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Who decided to resurrect the 1950s radio program This I Believe, and why? It was just about 50 years to the day that the original series ended. [Executive producer] Dan [...]

Leaving Church (reviewed on p. 63) is a memoir about running out of steam, of being so harried in your work as an Episcopal priest that you eventually left the [...]

Christian retailers met January 23-28 in Nashville for CBA Advance, the association's midwinter show, which grows smaller each year amid continuing questions about the need for two annual conventions. In [...]

Your book Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Univ. of Illinois Press) was published more than 20 years ago. Why do this continuation (reviewed on p. 70)? That biography [...]

The International Christian Retail Show held in Denver last week included a number of new features (including a new name), the most ambitious of which, a 'soft opening,' drew a [...]

Modest improvement in the Catholic book market helped to boost spirits at the Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit, held May 31-June 3 in St. Charles, Ill. Most publishers reported strong orders, [...]

HOW TO EXPAND LOVE: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships THE DALAI LAMA, TRANS. AND EDITED BY JEFFREY HOPKINS. Atria, $20 (212p) ISBN 0-7432-6968-3 In this simple primer on compassion [...]

MORE LUNCH BAG NOTES: Everyday Advice from a Dad to His Son ANTHONY PARISI AND AL PARISI. Loyola, $13.95 paper (240p) ISBN 0-8294-2171-8 This sequel to Al Parisi's Lunch Bag [...]

CONNECTING WITH YOUR KIDS: How Fast Families Can Move from Chaos to Closeness TIMOTHY SMITH. Bethany, $12.99 paper (224p) ISBN 0-7642-0131-X Smith, a family coach and conference speaker, diagnoses hurry [...]

HOW CAN I LET GO IF I DON'T KNOW I'M HOLDING ON?: Setting Our Souls Free LINDA DOUTY. Morehouse, $13.95 paper (128p) ISBN 0-8192-2132-5 What kinds of things are we [...]

The Christian market has never suffered from a dearth of books on building strong marriages. But what about the roughly half of Christian marriages that don't make it? A recent [...]

GET THE JUNK OUT OF YOUR TRUNK: Let Go of the Past to Live Your Best Life DUANE WANDER KLOK. Chosen, $11.99 paper (144p) ISBN 0-8007-9399-4 Although the title might [...]

A TABLE BY THE WINDOW: A Novel of Suspense LAWANA BLACKWELL. Bethany House, $12.99 paper (400p) ISBN 0-7642-8077-5 CBA readers will recognize the essential plot contours of this offering from [...]

THE ROAD TO HOME VANESSA DEL FABBRO. Steeple Hill, $12.95 paper (320p) ISBN 0-373-78537-2 * After South African journalist Monica Brunetti is robbed searching and shot while researching a story [...]

BEYOND THE BLUE LESLIE GOULD. WaterBrook, $13.99 paper (368p) ISBN 1-57856-822-6 The Vietnam War shatters the lives of two families thousands of miles apart in this uneven novel by Gould [...]

DISTANT ECHOES: Book One in the Aloha Reef Series COLLEEN COBLE. WestBow Press, $13.99 paper (304p) ISBN 0-7852-6042-0 After a missile 'accident' results in the deaths of several tourists, Hawaiian [...]

POTTER SPRINGS BRITTA COLEMAN. Center Street, $18.95 (294p) ISBN 0-446-57778-2 When Amanda Thompson, fiery and a tad impulsive, meets the handsome young pastor Mark Reynolds, they both know it's the [...]

PW: What inspired you to take a cross-country tour of America [Roadside Religion, see review p. 74] to visit kitschy religious sites? Timothy Beal: We were in D.C., where I [...]

Maybe Starbucks is on to something. The Parable Group, a marketing consortium for some 223 independent Christian bookstores, in the belief that a consistent presentation of product reassures the consumer, [...]

PW: Your new book, The Gospel According to America, is a wide-ranging, ambitious survey of American religion and culture. What were you hoping to accomplish? David Dark: I'd been disturbed [...]

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY Of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature held their joint annual meeting in San Antonio, Tex., November 20-23. The meeting drew 8,422 scholars--down from last year's [...]

THE MARTYRS OF KARBALA: Shi'i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran KAMRAN Scot AGHAIE. Univ. of Washington, $60 (248p) ISBN 0-29598448-1; $24.95 paper ISBN 0-295-98455-4 In 680 CE, the Prophet [...]

ALIENS ADORED: Rael's UFO Religion Susan J. Palmer. Rutgers, $60 (224p) ISBN 0-8135-3475.5; $17.95 paper ISBN 0-8135-3476-3 * Palmer, a professor of religious studies at Dawson College in Montreal, offers [...]

BLACK AND MORMON EDITED BY NEWELL G. BRINGHURST AND DARRON T. SMITH. Univ. of Illinois, $34.95 (176p) ISBN 0-252-02947-X In 1978, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reversed [...]

