What's the Most Widely Read Magazine?

According to the New York Review of Magazines this magazine tops the charts with 40 million a month and is printed in 180 languages and sent to 236 countries.  Did you guess it?  It's The Watchtower magazine from the Jehovah's Witnesses.  According to the article:

"The Watchtower is the most widely distributed magazine in the world, with a circulation of more than 25 million. Last year, the world’s 7.3 million-strong Jehovah’s Witnesses spent 1.5 trillion hours knocking on doors and “street Witnessing” — stopping folks in parks and on streets — to preach the “good news” with a copy of The Watchtower. Its closest competitors are AARP The Magazine (circulation 24.3 million) and Better Homes and Gardens (7.6 million). It doesn’t hurt that The Watchtower has been free since 1990, with the option of a small donation."

I do detect a small discrepancy between the article title and the write up.  The title says it's the most widely read magazine while the article itself more accurately describes it as the most widely distributed magazine.  However you look at it it is troubling and impressive all at once. 

Great Video

Everyone at the store loves this video.  I found it first linked from John Stackhouse's blog. 

Take a look. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

In Store Now - Kinda Christianity

Here's a book that's sure to ruffle some feathers.  Ted Kluck, co-author of Why We're Not Emegent, and Zach Bartels have teamed up to give us a satire on the emergent church entitled Kinda Christianity.  Some will miss the humor and go straight to being offended. For example, here are the three rules of Kinda Christianity:

1.  Always strive to sound deep.  Don't actually talk about what you believe directly (after all, 'believe' is a Greco-Roman, bounded-set category).  Instead wax poetic about 'something trying to be born from the womb of a better future' or about 'harmonizing, dancing, sacred eco-systems.'  This makes you sound ridiculous to most people, but very deep to a few.  And it's those few who buy your books or read your blog, so they're the ones who matter.

2.  Be unspeakably smug, and call it 'humble.'

3.  Remember, the only absolute truth in Kinda Christianity is the goodness of  'The Conversation' (may it forever be praised).  If you are ever tempted to make a definitive statement not about the goodness of The Conversation, just ask a question instead. (37-38)

It's a quick read and full of good-natured humor.  Ted and Zach will be in the store Thursday, June 17th to speak on Kinda Christianity.  The book is from their newly-established publishing house Gut Check Press.  It is a paperback with 50 pages and sells for $7.99.

Lisa Miller and the Resurrection

Since according to the Church year we are still in the Easter season I wanted to do a short post on a resurrection theme. 

Lisa Miller of Newsweek magazine has a book out called Heaven: Our Enduring Fascinating with the Afterlife. In a column for the magazine she tied together the notion of heaven with the belief in the resurrection. What I found most interesting is how she ended the article:

“Resurrection may be unbelievable, but belief in a traditional heaven requires it. I think often of Jon D. Levenson, a Jewish scholar at Harvard Divinity School who hopes to bring the idea of resurrection back to mainstream Judaism, where it has been lost in practice for generations. I visited him one cold November afternoon because, as a literal-minded skeptic, I wanted him to explain to me how it works. How does God put bodies—burned in fire or pulverized in war—back together again? Levenson looked at me, eyes twinkling, and said, "It's no use to ask, 'If I had a lab at MIT, how would I try to resurrect a body?' The belief in resurrection is more radical. It's a supernatural event. It's a special act of grace or of kindness on God's part." For my part, I don't buy it. I do, however, leave the door open a crack for radical acts of grace and kindness—and for humbling ourselves before all that we don't understand.”

Now I’m not sure if she doesn’t “buy it” because Levenson couldn’t explain how God could resurrect a body after it had been burned or pulverized or if there are other reasons and this is just a favorite question she uses to play stump the scholar. I don’t mean to infer that she doesn’t take the subject seriously. I’ve actually had the pleasure of talking to Ms. Miller on the phone once. She called the store asking about our Shack forum and how the sales of the book were doing. I found her to be knowledgeable and pleasant. Her question simply strikes me as an odd one if we grant the existence of an omnipotent God.

I have been reading portions of Death and Afterlife: A Theological Introduction by Terence Nichols from Brazos Press. I think this paragraph and the paragraph he quotes from John Polkinghorne are relevant.

