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  Wednesday March 26, 2008
 
• BEHIND THE NEWS
  • Book Awards Announced by Christianity Today, Christophers
  • Hachette Launches Blog Site for YA Fiction Series
• SHORT TAKES
  • Baker Acquires Bible Translation; Web Tools for Catholics from Houghton Mifflin; New Editor-in-Chief at Guideposts Books
• AUTHOR PROFILE
  • Andrew Krivak: Looking Back at the Priesthood
• RELIGION IN REVIEW
  • Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, April 14
  • Two Original RBL Reviews
  • Two Starred Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, April 14
• PW RELIGION BESTSELLERS: March
• COMING ATTRACTIONS
• HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
BEHIND THE NEWS
Book Awards Announced by Christianity Today, Christophers
By Lynn Garrett
The winners in two prestigious awards programs were announced last week. Baker Publishing Group’s Baker Academic imprint won three awards—the most for any single publisher--from Christianity Today, the evangelical news and opinion magazine. The Jesus Legend and Resounding Truth won Book Awards in the Biblical Studies and Theology/Ethics categories respectively; and Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament took an Award of Merit in Biblical Studies. Among other top CT Book Award winners were HarperOne for There Is a God; Oxford for Faith in the Halls of Power and Disciples of All Nations; Westminster John Knox for Caring for Mother; Eerdmans for The Jesus Way; and Thomas Nelson for Quaker Summer. For a complete list of winners go to http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/april/10.28.html.

The Christophers--a nonprofit organization founded in 1945 by Maryknoll priest Father James Keller—recognizes creative works that reflect the organization’s credo: “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” This year the six adult titles honored include Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat; The Florist’s Daughter by Patricia Hampl; The Invisible Wall: A Love Story that Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein; The Lonely Patient: How We Experience Illness by Michael Stein, M.D.; A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah; and A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom by David W. Blight. Winners in the young reader category include How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin by Margaret McNamara; Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney; Taking a Bath with the Dog and Other Things that Make Me Happy by Scott Menchin; The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy; and Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula K. Kahumbu, with photographs by Peter Greste. The awards will be presented on April 10th at 6 p.m. at the McGraw Hill Building.
Hachette Launches Blog Site for YA Fiction Series
By Jana Riess
Hachette is taking interactivity to the next level by bringing favorite fictional characters right to readers’ Web browsers. Beginning on April 1, Hachette’s FaithWords division will have the five main characters in its new All About Us YA series begin blogging. 

The blog site, www.allaboutusbooks.net, went live on Monday with a chatty post from “Lissa,” a fictional teen whose exploits at an elite boarding school will be featured in the first novel of the series, It’s All About Us by Shelley Adina, which will hit stores in May with a 65,000 copy first print run. Lissa’s troubles with boys, fashionistas, and fitting in with the trust-fund set may sound like Gossip Girls, and indeed it is—with a Christian twist, since the books deal with questions of faith. Lissa and her “besties” (that’s “best friends” in MySpace-speak) will take turns starring in the books—with The Fruit of My Lipstick and Be Strong and Curvaceous scheduled to release in August and January, respectively—but the characters will all have a presence simultaneously on the blog.

Read the full story...
SHORT TAKES
Baker Acquires Bible Translation; Web Tools for Catholics from Houghton Mifflin; New Editor-in-Chief at Guideposts Books
By Lynn Garrett
Baker Publishing Group has acquired exclusive and worldwide publishing rights for the God's Word translation of the Bible from Green Key Books. The translation was first published in 1995 and then re-introduced to the Christian book market in 2003 when it was acquired by Green Key. According to Baker, the God's Word translation “combines scholarly fidelity to the original languages with clear, natural English, exceptional poetry, and a fourth-grade reading level, making it accessible to a wide range of readers.” Some of the titles currently available in this translation include God’s Word for Girls, God’s Word for Boys, and God’s Word for Students. The translation copyright holder, God’s Word to the Nations, is a mission society headquartered in Orange Park, Fla. Baker will contact retailers this month with more information on the transition, including returns and new orders.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Religion Publishers has launched two new Web tools for Catholic education. Call to Faith eConnect is a subscription Web tool for planning and implementation of catechesis across all ages. Resources for Catholic schools and parishes include catechist and teacher training, e-mail, moderated forums, planning calendars, professional development, podcasts, music and interactive games. Call to Discipleship is a Web-based high school program that combines catechesis with an interface designed to appeal to today’s youth, including handouts with the Vatican’s Imprimatur. It also provides easy-to-use planning and formation resources, communication tools, podcasts, games, downloadable music and professional development. 

