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  December 19, 2007
 
• BEHIND THE NEWS
  • Thomas Nelson to Host First Open House for Retailers
  • Finalists Selected for $100,000 Rohr Prize
• SHORT TAKES
  • Muslim Author to Blog for Glamour; Green Cards from Thomas Nelson; Nautilus Awards Calling for Entries
• Q&A
  • With Liberty and Justice for Most: RBL Talks to Martha Nussbaum
• AUTHOR PROFILE
  • If I Did It Publisher Reflects on Faith
• RELIGION IN REVIEW
  • Three Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, December 24
  • Three Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, December 24
• BESTSELLERS: December PW Religion Bestsellers
• COMING ATTRACTIONS
• HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
BEHIND THE NEWS
Thomas Nelson to Host First Open House for Retailers
by Lynn Garrett
The invitations have gone out for Thomas Nelson's first Open House, a gathering of Christian retailers to be held in Nashville April 10-12. Nelson is offering to cover all expenses—airfare, hotel and meals—for two employees from each invited store among its top accounts. They will meet with Nelson authors, industry experts and company executives.

CEO Michael Hyatt announced the event this past February when Nelson bowed out of CBA's winter trade show, CBA Expo. That began an exodus of other exhibitors that led to CBA's cancellation of the trade show, which has been replaced by a conference for retailers in Indianapolis (Jan. 28-30).

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Finalists Selected for $100,000 Rohr Prize
by Daisy Maryles
Five works of nonfiction have been selected as finalists for the Sami Rohr Prize by an anonymous panel of judges drawn from the literary and academic communities. The winner receives $100,000 and two runners-up receive $7,500 apiece. Winners will be announced at the end of January.

Rohr finalists are: Ilana M. Blumberg for Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman Among Books (University of Nebraska Press); Eric L. Goldstein for The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race and American Identity (Princeton University Press); Lucette Lagnado for The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (Ecco); Michael Makovsky for Churchill's Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft (Yale University Press); and Haim Watzman for A Crack in the Earth: A Journey Up Israel's Rift Valley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

The inaugural Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature was awarded last year to fiction writer Tamar Yellin for The Genizah at the House of Shepher (Toby Press). The prize considers fiction and nonfiction in alternating years. The prize honors an emerging author in the field of Jewish literature who has written a book of exceptional literary merit that stimulates an interest in themes of Jewish concern. It is administered by The Jewish Book Council under the directorship of Geri Gindea.
SHORT TAKES
Muslim Author to Blog for Glamour; Green Cards from Thomas Nelson; Nautilus Awards Calling for Entries
by Lynn Garrett
Asma Hasan, author of American Muslims: The New Generation (Continuum, 2002) and Why I Am a Muslim: An American Odyssey (ThorsonsElement, 2005), is blogging for Glamour.com on politics and the upcoming election at www.glamour.com/news/blogs/glamocracy "I think one of the reasons I am there is because I am a Muslim, and I definitely want to write about the religious angle of the presidential election," Hasan told RBL.

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Q&A
With Liberty and Justice for Most: RBL Talks to Martha Nussbaum
by Kerry Ose

RBL: Is Liberty of Conscience (reviewed in this issue) your first book with Basic Books?

Nussbaum: Yes. I had previously talked with Basic authors who had had a very good experience with them, and I thought that for this book, which I would like to reach a wide audience, they would be a better choice than the university presses with whom I’ve previously published. I also admired my editor Bill Frucht—and I’ve really enjoyed working with him. 

RBL: Why is it important at this point in history to write a defense of America’s tradition of religious equality?

Nussbaum: History shows that the idea of equal respect has periodically been fragile in times of fear, and that is very much the case today. Many Americans, feeling insecure and fearful about the future, believe that we can best stabilize our political life by aligning the nation with a particular religious tradition. They don’t pay enough attention to the consequences of such a move for the equality of citizens, something fundamental to our democracy.

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AUTHOR PROFILE
If I Did It Publisher Reflects on Faith
by Juli Cragg Hilliard

Eric Kampmann, president of Midpoint Distributors and publisher of Beaufort Books, has hiked 1,500 miles of the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail. It's customary for hikers to take trail names, and his is "Trail Thoughts." That's also the title of his forthcoming devotional book, which releases in January. 

Trail Thoughts: A Daily Companion for Your Journey of Faith (Beaufort Books), selected for February by independent booksellers as a Book Sense Notable, is a quiet title with a reflective subject. It seems a sharp contrast to the storm Kampmann stirred up this summer when he decided to publish If I Did It—the supposedly hypothetical confession by O.J. Simpson to the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman—after HarperCollins walked away from the book and a bankruptcy court awarded the rights to Goldman's family. 

