Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, March 26:

God in My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir
George Forman and Ken Abraham. W Publishing, $22.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-8499-0314-4

In his spiritual autobiography, Foreman writes, "I have God in my corner." He hopes the readers who take to heart his "tips from George's corner," found at the end of each chapter, will too. In this book—part autobiography and largely a testimonial and spiritual inspiration—Foreman, well-known heavyweight boxing champion, businessman and preacher, leads readers through steps for living a godly Christian life. His book gives some autobiographical details, including a little on his younger years, a few stories of his fights and most powerfully his experience of being born again after a boxing match he lost to Jimmy Young. Those stories serve to illustrate his theology, covered in short chapters that read like sermons. He exhorts readers to inspire others to excellence, answer the door when opportunity knocks, close it when temptation knocks, advance through adversity and so on. Foreman credits God with his remarkable successes throughout the book and ends it with an altar call, inviting readers to meet him in heaven someday. Non-Christian boxing fans probably won't find enough about boxing or Foreman, but evangelical Christians who admire Foreman's many good works will find the book inspirational. (May 22)

Hare Krishna Transformed
E. Burke Rochford, Jr. NYU Press, $22 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-8147-7579-0

Longtime Hare Krishna observer Rochford (a professor of sociology and religion at Middlebury College) shows that devotees, formerly known for their public chanting and controversial fundraising practices, have largely moved out of the temples, taken jobs, and established nuclear families. Using survey data and extensive interviews, Rochford investigates the attitudes of the original members' children (some of whom suffered abuse in the early Hare Krishna schools), the changing roles of women, differing modes of affiliation with the organization, and the increasing influence of Indian Hindu immigrants in what is formally known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). His findings are generally clear and convincing, and he lets the devotees speak for themselves in frequent quotes. Rochford tends to discuss trends within ISKCON without much consideration for the cultural and political context of the last two decades, and he misses opportunities to draw connections between changes within ISKCON and the larger society; for example, internal debates about the interpretation and authority of scriptures certainly mirror conflicts taking place in mainstream American (and world) religion today. But this story of accommodation within a movement that forged its identity through strict rejection of secular culture provides valuable insight into how new religions evolve. (May)

Soulfully Gay: How Harvard, Sex, Drugs, and Integral Philosophy Drove Me Crazy and Brought Me Back to God
Joe Perez. Shambhala/Integral, $16.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-59030-418-1

Crystal meth, the Catholic church, leather bars, Jesus, a psychiatric ward, falling T-cell counts, terrifying visions—these are just some of the topics in this collection of blogs, personal journals and newspaper columns from 2003 and 2004. Perez, now 37, came out during his senior year at Harvard, lost his brother to AIDS a year later and tested HIV-positive at age 24. Raised Catholic, he suffered addiction and psychosis as he tried to reconcile his gayness and his hunger for religious experience. Then he discovered the books of Ken Wilber, a leader in the Integral Movement, and for the first time thought he had found a way to reconcile his warring drives; much of the book explains the philosophy of Wilber (who pens the foreword) and that of his follower Jim Marion. Bloglike, Perez's account leaps from memoir to book review to exposition to interview. Perhaps his most successful entries are his psychedelic descriptions of madness: his breakdown in his late 20s, his mystical experiences in the hospital, his nightmares as psychosis returned. This is an arresting record of a soul in progress, but readers who come for the story may leave during the lectures. (May)

The New Testament With Imagination: A Fresh Approach to Its Writings and Themes
William Loader. Eerdmans, $16 paper (188p) ISBN 978-0-8028-2746-3

Loader, an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow at Murdoch University in Perth, reintroduces the New Testament to the modern reader in this interesting and accessible study of the texts, considered within their cultural context. The author well understands that reading ancient documents requires a knowledge of how people lived and societies functioned at the time of the writing. By bringing readers into the everyday experience of the New Testament writers, we gain a wider context in which to read the sacred writings. Loader uses the methods of modern criticism to clarify some of the puzzling aspects of biblical study—why, for example, do the gospel accounts sometimes read differently? And his study of John's writings, especially his exposition of the book of Revelation, helps restore balance to the field of apocalyptic studies. Loader argues that for Jesus, "people mattered most and other laws, which he continued to respect, took second place after loving one's neighbor as oneself." Loader reminds us that, even as an inspired document, the New Testament remains the product of human hands, written in a time and place long distant to our own experience. Immersing oneself in that environment is essential to obtaining a correct view of the life, and teachings, of Jesus and the apostles. (May)

A Starred Review Coming in PW on Monday, March 26:

The Voice, The Word, The Books: The Sacred Scripture of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims
F. E. Peters. Princeton, $29.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-691-13112-2

Peters, professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at NYU and author of The Children of Abraham, lucidly explains how Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities understand and interact with their sacred texts—the Tanakh, the Bible, and the Qur'an. Unsurprisingly, he opens with discussions of authorship and canonization: who wrote the books, how did the sacred texts achieve their final form, and how do religious authorities discern what counts as "the Word of God"? He also takes up the question of translation, elucidating the theology that underlies the Islamic belief that "a translated Qur'an is not really a Qur'an." But the truly fascinating sections of the book investigate quirkier topics, such as the different religions' regulations about the conditions under which people are allowed to handle sacred books. One of the most interesting chapters addresses the relationship between art and text, examining how various scribes and calligraphers have illustrated holy books; Peters makes an intriguing claim about the Qur'an, suggesting that despite Islamic insistence that the meaning of the text lies solely in the words, "Qur'anic decoration"—geometric and floral imagery—may "add another layer of meaning." This is undoubtedly one of the best single volumes on the history of sacred text in the Abrahamic faiths, and many readers will find it an invaluable resource. (May)