Read the full story...
 
AUTHOR PROFILE
Andrew Krivak: Looking Back at the Priesthood
By Marcia Z. Nelson
Andrew Krivak has written a story of the tensions and demands of the priesthood from the inside, but his memoir A Long Retreat: In Search of a Religious Life (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is no sensational exposé. Instead, the story of Krivak’s eight years in the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) provides a searching look at the interior of a man’s religious life during the intense process of spiritual formation and discernment about vocation.

“I didn’t want it to be a seminary story,” said Krivak, and it’s not. Now married and the father of two young children, the author portrays what might motivate someone to choose the priesthood today. Krivak presents his own process as a long conversation with God. “The story became moving into and out of the Jesuits,” he said, speaking to RBL from his in-laws’ home in New Hampshire (he and his family currently live in England). “I realized I was speaking very interior-ly to God.” 

Krivak has published a small chapbook of poetry and short pieces, but A Long Retreat is his first substantial work. It began as a story he wrote for his wife, but he’d also fielded many questions from others over the years about what his experience had been. “I would tell people it was a world I loved very much, and also a deeply human world,” said Krivak, now 44. He may have left religious life, but he’s still religious. “I find my faith much deeper now as a Catholic,” he said.

Read the full story...
RELIGION IN REVIEW
Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, April 14
The Bodhi Tree Grows in L.A.: Tales of a Buddhist Monk in America
Bhante Walpola Piyananda. Shambhala, $14.95paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-59030-568-3
Piyananda, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk who came to America decades ago, tells simple stories about people with problems whom he has counseled in the course of his tenure at a Theravada Buddhist temple in Los Angeles.
READ FULL REVIEW
Me of Little Faith
Lewis Black. Riverhead, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-59448-994-5
Readers already familiar with Black as a loud-mouthed regular on The Daily Show will be delighted to find he rants just as well on the page as he does in person.
READ FULL REVIEW
Whose Torah? A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism
Rebecca T. Alpert. The New Press, $23.95 (176p) ISBN 978-1-58558-336-9
Pursuit of tzedek (justice) takes many forms, and Alpert, among the first women to be ordained as a rabbi and current chairperson of the religion department at Temple University, addresses everything from sexuality, gender and race to war, peace, poverty and the environment under tzedek’s capacious umbrella.
READ FULL REVIEW
The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Redemption, from Asbury Park to Magic
Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz.Westminster John Knox, $16.95 paper (216p) ISBN 978-0-664-23169-9
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, a driver rolled down his window and shouted to Bruce Springsteen, “We need you—now!” A few days later Springsteen appeared as part of a telethon to help victims’ families, and not long after released The Rising, with “Into the Fire” as a tribute to the 343 lost firefighters.
READ FULL REVIEW
Two Original RBL Reviews
The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully
Joan Chittister. BlueBridge, $19.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-933346-10-6
Well-known in Catholic circles for her willingness to take on anybody—even the pope—in defense of women’s rights, Chittister, now in her 70s, examines how it feels “to be facing that time of life for which there is no career plan.” Clearly, getting older has not diminished the controversial nun, activist, lecturer and author of nearly 40 books on feminism, nonviolence and Benedictine wisdom. This collection of inspirational reflections, “not meant to be read in one sitting, or even in order, [but] one topic at a time,” abounds in gentle insights and arresting aphorisms: “‘Act your age’ can be useful advice when you’re seventeen; it’s a mistake when you’re seventy-seven.” Beginning each short chapter with a trenchant quotation (“‘It takes a long time,’ Pablo Picasso wrote, ‘to become young’”), she ponders topics such as fear, mystery, forgiveness and legacy. Old age is rich for those who choose to thrive, not wither: “We can recreate ourselves in order to be creative in the world in a different way than the boundaries of our previous life allowed.” (May)
We the Purple: Faith, Politics and the Independent Voter
Marcia Ford. Tyndale, $17.99 (240p) ISBN 978-1-4143-1717-5