"Given what we now know about our bodies, that they are constantly exchanging matter with their environments, it does not make sense to say that every particle of matter that at one time or another has been part of our bodies will be raised and transformed. Origen was right: the body is like a river. And yet if we say that none of the matter of our bodies will be carried over into the resurrection and transformed, then we are in effect saying that the empty tomb in the case of Jesus did not matter; even if his body had remained in the tomb, he still would have been resurrected. But this does not seem right. In the end, we cannot know for sure how the resurrection will take place. Our souls survive death (through their graced relationship with God) and will be ‘reclothed’ in bodies in a transformed state of matter, space, and time suitable to the resurrection. It seems that the matter of our bodies cannot be the principle element of continuity between this life and the next and that, as I have argued in the previous chapter, the principle element of continuity is indeed the soul, the form of the body.

Physicist-theologian John Polkinghorne argues a very similar point:

‘It seems a coherent belief that God will remember and reconstitute the pattern that is a human being, in an act taking place beyond present history. . . . If human beings are psychosomatic unities, then the person reconstituted by the divine act of resurrection must have new bodies to act as the carrier of the soul. It is not necessary, however, that the ‘matter’ of these bodies should be the same matter as makes up the flesh of this present world. . . That is because the material bodies of this world are intrinsically subject to mortality and decay. If the resurrected life is to be a true fulfillment, and not just a repeat of an ultimately futile history, the bodies of that world to come must be different, for they will be everlastingly redeemed from mortality. Science knows only the matter of this world, but it cannot forbid theology to believe that God is capable of bringing something totally new.’”

Simply because we can’t know how God will resurrect a body is a poor reason not to believe he can do it. Our finite knowledge is far too inferior an instrument to use as a test for what an omnipotent God can do.

Death and Afterlife is a paperback with 224 pages and sells for $22.99.  Lisa Miller's book is from HarperOne with 368 pages and sells for $25.99.

Terence Nichols is professor of theology and chair of the theology department at the University of St. Thomas. 

The Voice of D. L. Moody

As a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute I have a special place in my heart for D. L. Moody.  I was fascinated when I first heard this clip of the actual voice of Moody reading the beatitudes.  The recording is by no means clear but what you can hear is a touch of history.  Enjoy!

Coming Soon from B&H Publishing

It's coming!  The newest study Bible will be coming this August from B&H Publishing.  It is the HCSB Study Bible. 

My B&H rep showed me a sampler of some of Genesis and it looks like an impressive project.  As I get more information and spend a little time with the sampler I'll let you know more.  For now you can visit their website and find out much more.  You can find it here.  You'll find a list of contributors and a couple of videos. 

In Store Now - The Illumined Heart

If you've never read anything by Frederica Mathewes-Green may I suggest a good starting place--The Illumined Heart: Capture the Vibrant Faith of Ancient Christians.  I just started this but I love what I'm reading.  Rather than try to persuade you to how good this is let me give you a portion to read.  This is from chapter two.  You can read the first three chapters here.  This is much longer than my normal quotes but this is the minimum I thought I could get away with and still let you get a true feel for both her writing style and her message. 

"This spiritual cycle was depicted in a devotional story that came my way by e-mail. In it a young mom was reflecting on her tendency to grump and gripe, such that one day even her toddler said he didn’t want to be around her. “I wish I could make a whole-life resolution” to do better, she said, but she knew that she would inevitably fail. “I’ll make lots of bad choices, I’ll sin a lot more. My heart is heavy with this reality.”

Then, turning to the hymn “And Can It Be,” she quoted the line, “No condemnation now I dread.” Because grace has been poured out on us, she explained, we no longer have to feel burdened by our inevitable falls. We can go on trying and failing and forgiven, comforted by the limitless nature of God’s grace.

Most of us modern-day Christians will nod at this story; it sounds so right and so reassuring. But let’s imagine we could hand this e-mail to a Christian of another era, perhaps from the fifth or sixth century, living in the Middle East. We’ll call her Anna. As she reads over this anecdote, she’s perplexed by the sudden turn at the end. Oh, plenty of it sounds familiar: being grumpy, having failings, wanting to do better. She has three kids herself, and a husband who runs a busy olive press. Some of these stresses are timeless.

But how does “No condemnation now I dread” address that situation? She wants real help to change, not just consolation. And she expects that real help, through Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit. For her, this story omits that practical hope, and trails off in anticlimax.

