December 20, 2006   • BEHIND THE NEWS   • Audio Bible Study with Jimmy Carter • AUTHOR PROFILE: Katharine Jefferts Schori   • A Wing and a Prayer: A Message of Faith and Hope • BOOKS BRIEFLY   • Self-Publishing Success, and Then a Contract • SPOTLIGHT ON...Judaica   • New Edition of Classic Encyclopaedia Debuts • RELIGION IN REVIEW   • Three Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, January 15   • Two Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, January 15   • A Faith Fiction Review Coming in the PW Online Annex • BESTSELLERS: December Catholic Bestsellers • COMING ATTRACTIONS • HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE BEHIND THE NEWS Audio Bible Study with Jimmy Carter by Shannon Maughan Fresh off the media blitz surrounding his provocative book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is gearing up for the spring release of Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bible Study with Jimmy Carter, an original audio-only series featuring recordings of Carter's Sunday school classes conducted at Maranatha Baptist Church in his Georgia hometown. Simon & Schuster Audio, Carter's longtime publisher, will produce the series, available on three CDs and as three separate digital downloads. The first CD and download,Leading a Worthy Life, will be released March 20, 2007, and contains four classes recorded in 1998 that focus on the theme of reconciliation and examine Paul's letter to the Ephesians in the New Testament. In this initial installment, Carter also reflects on timely issues of fundamentalism, practical applications of faith in everyday life and the need for harmony among all religions. The second installment, Measuring Our Success, will follow in June 2007, and the third, as-yet-untitled installment is scheduled for fall. Each CD and download contains material from an archive of live recordings of Carter's classes—replete with his interaction with participants—as well as newly recorded original material from Carter. This new project further rounds out Carter's successful body of audiobook work. He is a current Grammy nominee for his audiobook recording of Our Endangered Values (S&S Audio), which marks his third Grammy nomination in the Best Spoken Word Album category.   AUTHOR PROFILE: Katharine Jefferts Schori A Wing and a Prayer: A Message of Faith and Hope by Donna Freitas Katharine Jefferts Schori cuts an imposing figure as she crosses the room to shake my hand. But her smile and gracious manner quickly whisk away any nervousness about sitting down to talk to the recently installed presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church—the first woman ever to hold this position—and author of A Wing and a Prayer (Morehouse, Feb.). Her new book is a collection of sermons-turned-essays and a way of allowing the wider public to get to know her better, she told RBL. "One task for all Christian denominations of our age is recontextualizing the gospel," said Jefferts Schori about the issues addressed in the collection. "If ours is going to be a living faith, we need to tell the Good News in forms, idioms, language and images that people of all generations can connect with. Even the reformer Martin Luther set hymns to the bar tunes of his day." Read the full story... BOOKS BRIEFLY Self-Publishing Success, and Then a Contract by Juli Cragg Hilliard Bret Nicholaus almost always counsels writers to self-publish first. They should do it, he says, to prove their guts, their tenacity, and that the book has a viable market. "From an author's standpoint, I think it's very rewarding to do it on your own," Nicholaus told RBL. He should know. In 2000, he wrote The Christmas Letters, self-published it with business and writing partner Paul Lowrie, and sold nearly 60,000 copies before a publisher bought the book. In October, Hachette Group USA's Center Street imprint released it, with a first run of 75,000 copies. The book, Nicholaus's first alone and first fiction, centers on a grandfather who reminds his family of Christmas's true meaning. Nicholaus said he started writing about six one July evening and, with a four-hour break for sleep, finished by 11:30 the next morning. Nicholaus chose to self-publish, though he and Lowrie had already had mainstream success with nonfiction bestseller The Conversation Piece: Creative Questions to Tickle the Mind (Ballantine, 1996). They also first self-published that, in 1992. Read the full story... SPOTLIGHT ON...Judaica New Edition of Classic Encyclopaedia Debuts by Holly Lebowitz Rossi In an age where Wikipedia and Google have made fact-finding quick and almost universally available, some might think the future of traditional scholarly encyclopedias is in question. But more than thirty years after the publication of its first edition, a second, completely revised edition of the classic humanities work Encyclopaedia Judaica shipped on December 14. With an initial print run of 5,000 copies, the encyclopedia is published by Thomson Gale and the Israel-based Keter Publishing House, the same partnership that released the original edition in 1972, though that edition was published under the name Macmillan Reference, now an imprint of Thomson Gale. The project is edited by Michael Berenbaum, an adjunct professor of theology at the University of Judaism and noted Holocaust scholar and developer of museums and historical films. Read the full story... RELIGION IN REVIEW Three Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, January 15 Jesus for the Non-Religious John Shelby Spong. Harper San Francisco, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-076207-0 In this impassioned work, Spong, the iconoclastic former Episcopal bishop of Newark, details in this impassioned work both his "deep commitment to Jesus of Nazareth" and his "deep alienation from the traditional symbols" that surround Jesus. READ FULL REVIEW Ritual Sacrifice: Blood and Redemption Brenda Ralph Lewis. Sutton, $19.95 paper (356p) ISBN 978-0-7509-4500-4 Although many might dismiss ritual sacrifice as cruel, Lewis—a seasoned journalist and historian who is a specialist in the Aztecs—reveals it as a highly complex activity, one deeply entrenched even in the rituals of contemporary Christianity, and alive and well in the recent rise of neo-paganism in the West. READ FULL REVIEW Hippies of the Religious Right: From the Counterculture of Jerry Garcia to the Subculture of Jerry Falwell Preston Shires. Baylor Univ., $29.95 paper (242p) ISBN 978-1-932792-57-0 Shires, who teaches history at a community college in Nebraska, contends that a surprising number of teens and young adults who participated in the 1960s counterculture eventually made their way to the "robust evangelical movement" of the 1970s and 1980s. READ FULL REVIEW Two Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, January 15 Hidden in Plain Sight: Seven Old Things That Can Make Your Life New Mark Buchanan. W, $17.