Former President Jimmy Carter remains a busy man. The 87-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has two books from Zondervan: Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President (Jan.) and NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter (Mar.). He was in Egypt last week. He was also recently at Disney World with 33 other members of the Carter family, including 12 grandchildren. Carter has taught Sunday School for more than 30 years, including the years when he was president, when he taught, unannounced, at First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. That material went into his newest books.

PW: Do you call yourself a Baptist or a Christian or prefer some other term?

Jimmy Carter: Baptist and Christian and believer and evangelist -- they’re all compatible. I am a Baptist Christian.

PW: Many people become more spiritually inclined as they age. Is that true of you?

JC: No, I don’t think so. I’ve had ups and downs, I’ve had time when my faith was shaken, when I go through the exigencies of life, when I have failures or embarrassments. I have stability in my life through my faith.

PW: Do you have a favorite biblical book or story?

JC: My favorite book is the Gospel of John. It’s very emotional. John wrote his own gospel later in life, and he actually walked with Christ. I also like “Be ye kind to one another, forgiving one another.” (Eph. 4:32)

PW: You talk in your book about it being hard to pray at times. Has that gotten easier over time?

JC: It has been hard for me to pray. I prayed more when I was president than any other time. I prayed more the year the hostages were held by Iranians than at any other time. I think that’s the most fervently and frequently that I prayed.

PW: How do your ideas about justice relate to what the Bible says about justice?

JC: Jesus reached out to people who were scorned, people who were deeply in need, who were suffering or outcasts. He was a Jew but he made it clear that God was a god of gentiles and Jews. When we look at how we should act, whether we’re a Christian or nonbeliever, we can look at the life of Christ.

PW: What’s next?

JC: I have a Bible coming out (NIV Lessons from Life Bible). There are about 200 of my comments on specific passages; I had a lot of time this (past) summer when I was physically incapacitated [Carter had knee replacement surgery]. I went through my Sunday School lessons.