If it’s true that a book takes on a life of its own, then each has a life story waiting to be told. So let the telling begin--starting with books that have sought the divine and rocked history, one soul at a time.
That’s the ambitious idea behind the new Lives of Great Religious Books series, which debuted March 24 from Princeton University Press. A similar concept is helping grow religion books in the Penguin Classics series from the Penguin Group (USA).
Each book in Princeton’s series is subtitled “A Biography.” The author’s task: tell how a great work has been interpreted, applied, and used to change lives profoundly over time. For the inaugural trio, Princeton has lined up Augustine’s Confessions by Gary Wills, Dietrich Bonheoffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison by Martin Marty, and The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
With the Lives of Great Religious Books series, Princeton aims to fill a void on the publishing landscape. Fred Appel, editor of the series, notes that Grove/Atlantic has a Books That Changed the World series, but they conspicuously avoid religious topics, focusing instead on works by such thinkers as Karl Marx and Charles Darwin. Meanwhile, books such as Judaism for Dummies offer overview primers, but they don’t entice readers who are drawn to a compelling non-fiction narrative.
“An educated, curious reader might not want to make his or her way through a large, introductory book,” Appel said. But that reader “might be able to gain good insight into that tradition through a book that recounts the story of the reception of a sacred book.”
Lives of Great Religious Books provides a portal, Appel said, for readers to probe where, how, and why particular religious ideas have caught fire. In each, a scholar-author aims to fit a lively story into a tight package of 30,000 to 60,000 words. Each is priced for trade versus academic sale; debut titles range from $19.95 to $24.95.
In defining great religious books, Princeton is casting the net wide across cultural and spiritual traditions. Forthcoming biographies will include the I Ching, The Book of Mormon, and the biblical Book of Revelation.
Penguin has already seen how religion classics can enjoy a sales boost from religion-related news events. The Penguin Classics edition of The Qur’an sold 1,000 copies in September, up from a forecasted 300, on global news that Florida pastor Terry Jones’ congregation was gearing up to burn the Muslim holy book.
Penguin Classics editorial director Elda Rotor said she plans to grow the percentage of religion books in the series. Religion now constitutes five to 10 percent of Penguin Classics titles each year. Of the 50 top sellers in 2010, two were religion titles: Tao Te Ching and Confessions.
Like Appel, Rotor looks to sign translators and others scholars who can write a compelling introduction and frame the topic for readers who aren’t academics.
“We want to acquire works edited by leading scholars and experts who have that capability of sharing their scholarship with students, and in an engaging fashion with non-specialists, too,” Rotor said.
G. Jeffrey MacDonald is an independent journalist and author of Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul (Basic Books, 2010).
