forgiveness) and hospice worker, has hope to spare. Writing in the midst of a chronic illness and the aftermath of an electrical fire that damaged her home, Ford manages to communicate the essence of hope with intelligence, humor and grace. Her premise is that "when your ultimate hope is in God, your underlying philosophy of hope is based on the unshakeable belief that no matter what happens, God will see you through it." She illustrates this with stories from her own life, popular culture, history and the Bible. At the end of each chapter, Ford offers short reflection questions to ponder along with simple practices to restore hope. She suggests some typical things, like journaling, meditating, and decluttering, but also ventures into unusual recommendations, like blogging. Ford's gift is not only her accessible writing style, which is frank and real, but also her life experience as a Christian. She has obviously spent time with many different facets of Christianity and possesses an understanding of other spiritual paths. What results is an inspiring, broad-based look at sound theological, spiritual and practical principles to cultivate hope. (Nov.) BESTSELLERS: September Borders Inc. Religion Bestsellers Hardcover The Purpose-Driven Life Rick Warren. Zondervan The Language of God Francis S. Collins. Free Press Your Best Life Now Joel Osteen. FaithWords Overcoming Life's Disappointments Harold S. Kushner. Knopf Captivating John Eldredge, Stasi Eldredge. Thomas Nelson Your Best Life Now Devotional Joel Osteen. FaithWords Misquoting Jesus Bart Ehrman. Harper San Francisco For Women Only Shaunti Feldhahn. Multnomah The Art of Happiness Dalai Lama, Howard C. Cutler. Riverhead The Rapture Tim F. LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins. Tyndale Paperback The Five Love Languages Gary Chapman. Moody/Northfield The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason Sam Harris . Norton The Case for Christ/b> Lee Strobel. Zondervan Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Anne Lamott. Riverhead Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World John Hagee. FrontLine Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis. Harper San Franciso Found Karen Kingsbury. Zondervan The Case for Faith Lee Strobel. Zondervan The Case for a Creator Lee Strobel. Zondervan     COMING ATTRACTIONS Next week in RBL we’ll have a Q&A with Amir Hussain, Muslim scholar and the author of Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God.   PW Religion BookLine from Publishers Weekly Editors: Lynn Garrett (lgarrett@reedbusiness.com); Daisy Maryles (dmaryles@reedbusiness.com) Contributing Editor: Jana Riess © 2006 Reed Business Information. Published weekly. If your links aren't working, you can view this newsletter by copy and pasting the following URL into your browser: publishersweekly.com/eNewsletter/CA6368865/2287.html To read past issues, click here. 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