One thing about the anecdote particularly perplexes Anna. Why is this mother mainly concerned with condemnation? For Anna, the problem is not so much the final reward of sin, but the natural daily result of it—the way it distances her from God. Her whole life is a journey toward union with God, and nettling daily failures are like rocks in the path, hindering her from drawing closer to this great love. Sins are all the little actions and inactions that serve our selfish impulses and that can be so hard to resist—even, ahead of time, hard to detect. Anna gets frustrated with these failures, not mostly because they earn a future penalty, but because they block her today from what her heart desires: to see the glory of God reflected in the face of her beloved Lord Jesus.

Just fixing the final-condemnation part won’t solve her problem. Resigning oneself to continual failure, then stamping “Debt Paid” at the end of the bill, sounds like a depressing prescription. What Anna wants instead, and what she expects, and what she steadily progresses toward, is a truly transformed life, where sin is being conquered every day.

So for Anna it’s not gloomy dread of condemnation that’s the problem. Sure, that’s what our sins deserve; yet God desires not the death of a sinner, but that we turn from our wickedness and live. His seeking, saving love is beyond question. At church Anna’s husband, Theodore, a deacon, chants prayers emphasizing God’s unceasing mercy. Many of her church’s hymns conclude with the line, “For you alone are the lover of mankind.” God the Father is likened to the father of the prodigal son, someone whose forgiving love is never ending, never deserved. Anna and her fellow worshipers see themselves as the harlot who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, or the thief on the cross, who did nothing deserving yet was “saved by a single glance” of Christ, as one hymn says. So God’s seeking, saving love is something Anna never has to doubt.

No, the problem isn’t with God, it’s with her. God continually calls to her, but she doesn’t always want to listen. His love is constant, but she doesn’t receive it consistently, or sometimes even willingly. This is because God’s love is a healing love, and healing isn’t always comfortable. It heals in a surgical sense, and the scalpel can hurt. It’s more comfortable to avoid those times of authentic confrontation with God, which can rattle us so deeply." 

Those unfamiliar with Frederica should know she is Orthodox and that comes through strongly in this book.  But it's time we stopped letting labels prevent us from learning from each other.  Pick this book up and give it a try. 

The Illumined Heart is a paperback from Paraclete Press with 111 pages and sells for $12.95. 

Coming Soon from IVP - The Wisdom of Pixar

This just looks like a fun book.  I've watched most of these movies with my kids and I still enjoy them.    Here's the catalog description of The Wisdom of Pixar: 

"Kids and adults alike love Pixar's movies. We come out of the theater not just entertained or amused, but inspired. Everybody agrees: Pixar makes fun, clean, terrific movies. But what makes these movies so appealing is not merely amazing CGI animation, clever humor or fantastic imagination. These movies are not just great. Pixar's movies are good.

Robert Velarde unpacks the movies of Pixar and shows how they display the best of classic Christian virtues. Pixar's films resonate with us because of their moral character. Their virtuous themes of hope and courage, friendship and love connect with our deepest human longings. Whether we identify with the plight of a lost fish or the adventures of toys, bugs or cars, Pixar's characters help us build our own character, with the kind of virtue that we want for ourselves and those around us.

Insightfully exploring each of Pixar's movies, this book is a friendly companion for fans, parents and church leaders. Discover how the imagination of Pixar can awaken in you a Christian vision for a moral life and a better society."

And here's a look at the table of contents:

Introduction

1 Virtue and Wisdom: An Animated Look
2 Hope and Imagination: To infinity and beyond!
3 Identity: Toy Story-You are a toy!
4 Justice: A Bug's Life-For oppressed ants everywhere!
5 Friendship: Toy Story 2-You've got a friend in me.
6 Humor: Monsters, Inc.-These are the jokes, kid.
7 Family: Finding Nemo-I have to find my son!
8 Courage: The Incredibles-Where's my Super suit?
9 Adventure: Cars-Life is a journey.
10 Ambition: Ratatouille-I want to make things.
11 Technology: WALL-E-Everything you need to be happy.
12 Love: Up-I have just met you, and I love you!
Conclusion

Appendix A: Pixar's Plots
Appendix B: Pixar's Short Films
Appendix C: Movie Discussion Guide
Filmography
Acknowledgments
About the Author

And finally, here's the website:  http://www.thewisdomofpixar.com/ . 

Watch for it this July.  The Wisdom of Pixar will be a paperback with 174 pages and sell for $15.00.  The author is Robert Velarde.  He is a writer and editor for Sonlight Curriculum. He is the author of The Heart of Narnia (NavPress, 2008), Inside the Screwtape Letters (Baker, forthcoming), The Power of Family Prayer (National Day of Prayer, 1999), The Lion, the Witch and the Bible (NavPress, 2005) and Examining Alternative Medicine (InterVarsity Press, 2001). A former editor for Focus on the Family, he received his M.A. in Religion from Southern Evangelical Seminary.