GETTING THE GOSPELS: Understanding the New Testament's Accounts of Jesus' Life STEVEN L. BRIDGE. Hendrickson, $14.95 paper (176p) ISBN 1-56563-943-X * With its short but packed chapters, accessible writing style [...]

SHIPSHEWANA: An Indiana Amish Community DOROTHY O. PRATT. Indiana, $29.95 (209p) ISBN 0-253-34518-9 In this careful community study, Pratt (a professor and assistant dean at Notre Dame) analyzes the tension [...]

SOME OF THE GREATEST excitement in religion at this year's BEA was found in religion publishing in unexpected houses and genres, especially the graphic novel. Vertical featured its three-volume narrative [...]

The Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit (June 1-4), held in St. Charles, Ill., and serving Catholic, Episcopal and other liturgical bookstores, was able once again to piggyback on BEA in Chicago, [...]

[The following Q&A was inadvertently dropped from Religion Forecasts, Feb. 23, because of a production error.] PW: What prompted you to write The Miracle Detective [reviewed in Religion Forecasts, Feb. [...]

PW: Many of your television viewers on ABC News and Good Morning-America don't realize that you are an ordained minister as well as a physician. Timothy Johnson: I would guess [...]

PW: What prompted you to write Why?: Trusting God When You Don't Understand[see review, p. 247]? Anne Graham Lotz: To be honest, the real reason is one that I just [...]

PW: You note in your biography Martin Luther[see review, p. TK] that although Luther is often cited as one of the most influential people of the last millennium, there are [...]

The American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature held their joint annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga., November 22-25. It was a far quieter conclave than last year's, [...]

PW: Why the title Killing the Buddha? Jeff Sharlet: It's a saying attributed to a ninth-century Buddhist sage named Lin Chi. One day a monk said he'd met the Buddha [...]

PW: Why did you want to write A Fragile Stone [reviewed on p. 64], about the apostle Peter? Michael Card: I really didn't choose him; he chose me. I was [...]

PW: Your new book, The Brother of Jesus (p. 73), is about the ossuary that is supposed to have contained the bones of James, the brother of Jesus. Why is [...]

THE HOT TOPIC of this year's joint meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature was the recently discovered ossuary, the small limestone burial box [...]

THE HOLY PROFANE: Religion in Black Popular Music TERESA L. REED. Univ. Press of Kentucky, $40 (224p) ISBN 0-8131-2255-4 From West African spirituality to the gangsta rap of Tupac Shakur, [...]

LORENZO ALBACETE. Crossroad, $19.95 (194p) ISBN 0-8245-1951-5 Monsignor Albacete, who holds degrees in both theology and physics, speaks eloquently--and sometimes iconoclastically--about science, religion, and truth claims in this collection of [...]

JOHN BEVERLY BUTCHER. Polebridge, $20 paper (264p) ISBN 0-944344-91-7 It may sound oxymoronic to claim that a lectionary could be original, but this one truly shatters the mold. It is [...]

BROTHER DAVID STEINDL-RAST. Templeton Foundation, $12.95 (128p) ISBN 1-890151-98-X Thomas Paine might have approved of this inspirational gift book, which heralds common sense in the sayings of Jesus and in [...]

BRUCE CHILTON. Hendrickson, $19.95 (122p) ISBN 1-56563-380-6 New Testament scholar Chilton, author of Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography, here expounds upon ideas of sacred time in the Jewish and Christian [...]

DONALD COZZENS. Liturgical Press, $19.95 (208pp) ISBN 0-8146-2779-X 'How is it that a church that is the bearer of the Word and the champion of the oppressed can maintain unholy [...]

PW Talks with Forrest Church PW: Why did you write The American Creed? FC: The bcok was forged in the crucible of September 11. I worked on an instant book [...]

PW: Why did you write Grace Matters? Rice: I had to get this story out before I could move on with my life. The story centers on my friendship with [...]

PW: Were you surprised by the response to Walking the Bible? BF: I've been very moved by the reaction. I feel that what's happened to me is the physical embodiment [...]

ANNETTE SMITH. Revell, $10.99 paper (192p) ISBN 0-8007-5799-8 Don't be fooled by the too-cute-by-half cover on this collection of interrelated short stories. The vignettes within are emotional but rarely cloying, [...]

PENELOPE STOKES. W Publishing, $16.99 paper (304p) ISBN 0-8499-1706-9 As in her previous books (The Amber Photograph; The Blue Bottle Club; The Amethyst Heart; The Treasure Box), Stokes uses the [...]

MELODY CARLSON. Multnomah, $12.99 paper (300p) ISBN 1-59052-017-3 In this fourth installment of Carlson's popular Diary of a Teenage Girl YA series, Caitlin O'Conner. begins her freshman year of college. [...]