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Harper SF, Walden Partner in New Movie Tie-Ins
by Lori Smith
 Harper San Francisco will partner with Walden Media (producers of The Chronicles of Narnia and Holes) to publish two books related to the movie Amazing Grace, which explores the life of British abolitionist William Wilberforce. The movie opens in April 2007, 200 years after passage of the abolition bill Wilberforce sponsored.
The first book will be a biography of Wilberforce, also called Amazing Grace, written by Eric Metaxas (Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God). The second title, inspired by Walden's educational tie-ins to the film, will be an action guide on human trafficking called Not For Sale, written by David Batstone, editor of Sojourners magazine. HSF v-p and deputy publisher Mark Tauber calls the $31 billion trafficking industry "essentially the modern-day slavery," and said that Not For Sale "profiles some of the heroes of today's human trafficking interference, along with some of the victims, and talks about what you can do." Walden will share in the royalties for the Amazing Grace biography, but not those of Not For Sale.
Read the full story... |
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The Da Vinci Dust-Up; Rich Goes to Cook
by Lynn Garrett
On Saturday and Sunday (May 13 and 14—just in advance of the opening of the film version of The Da Vinci Code the following week—a documentary, The Da Vinci Delusion, airs nationwide on The Coral Ridge Hour, the TV program of evangelist and author D. James Kennedy (What If America Were a Christian Nation Again?). The documentary—shot in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta—features 15 evangelical and Roman Catholic experts, such as scholars Paul Maier (coauthor of The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction) and Darrell Bock (Breaking the Da Vinci Code);
authors Erwin Lutzer (The Da Vinci Deception), Peter Jones (coauthor of Cracking Da Vinci’s Code) and Lee Strobel (coauthor of Exploring the Da Vinci Code); journalists Jane Parshall and Sandra Miesel; and William Donohue, head of the Catholic League. For times and stations, go to www.davincidelusion.org.
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Tim Bascom: Chameleon Days: An American Boyhood in Ethiopia
by Juli Cragg Hilliard
 In 1964, Tim Bascom's missionary parents moved him from the Midwest to Ethiopia. His memoir about growing up there was six years in the writing and won the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference Bakeless 2005 nonfiction prize, which included publication by Houghton Mifflin's Mariner imprint as Chameleon Days (June). Bascom now lives with his wife and two sons in Newton, Iowa.
RBL: Why is the book called Chameleon Days?
TB: The first thing that I remember from going to Ethiopia when I was just three years old—and the first thing I remember as an individual—was this chameleon I saw on a poinsettia plant outside the language school where my parents were learning to speak Amharic. It became a motif that worked well for my experience as a child who had been transplanted into a completely different culture.
RBL: What was your process in assembling memories, events and facts for the book?
TB: I often would start with some initial impression of nuggets of memory, and that would unlock other memories, and they would start to assemble around that initial memory.
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SPOTLIGHT ON...Buddhism and War |
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Thoughts of Peace on Buddha's Birthday
by Marcia Z. Nelson
 Theravada Buddhists in southeast Asian countries will celebrate Wesak day this Saturday (May 13), marking the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha. Some forthcoming Buddhist books promote that enlightenment, highlighting Buddhism's focus on peace, both personal and universal.
Despite its title, The Buddha at War by Robert Sachs (Watkins Press, June) obviously does not offer advice for killing, which is prohibited in Buddhism. A health consultant who specializes in Tibetan and Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Sachs (Tibetan Ayurveda: Health Secrets from the Roof of the World) wrote the book to apply Buddhist teachings to social and political transformation. "I was raised in a house that put a lot of emphasis on paying attention to social and political issues," said Sachs, who lives in California and has practiced Tibetan Buddhism since 1975. Through meditation and Buddhist practices, not only individual consciousness but the world itself can be transformed, Sachs believes. "Another aspect important for me to bring out in this book is a sense of
hopefulness," he told RBL.
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| Two Reviews Coming in PW Religion Update on May 22 |
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 Fighting for Dear Life: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo and What It Means for All of Us
David Gibbs with Bob DeMoss. Bethany House, $19.99 (272p) ISBN 0-7642-0243-X
Promising a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the real story of Terri Schiavo—"the truth which has been withheld from you…that we were not able to introduce as evidence in court"—Gibbs, the lead attorney for Terri’s parents, argues that Terri’s court-ordered death was a gross miscarriage of justice.