Coming Soon from IVP Academic - Getting the Reformation Wrong

I noted in an earlier post that the average person in the pew has a terrible knowledge of church history.  Those who have some rarely go beyond the Reformation.  But on top of that many of those who are familiar with the Reformation have a mixed bag of knowledge and unfortunately a good part of it is misinformed.

James R. Payton seeks to set the record straight in his book Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings.  My only fear is how many misunderstandings will I find myself guilty of!  Well, no better time than the present to get it right.

Take a look at the table of contents:

Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction

1 The Medieval Call for Reform
2 The Renaissance: Friend or Foe?
3 Carried Along by Misunderstandings
4 Conflict Among the Reformers
5 What the Reformers meant by Sola Fide
6 What the Reformers meant by Sola Scriptura
7 How the Anabaptists Fit In
8 Reformation in Rome
9 Changing Direction: From the Reformation to Protestant Scholasticism
10 Was the Reformation a Success?
11 Is the Reformation a Norm?
12 The Reformation as Triumph and Tragedy

Here are a few of the endorsements:

"Getting the Reformation Wrong gets the Reformation right. All students of the Reformation, whether academic or just interested, must read this book. It rightly sets the record straight about the great people and ideas of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations of the sixteenth century in a refreshingly engaging style."—Roger Olson, author of The Story of Christian Theology

"Dr. Payton's new book, Getting the Reformation Wrong, is a refreshing and stimulating look at the events of the sixteenth century and their implications. He combines a solid understanding of the scholarship with a sensitivity to the faith issues involved, particularly for Christians of all types who may be reading these pages. Ending with reference to the worldwide Protestant missionary movement, he urges his readers to consider the tension between the triumph and the tragedy that are both the legacies of these long-ago events in a way that moves the discussion of the challenges of being a Protestant Christian right up to the present." —Helen Vreugdenhil, assistant professor of history, Redeemer University College

"The title is provocative, but what James R. Payton Jr. has in mind is not the overthrowing of generations of scholarship on the Reformation, but the use of the best scholarship to guide and correct misleading impressions often held by the common reader and Christian laypeople: for example, that the Reformation was a revolutionary bolt from the blue, that the principle of sola scriptura meant a wholesale rejection of Catholic theological tradition, that the Catholic Church was truculent over against the Protestant assault, refusing all efforts at reform, and the like. These notions are indeed false. On this basis of 'getting wrongs right,' the book proves to be a lively narrative that tells the story of the most important epoch in the history of the church in a clear, understandable, unfussy manner, yet one rich in detail. I appreciate especially Payton's sober conclusion on the tragic elements of what the sixteenth century wrought."—Walter Sundberg, professor of church history, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota

Look for it this August.  Getting the Reformation Wrong will be a paperback with 240 pages and sell for $23.00. 

James R. Payton Jr. (Ph.D., University of Waterloo, Canada) is a professor of history at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. He has studied, taught and been in dialogue with Eastern Orthodoxy for many years and is the author of a number of articles on Orthodoxy and Protestant-Orthodox relations. Another area of interest for Payton is the Reformation on which he has written many articles and book reviews. Some of his works cover subjects such as John Calvin, Martin Bucer and the influence of the Reformation in Ukraine.  He is also the author of Light from the Christian East: an Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition.  It was a recipient of the World Guild 2008 Canadian Christian Writing Awards in the Biblical Studies category. 

Christopher Wright on I Kings 8:41-43

Christopher Wright preached at Calvary Church this morning and I sat through the first service.  His message was on 1 Kings 8:41-43.  Of this passage Wright says it is "the most remarkable of all the passages with a universal vision in the historical books."  It reads:

"As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people but has come from a distant land because of your name--for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm--when he comes and prays towards the temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your own people Israel."  (NIV)

Wright made several observations about the passage.  He first pointed out three assumptions that Solomon makes:

1)  It is assumed that people will hear of the reputation of YHWH.
2)  It is assumed that people from afar will be attracted to come and worship Israel's God for themselves.
3)  It is assumed that Israel's God can and will hear the prayers of foreigners.

Next he commented on the remarkable content of the request.  This is a quote from his book The Mission of God which is a good summary of this point in his sermon.

