Cook Partners

Creation Care and Christian Publishers

On Monday, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's Rush to Press included an item on new goals for the U.S. publishing industry:

The Book Industry Environmental Council announced a goal of reducing the U.S. book industry’s greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020 (from a 2006 baseline) with the intent of achieving an 80% reduction by 2050. This industry-wide commitment is a global first in publishing.

Publishers Weekly, meanwhile, highlights "green theology" titles:

With publishers singing the bottom-line blues, some are turning to green... green books, that is. Although they have long popped up on general trade publisher lists, environment-friendly titles are growing very visibly at religion and spirituality publishing houses. Is green theology their new buzzword?

From the Green Bible to David C. Cook's Green - A Family Outreach Event kit, Christian and non-Christian publishers are taking a look at the relationship between religion and ecology. Some even call this movement "A New Genesis: Getting World Religions to Worship Ecologically." 

Are you offering resources for creation care in your catalog?

USA: Religion Losing Ground?

USA Today provides an "interactive graphic" for the data from the recently-released American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS):

The 2008 results ... are based on 54,000 interviews with a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5%. It finds that, despite population growth and immigration adding nearly 50 million more adults, almost all denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS data was released in 1990.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal features another article that argues "God Still Isn't Dead" in the U.S., and in fact,

The real strength of religious America lies in its diversity. There are more than 200 religious traditions in America, with 20 different sorts of Baptists alone. Religious America is remarkably good at segmenting its customer base...

Looked at from a celestial perspective, the American model of religion, far from retreating, is going global. Pastorpreneurs are taking their message around the world.

Russian Orthodox Church Growth in Russia

From "Soul of Russia," in the current issue of National Geographic:

In 1987 there were only three monasteries in Russia; today there are 478. Then there were just two seminaries; now there are 25. Most striking is the explosion of churches, from about 2,000 in Gorbachev's time to nearly 13,000 today. The Russian Orthodox Church has grown into a sprawling institution, with dozens of publishing houses and hundreds of thriving journals, newspapers, and websites.

Spanish and Hip-Hop Bible News

Publisher's Weekly featured Urban Spirit!, "a book packager/publishing house specializing in producing Bibles" for the African-American market:

In January the firm partnered with Tyndale House to release Soul Infinity, a New Testament Bible aimed at the hip-hop generation. ... [Mel] Banks [Jr., the founder,] noted that while Tyndale House is publishing Urban Spirit's Soul Infinity, he's concerned that the publisher may actually be overemphasizing the African-American aspect. “The African-American market is great, but hip-hop is bigger than the black market,” said Banks. “Caucasian readers are probably the biggest market for hip-hop. Hip-hop is a global phenomenon.”

For the Spanish-language market, Tyndale Español will soon be releasing the New Living Translation New Testament in Spanish, with a version for new believers set to come out this May.

In March, and continuing through April, Grupo Nelson is partnering with CVC La Voz to promote its Nueva Biblia al Día through the ¡Sigue el Libro! (Follow the Book) campaign.

And in other Spanish news, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints announced that it will publish a Spanish-language Bible using the Reina-Valera1909 translation, reported the Deseret News:

Church leaders began the process to produce a Latter-day Saint edition of the Bible in Spanish in response to the increase in the number of Spanish-speaking members of the church. After years of labor, this new edition will benefit an estimated four and a half million Latter-day Saints whose native language is Spanish.

... Additional information is available in English and Spanish here.

 

Postmodern Progression

In the preamble to a book review, the "Internet Monk" writes,

... We have moved from preachers and theologians writing books, to exemplary Christian laypersons writing books, to flawed and questioning Christians writing books creating a significant dialog with the idea of evangelicalism itself; a dialog where nothing is taken for granted, where significant affirmations are doubted, rejected or reframed, where deviations in evangelical behavior are celebrated and the public veneer of evangelicalism is replaced by the voice of lone Christian coming to affirm the faith on his/her own terms.