"My feeling was that there was no reason I could see not to publish the book, because the Goldmans were going to be the beneficiaries," Kampmann said. He noted that Midpoint's distributing power and Beaufort's uncontroversial history put his company in the position to handle the hot potato project.

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RELIGION IN REVIEW
Three Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, December 24
A Life with Karol: My Forty-Year Friendship with the Man Who Became Pope
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. Doubleday, $22.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-385-52374-5
Pope John Paul II's personal secretary, who is now Cardinal Dziwisz, had an insider's view of many of the events that shaped John Paul II's pontificate.
READ FULL REVIEW
Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels
Anne Beiler. Thomas Nelson, $22.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7852-2323-8
At first glance, this spiritual autobiography might appear to be another of those rags-to-riches memoirs that retired business owners love to write.
READ FULL REVIEW
God and the New Atheism: A Critical Response to Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens
John F. Haught. Westminster John Knox, $16.95 paper (156p) ISBN 978-0-664-23304-4
The recent spate of books from atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and (most stridently) Christopher Hitchens has prompted many pundits and scholars to label the trend "the New Atheism."
READ FULL REVIEW
Three Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, December 24
A Most Holy War: The Albigensian Crusade and the Battle for Christendom
Mark Gregory Pegg. Oxford, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-0-19-517131-0
When a papal legate was murdered in southern France in 1208, Pope Innocent III's reaction was swift and harsh. Convinced that the villages between Montpelier and Bordeaux were hideouts for heretics, and accusing the count of Toulouse of protecting them, the pope issued his now-famous plea for all knights and barons to be "signed with the cross" and to drive out all heretics in a great crusade. The Albigensian Crusade was the only one of the medieval crusades to pit Christian against Christian. In this lively and fast-paced inaugural book in Oxford's Pivotal Moments in World History series, Pegg grippingly retells the story of a crusade built on legend, not truth. The pope preached to his armies that whoever slaughtered these alleged heretics would not only cleanse his own soul but the soul of Christendom as well. This crusade, as Pegg remarkably demonstrates, introduced genocide into the world and paved the way for Christians to engage in the inquisitions against Jews and the crusades against Muslims that marked the remainder of the Middle Ages. Drawing on numerous primary documents, Pegg's compelling history offers fresh glimpses into the nature of religious violence as well as the easy ways that religions often fall into intolerance. (Feb.)
Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality
Martha C. Nussbaum. Basic Books, $27.50 (320p) ISBN 978-0-465-05164-9
In this engrossing history of the religion clauses of the First Amendment, Nussbaum (Cultivating Humanity) makes a strong, thoroughgoing case for America as a haven of religious liberty for believers of all stripes. Beginning with an illuminating rehabilitation of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams as America's earliest defender of religious equality, Nussbaum continues by examining how Williams's ideals have been both upheld and abandoned throughout the nation's history. After detailing the adoption of the establishment and free exercise clauses, Nussbaum comments at length on how these fairly general, vague clauses have been fleshed out by more than two centuries of case law. Refreshingly, Nussbaum does not add to the acrimonious cacophony around the idea of separation of church and state. Rather than pushing for strict separation, she argues for what philosopher John Rawls calls "overlapping consensus," which echoes Williams's belief that citizens who differ greatly on matters of ultimate meaning can still agree to respect each other's liberty of conscience. Nussbaum writes engagingly and with generosity; her critiques, particularly those of opinions written by Justices Scalia and Thomas, are pointed but respectful, and she demonstrates warm regard for Supreme Court plaintiffs who have braved persecution as they have followed the dictates of conscience. (Feb.)
Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism and the Spirit of Reproduction
Amy Laura Hall. Eerdmans, $32 (448p) ISBN 978-0-8028-3936-7
Hall, who teaches theological ethics at Duke, combines perceptive reading with stirring criticism of the corporate-inspired family ideals that have come to pervade the American Christian mainstream. Focusing on the Methodist experience, Hall's narrative potentially resonates across the theological spectrum. How did a denomination with roots in gospel activism come to be so captivated by images of material and technological progress delivered by corporate marketing? Hall mines church publications and popular media to reveal several dynamics at work. Partly because of its attempts to market itself as part of the American dream, the mid-century church became infatuated with an image of the ideal family that inevitably, if unintentionally, encouraged middle-class Protestants to insulate their families from their troubled neighbors. At the same time, corporate and scientific messages undermined the confidence of parents—and particularly mothers—in natural or traditional ways of providing for their children without commercial products and expert advice. Aspiration and anxiety combined to create families that were more focused on themselves, less secure in their Christian identity and less engaged in mission to others. Contrasting these trends with the example of Christ and the unifying message of the sacraments, Hall invites her readers to wage a "resistance" and reconsider "the least of these." (Feb.)
BESTSELLER BYTES
Chart Topper Commentary
by Daisy Maryles
In her blog, Karen Kingsbury talks about "an unforgettable birthday gift." When her son Tyler turned 15, she got him tickets to a Hannah Montana concert, plus backstage passes—eight in all. Kingsbury brought the singer one of her novels, and when Hannah heard Kingsbury's name, she exclaimed, "You're my favorite author. Can I hug you?" "We exchanged contact information and agreed to get together soon," wrote the author, describing the occasion as "a chance to make a friend, in a way only God could bring about." Her new inspirational novel, Between Sundays, is Kingsbury's first hardcover. Zondervan reports 221,000 copies in print after three trips to press.