"Though Israelite worshipers rejoiced in the wonderful way their God answered their prayers (or protested vigorously when he apparently failed to), and even recognized it as a mark of their own distinctiveness among the nations (Deut. 4:7), at no time did God ever promise in so many words to do for Israel whatever they might ask of him in prayer (hence the newness of the promise Jesus made to his disciples to this effect).  Yet here Solomon asks exactly that for the 'foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel.'  Solomon asks God to do for foreigners what God had not even promised to do for Israel.  And the consideration with which Solomon seeks to persuade God to do that is equally impressive: so that the knowledge and fear of the Lord should spread to all the peoples of the earth."  (229, Emphasis his) 

It was a good message which I thoroughly enjoyed.  But as I was reading through portions of this book (as I often do during my slow times at a book table) I stumbled across another passage which I thought I would mention. 

Some time ago I read the Bible in 90 days (it was fun but it took a commitment).  I remember reading Isaiah 19:24-25.  I've read the passage before but never felt its full impact.  This time it lept off the page and shook me to the core.  I remember going into work and showing it to my co-workers.  Many of them had a similar reaction as mine--amazement.  Here's how it reads in the NIV:

"In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.  The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."   

Here's how Wright explains the wonder of this passage:

"The identity of Israel will be merged with that of Egypt and Assyria.  In case the implications of verse 24 was not clear enough, the prophet makes it unambiguous (not to mention scandalous) by applying to Egypt and Assyria descriptions that hitherto could only have been said about Israel.  In fact, the word order in Hebrew is more emphatic and shocking than the NIV translation.  It reads literally: 'Blessed be my people, Egypt[!], and the work of my hands, Assyria[!], and my inheritance, Israel.'  The shock of reading 'Egypt' immediately after 'my people' (instead of the expected Israel) and of putting Israel third on the list is palpable.  Yet there it is.  The archenemies of Israel will be absorbed into the identity, titles and privileges of Israel and share in the Abrahamic blessing of the living God, YWHW."  (493, Emphasis his)

It still blows my mind. It is a wonder of God worthy of much contemplation.  

Top Selling Study Bible Brands in 2009

One of my reps gave me a list of the top selling study Bible brands for 2009*.  Here are the top 20

1 - Life Application Study Bible
2 - NIV Study Bible
3 - ESV Study Bible
4 - Chronological Study Bible
5 - NLT Study Bible

6 - MacArthur Study Bible
7 - NKJV Study Bible
8 - Archaeological Study Bible
9 - Thompson Chain Reference
10 - Scofield (Old and New)

11 - Ryrie Study Bible
12 - New Spirit-Filled Life Study Bible
13 - Charles Stanley Life Principles Study Bible
14 - Key Word Study Bible
15 - American Patriot's Study Bible

16 - Wesley Study Bible
17 - Dake Annotated Study Bible
18 - Apologetics Study Bible
19 - New Believer's Study Bible
20 - New Inductive Study Bible

Where did your favorite end up? 

The top four didn't surprise me.  The Chronological Study Bible has made an impressive showing.  It is a beautiful Bible and the notes are very helpful.  But it has also been on sale for 50% off for a good part of the year which made it a great buy as well.  I had a pastor buy a couple of cases.  He gives them away to members in his congregation to encourage them to read through the Bible chronologically. 

If I had to have guessed I would have switched numbers 8 and 5 based on my own store sales. I was surprised to see the Ryrie Study Bible and the MacArthur Study Bible as high as they were.  I would have put them in the bottom five.  The MacArthur Study will probably jump up a couple spots since it is coming out in the ESV.  Coming in at number 17 was the Dake Annotated Study Bible.  This was a surprise but I won't be shocked if it goes up a couple of notches in the 2010 list.  My own sales have spiked ever since Benny Hinn started raving about it at the end of his shows.  I would normally order them about three times a year.  I've made about four orders already this year.   I did notice the top eight are dominated by four publishers: Zondervan, Tyndale, Crossway and Thomas Nelson.   

What stunned me the most?  The complete absence of the Quest Study Bible?  My list covers the top 27 and the Quest didn't even make an appearance. Something is fishy about that.   Either something is wrong in the tabulations or my own store sales are a really poor gage of national sales which could certainly be the case as we've seen already (or the list I have simply omitted it by mistake).  But not to place at all seems rather odd. 

*These are ranked by unit sales through Christian retail, based on Bowker PubTrack POS statistics.