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-8499-0174-4 A book on virtue may seem a thing of the past, but pastor Buchanan (Your God Is Too Safe; Things Unseen) puts a modern twist on its study and practice. "How do I get more of God in my life?" he asks himself. The answer has been obvious since the Apostle Peter, a follower of Jesus Christ, reputedly penned the words of the Bible's 2 Peter 1:1-9 nearly 2,000 years ago. Peter, who Buchanan describes as "by turns rash, dithering, cocky, [and] cowering," lists in that passage seven virtues faithful Christians must seek to grow closer to God: goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Buchanan first digs deeply into the faith that undergirds these virtues, then studies each one in depth. He defines, explains, details and applies each virtue to the Christian life, building one upon the other with the expertise of a master. Buchanan's creative and image-filled writing brings life to what could be a dry subject, and his spiritual depth reveals Peter's heart: "Possess [these virtues] in increasing measure, and the life of Christ can flow unimpeded through you."(2 Peter 1:8) This is a startlingly honest, newly revealing look at both Peter and these virtues left unmined for too long. (Mar. 13) You Were Made for Love: Embracing the Life You Were Meant to Live Philip Carlson. Cook, $14.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7814-4432-3 Carlson straddles two professional worlds as the pastor of an Evangelical Free Church and a part-time family physician. His propensity for offering compassionate care and practical counsel to church folk and patients alike shines through in this book, which exudes substantive and hopeful inspiration. Similar to Max Lucado's easy-on-the-heartstrings style, Carlson provides sound theological truth intermixed with true stories of faith-pursuing men and women. He focuses first upon understanding where love comes from as cited in 1 John 4:7-21, then explores what love looks like from the classic love passage in 1 Corinthians 13, and concludes with learning ways love grows best as found in Isaiah 58:1-12. Carlson touches on Christians' obligations to see commitments through, humbly defer to others, harness the power of a gentle spirit, sacrifice in costly ways to be kind, and develop a robust trust in God. One particularly moving lesson speaks of the "compelling agents of transformation" that the words and actions of kind people represent to a hurting, broken world. Carlson proposes that people will not listen to a Christian message until they see it first in a human life. Evangelicals from every camp will find comfort in this book, and be sparked to revive their faith after reading it. (Mar.) A Faith Fiction Review Coming in the PW Online Annex Sex in the Sanctuary Lutishia Lovely. Dafina Books/Kensington, $15 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-7582-1751-6 Debut novelist and former talk show host Lovely offers a lowbrow novel of romance and adultery in an African-American church community. At the center of the story is King Brook, a charismatic pastor with a nasty habit of cheating on his long-suffering wife, Tai. His latest affair threatens to undo Tai, and she must decide whether to stay or go. Cheering for the Brookses' marriage is Tai's best friend Vivian, whose dreamy, too-good-to-be-true marriage is enviable, and Tai's mother-in-law, who once whipped her own deceitful husband back into shape. While weighing her options, Tai, of course, makes herself more attractive by joining a gym, losing weight, and taking a class at a community college. Meanwhile, a seemingly together young woman in the same community becomes fixated on a rich bachelor, and her obsession actually threatens her sanity. The uninspired plot is not improved by Lovely's writing. Platitudes about God's faithfulness are outnumbered only by badly written sex scenes ("It looks like Mister Big is getting bigger," are Vivian's first words to her husband one morning). The women are always dressed to the nines, and the lists of name-brand apparel—Manolo Blahnik pumps, Donna Karan sweaters, and Calvin Klein handbags—quickly get old. The novel's ending, with its emphasis on forgiveness, is predictable. (Feb.) BESTSELLERS: November Catholic Bestsellers Hardcovers Perfectly Yourself: 9 Lessons for Enduring Happiness Matthew Kelly. Beacon Publishing/Ballantine Mother Angelica Raymond Arroyo. Doubleday The Rhythm of Life Matthew Kelly. Beacon Publishing/Fireside Celebration of Discipline, 25th Anniversary Edition Richard Foster. Harper San Francisco My Life With the Saints James Martin. Loyola Press The Seven Levels of Intimacy Matthew Kelly. Beacon Publishing/Fireside Rediscovering Catholicism Matthew Kelly. Beacon Publishing Catechism of the Catholic Church Doubleday/Our Sunday Visitor/USCCB Publishing Gospels and Acts, The Saint James's Donald Jackson. Liturgical Press Paperbacks Not By Bread Alone: Daily Reflections for Lent 2007 Sherri L. Valee. Liturgical Press Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis. Harper San Francisco The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis. Harper San Francisco Catechism of the Catholic Church Doubleday/Our Sunday Visitor/USCCB Publishing Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church Libreria Editrice Vaticana, USCCB Publishing United States Catholic Catechism for Adults USCCB Publishing A Year of Sundays: Gospel Reflections 2007 Cackie Upchurch and Clifford Yeary. Liturgical Press The Great Divorce C.S. Lewis. Harper San Francisco Handbook for Today's Catholic A Redemptorist Pastoral Publication. Liguori Publications Open Mind, Open Heart: 20th Anniversary Edition Thomas Keating. Continuum © 2006 Catholic Book Publishers Association, Inc.         COMING ATTRACTIONS RBL takes a break next week. We’ll return January 3. Happy Holidays to all!   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/CA6401080/2287.html To read past issues, click here. TO UNSUBSCRIBE You are currently registered to receive PW Religion BookLine at: michael.gwertzman@reedbusiness.com To unsubscribe, e-mail us here TO VIEW OUR UPDATED PRIVACY POLICY Click here. 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