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PW RELIGION BESTSELLERS: December
Hardcover
  1. Become a Better You
    Joel Osteen. Free Press, $25
    ISBN 978-0-7432-9688-5
  2. Reposition Yourself
    T.D. Jakes. Atria, $24
    ISBN 978-0-416-54431-9
  3. Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light
    Mother Teresa and Brian Kolodiejchuk. Doubleday, $22.95
    ISBN 978-0-385-52037-9
  4. 3:16: The Numbers of Hope
    Max Lucado. Thomas Nelson, $24.99
    ISBN 978-0-8499-0193-5
  5. Between Sundays
    Karen Kingsbury. Zondervan, $21.99
    ISBN 978-0-3102-5772-1
  6. God Is Not Great
    Christopher Hitchens. Twelve, $24.99
    ISBN 978-0-446-57980-3
  7. Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life
    Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker. Tyndale, $26.99
    ISBN 978-0-4143-1801-1
  8. A Treasury of Christmas Miracles.
    Karen Kingsbury. FaithWords, $13.99
    ISBN 978-0-446-19392-4
  9. Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
    Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt & David L. Weaver-Zercher. Jossey-Bass, $24.95
    ISBN 978-0-7879-9761-8
  10. What's So Great About Christianity
    Dinesh D'Souza. Regnery, $17.95
    ISBN 978-1-5969-8517-9

Paperback

  1. 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life
    Don Piper with Cecil Murphey. Baker/Revell, $24.99
    ISBN 0-8007-5949-4
  2. Your Best Life Now
    Joel Osteen. FaithWords, $13.99
    ISBN 978-0-446-69615-9
  3. The Five Love Languages
    Gary Chapman. Moody/Northfield, $12.99
    ISBN 1-881273-15-6
  4. Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul
    John and Stasi Eldredge. Thomas Nelson, $14.99
    ISBN 978-0-7852-8909-8
  5. The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew—Three Women Search for Understanding
    Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner. Free Press, $14
    ISBN 978-0-7432-9048-7
  6. Just Beyond the Clouds
    Karen Kingsbury. Center Street, $14.99
    ISBN 978-1-5999-5677-0
  7. Mere Christianity
    C.S. Lewis.. HarperOne, $11.95
    ISBN 978-0-06-065292-0
  8. The Portable Atheist
    Selected and with introduction by Christopher Hitchens. Da Capo Press, $17.50
    ISBN 978-0-3068-1608-6
  9. Christmas Jars
    Jason F. Wright. Shadow Mountain, $14.95
    ISBN 978-1-5903-8699-6
  10. The Parting.
    Beverly Lewis. Bethany House. $13.99
    ISBN 978-0-7642-0310-7
 
 
COMING ATTRACTIONS
The next issue of Religion BookLine (Jan. 9) will look at a new PBS documentary, The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce, and companion book with a foreword by Rick Warren, part of a wave of Wilberforce rediscovery during the 200th anniversary of the termination of the slave trade.

Correction: In a story in the November 28 issue of RBL, "More Flames in Flew Controversy," Mark Oppenheimer was quoted incorrectly. The correct quote should have read: "Tauber is free to be 'frustrated' by my article on his author. But it's misleading to say that I 'implied that Flew didn't write the book.' It was Harper's own author, ghostwriter, second ghostwriter, and editor who all stated explicitly, on the record, that Flew did not write the book."
 

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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