In the same what-you-see-is-what-you-get voice that fans of Diary of a Misfit got to know and love, Ford gives a personal overview of the misunderstood, ill-defined estimated 42 percent of American voters known as Independents. In her informal, conversational way, she not only offers a peek at the trajectory she followed to independent political thinking, but provides a map through the maze of organizations, blogs, movements and philosophies of her fellow Purples. The insights of an eclectic representation of such folk, ranging in age from 23 to 87, illustrate the diversity of voters unwilling to toe a party line. A woman of faith, Ford dislikes any pigeonholing of her politics based solely on her religious beliefs. If anything disappoints about this highly accessible must-read for anyone feeling lost in the current political process, it’s the lack of a formal conclusion, which feels a bit like Ford went to refill her cup and forgot to come back to the table.Still, elected officials should make this required reading, as should political independents. (Apr.)
Two Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, April 14
O2: Breathing New Life into Faith
Richard Dahlstrom. Harvest House, $14.99 paper (300p) ISBN 978-0-7369-2214-2
Dahlstrom, a Seattle pastor and international speaker, is an original and welcome evangelical voice of reason who offers skeptics and Christians alike compelling advice on living out their faith, Jesus-style. Where, he asks, is Christians’ passion for Christ? Do their beliefs make any substantive difference in their daily lives? In 1984, Dahlstrom realized that his own spiritual well was dry, so he moved with his wife to an island where he learned to “breathe” again—effectively balancing inhalation (prayer, solitude, Sabbath rest, Scripture study and contemplation) with exhalation (service, outreach, hospitality and generous giving). In this book, he gives Christians tools to achieve spiritual balance by integrating these inwardly and outwardly focused spiritual practices. Dahlstrom’s tenderness is deeply stirring, as is his tough stance in confronting modern believers’ unwillingness to follow in Jesus’ stead by serving sacrificially, reaching forth in love, and spilling out their lives for others. Dahlstrom’s approach balances gentle compassion with fierce assessments of problems in the church today, making this an excellent guide to soul renovation. (July)
The Big Questions in Science and Religion
Keith Ward. Templeton Foundation Press, $16.95 paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-59947-135-8
Ward, an Oxford theologian specializing in the history and philosophy of religion, presents an impressively insightful and well-balanced survey of major questions for science-and-religion dialogue. Ward takes on a wide a range of topics, reasoning that if God is “the ultimate cause of absolutely everything—we might think that the existence of God must make some difference to how things are.” The beginning and end of the universe, the origins and nature of consciousness, and human religious experience all become contact points for discussion between scientific and religious perspectives.  Writing as a scholar of world religions, Ward discusses multiple traditions in a level of depth and detail that exceeds the normal standards of the science and religion literature. Atheist and agnostic perspectives also receive a fair hearing, recognized as parties to the conversation rather than merely as rhetorical foils. Throughout, Ward shows a keen ability to recognize variations and distinctions within traditions, while still drawing helpful generalizations such as his conclusion that “to believe in God is primarily to believe in the objectivity of value and purpose.” (June)
PW RELIGION BESTSELLERS: March
Hardcovers
  1. Become a Better You
    Joel Osteen. Free Press
  2. God's Problem
    Bart D. Ehrman. HarperOne
  3. One Month to Live: 30 Days to a No-Regrets Life
    Kerry Shook and Chris Shook. WaterBrook
  4. What the Gospels Meant
    Garry Wills. Viking
  5. The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America
    Jim Wallis. HarperOne
  6. The Third Jesus
    Deepak Chopra. Harmony
  7. Fasting
    Jentezen Franklin. Charisma House
  8. Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires, the Respect He Desperately Needs
    Emerson Eggerichs. Thomas Nelson
  9. 3:16: The Numbers of Hope
    Max Lucado. Thomas Nelson
  10. The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality
    Andre Comte-Sponville. Viking

Paperbacks

  1. 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life
    Don Piper with Cecil Murphey. Revell
  2. The Five Love Languages
    Gary Chapman.. Moody/Northfield
  3. The God Delusion
    Richard Dawkins. Mariner Books
  4. Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
    Joel Osteen. FaithWords
  5. The Purpose-Driven Life
    Rick Warren. Zondervan
  6. Someday (Sunrise Series, Baxter 3)
    Karen Kingsbury. Tyndale
  7. The Portable Atheist
    Selected and with introduction by Christopher Hitchens. Da Capo Press
  8. Battlefield of the Mind
    Joyce Meyer. FaithWords
  9. Mere Christianity
    C.S. Lewis. HarperOne
  10. 23 Minutes in Hell
    Bill Wiese. Charisma House
 
 
 
 
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Look for the next issue of Religion BookLine on April 9.
 

PW Religion BookLine from Publishers Weekly
Editors: Lynn Garrett (lgarrett@reedbusiness.com);
Daisy Maryles (dmaryles@reedbusiness.com)
Contributing Editor: Jana Riess

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