This is a kind of post-evangelical voice, and it is one that will surely set many traditional evangelicals on edge. Instead of passively taking in the answers from the home office, tradition and the consensus of preacherly wisdom, these voices are talking back and stating their own agenda. They are at war with “the usual,” and their eclectic, sometimes irritating voices are the most authenticity evangelicalism has allowed in a long time. Quality of writing aside, this is an important development in the presentation of Christianity.

Royalties for Liturgical Texts

An article in The New Liturgical Movement asks:

The Catholic Church is alone among major Christian denominations to place its core ritual texts under copyright and charge royalties for their use. The texts of Episcopal, Lutheran, and Orthodox Churches are in the public domain, and free for anyone to print under any conditions. This encourages publishers to disseminate the texts, composers to use them for setting music, and website builders and bloggers to freely quote them in any form.

If the mission of the church is to spread the Gospel and evangelize for the faith, what possible rationale could there be for charging for the right to publish the ritual?

Spiritual Trends for 2009

The Vancouver Sun identifies five trends impacting Canadian and U.S. spirituality for 2009:

1. Eastern spirituality will flower. The spirituality of the East, particularly Buddhism, will continue to expand...
   
2. Religious terrorism will be the new normal: There is no reason to expect an end to religious-linked terrorism... more leaders will combat terrorism on multiple fronts. 
   
3. Religious liberals will build on advances ... Centrist Christians are going to be more activist...
   
4. Religious right will regroup ... American evangelicalism is becoming less monolithic.
5. Secular spirituality will strengthen. The ranks are mushrooming of those who claim, "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual."

Church Trends

In the U.S. market, Ascribe news wire reports that a National Congregations study

... reveals four trends in American worship: a growing informality in worship practices, a graying of congregations and clergy (on average), churches becoming less white and more ethnically diverse, and an ever-increasing use of technology [or, "What would Jesus blog?"]

Another U.S. trend may be the growth of small groups, according to Rick Warren, whose church is partnering with Lifeway to co-host small group events.

What are the trends among the churches you serve with your books and magazines? How can your products help them prepare for the year ahead?

USA: Challenges of Church Publishers

"From Gutenberg to Google: Church publishers face many challenges." That's the lead article of the November 2008 issue of The Lutheran magazine, discussing not just Lutheran, put also Baptist, Christian Reformed, Episcopalian, Methodist, and Presbyterian publishing. An excerpt:

 Look at the figures gathered by LifeWay Research in a March study done for the Protestant Church-owned Publishers Association: Unit sales for denominational publishers are down 3.5 percent from a year ago, 8 percent from five years ago and 41 percent from 10 years ago. Denominational magazines, such as The Lutheran, follow the same trend: 2.2 percent for one year, 11 percent for five, and 20 percent for 10.

The United Methodist News Daily Digest reports declining sales as well:

The United Methodist Publishing House reported a $3.2 million shortfall in sales for the first three months of the 2008 fiscal year, even though revenue for the fiscal year ending in July was above budget and expenses were down. The current economic climate has had a "detrimental impact" in the fiscal year beginning Aug. 1, said Neil Alexander, president and publisher.

Spain: Publishers Credit Bible for Growth of Evangelicalism

Madrid's El País newspaper reports on the growth of evangelicalism in Spain, up from 4,000 a century ago to 400,000 today, not including one million immigrants, citing figures from FEREDE, the federation of evangelical entities in Spain. The article states that with evangelicals,

... it is customary for each member of the family to have his or her own copy of the Bible, or "even two or three [copies] each," notes Lola Calvo [who works on] communication and development for the Bible Society of Spain.

Passion for the Bible reaches such extremes that young evangelicals practice "sword drills." Eliseo Vila, director of Editorial Clie, with more than 2,500 Christian books in Spanish, explains this singular sport: "With a closed Bible in hand, one mentions a Bible text reference, such as John 3:16, and the winner is the first one to find and read the text out loud, if it is not cited from memory."