READ FULL REVIEW |
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 The Muslims of Thailand
Michael Gilquin. Silkworm Books [Univ. of Washington, dist.], $16.95 paper (184p) ISBN 974-9575-85-7
Although Thailand is most obviously known as a Theravada Buddhist country, it has a sizeable Muslim minority of up to eight percent of the population, and they are the majority in three southern provinces.
READ FULL REVIEW |
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A Starred Review Coming in PW Religion Update on May 22
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 The Decline of the Secular University
C. John Sommerville. Oxford, $22 (176p) ISBN 0-19-530695-8
Brief, hard-hitting, and often brilliant, this treatise by emeritus historian Sommerville builds the controversial argument that secular universities in America have neglected religion at their peril. "The secular university is increasingly marginal to American society," he contends, adding that this marginalization is a direct result of universities’ secularism. Even as Americans have become ever more religious, the university has become a credential factory rather than a place where students—and indeed, all members of society—seek answers to life’s most important questions. Sommerville looks at the state of numerous academic disciplines, including the sciences, and incisively investigates the role of the university in America
today. While the book is long on diagnosis, with chapters exploring the problem from many different angles, it comes up a bit short on prescription. Sommerville points to some tantalizing (and contentious) potential solutions, like allowing religion back into public debates and resurrecting the practice of teaching required courses on Western civilization, but one is left hoping that the full outline of his recommendations might be fodder for a second book. (July 7)
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An Original RBL Review
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 Sanctified Blues: A Novel
Mable John and David Ritz. Harlem Moon/Random House, $12.95 paper (224p) ISBN 0-7679-2165-8
Motown singer John and biographer Ritz (Howling at the Moon) team up to write the first installment in a series of novels about Albertina Merci, a 70-year-old singer-turned-pastor. When she's not trying to talk her neighbor and friend Justine out of dead-end affairs with married men, Albertina enjoys watching Maggie's World, a daytime talk show hosted by mega-star Maggie Clay. (Think Oprah Winfrey meets Martha Stewart.) When Maggie suffers a breakdown, Albertina is saddened—and then stunned to find herself called to the depressed star's bedside. The novel, not heavy on plot, follows the two women's stormy relationship, as Albertina tries to help Maggie regain spiritual and psychological health. Albertina is a likeable character, a
sensible, generous, open-minded but very pious Christian. Throughout, John and Ritz subtly weigh in on contentious issues, suggesting, through a subplot about two lesbians, that the church be hospitable to gay people, and through a sub-plot about a mixed-race rabbi, that the church recognize Judaism as a legitimate path to God. The pacing could use a little help—the central story of Albertina and Maggie's relationship drags a little, and there are too many lengthy passages consisting solely of interior monologue, descriptions of dreams, or transcriptions of prayers. But with a little fine-tuning, John and Ritz will have a winning series. (June 13)
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RELIGION BESTSELLERS: May Border's Inc. Religion Bestsellers |
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Hardcover
- The Gospel of Judas
Edited by Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer and Gregory Wurst. National Geographic
- Misquoting Jesus
Bart Ehrman. Harper San Francisco
- The Lost Gospel: The Quest for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot
Herbert Krosney. National Geographic
- The Purpose-Driven Life
Rick Warren. Zondervan
- The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions
Karen Armstrong. Knopf
- Look Great, Feel Great: 12 Keys to Enjoying a Healthy Life Now
Joyce Meyer. Warner Faith
- Your Best Life Now
Joel Osteen. Warner Faith
- What Jesus Meant
Garry Wills. Viking
- The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity
James D. Tabor. Simon & Schuster
- House
Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker. WestBow Press
Paperback
- Jerusalem Countdown
John Hagee. Strang/FrontLine
- The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
Sam Harris. Norton
- Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott. Riverhead
- The Five Love Languages
Gary Chapman. Moody/Northfield
- A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Karen Armstrong. Ballantine
- The Case for Christ
Lee Strobel. Zondervan
- Mere Christianity
C.S. Lewis. Harper San Francisco
- 90 Minutes In Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life
Don Piper with Cecil Murphey. Revell
- Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses
Bruce Feiler. Perennial
- Abraham : A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths
Bruce Feiler. Perennial
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| Next week in RBL, we’ll feature the commemorative edition of Coretta, the biography of Coretta Scott King by her long-time friend Octavia Vivian. We’ll also have a Q&A with Robin Griffith-Jones, master of London’s Temple Church and author of The Da Vinci Code and the Secrets of the Temple. |
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