Doubleday Will Publish Rick Warren Bio

by Lynn Garrett, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 3/7/2007

Doubleday has just signed a biography of Rick Warren, mega-church pastor and author of mega-selling The Purpose-Driven Life. The book, to be titled Prophet of Purpose: The Rick Warren Story, will be written by Jeff Sheler, former religion editor for U.S. News & World Report and the author of Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America (Viking, 2006) and Is the Bible True? (Harper San Francisco, 1999). A February 2009 release is projected. Acquiring editor Andrew Corbin described the deal as "very nice," meaning the advance is probably in the $50,000-$100,000 range. Sheler's long-time agent, Gail Ross, brokered the deal.

Corbin said the project appealed to him because the book won't just be a standard biography, but will place Warren in the larger context of contemporary evangelicalism. "Warren represents a new stream in evangelical Christianity—socially involved, yet not tied to any one party of person politically," said Corbin. "The issues he's involved in, like AIDS in Africa, are hugely important and deserve more attention."

Said Sheler, "In the past few years, Warren has emerged as arguably one of the most recognized and admired figures in evangelicalism. His integrity, his civility, the fact that he is not aligned with the old guard of the Religious Right—the media seeks him out as a more moderate and winsome kind of evangelical." Sheler calls this "a pivotal moment for the evangelical movement. The Billy Graham era is closing, and he has been a uniting figure for a fractured and fractious movement. I think Warren has the potential to be that uniting figure for a new generation of evangelicals."

Warren has agreed to cooperate, but Sheler stresses, "This will not be an authorized biography. It will show the whole human being, faults and all."