Holiday Books, no religion please
For the umpteenth straight year, the New York Times‘s massive “Holiday Books” edition of the Sunday Book Review gives no attention to books about religion. This makes perfect sense. Isn’t the “Holiday Books” edition a very commercial effort oriented toward gift-giving? And doesn’t everyone know that the traditional holiday for giving people books is January 1, New Year’s Day?
Furthermore, given the lack of interest in religion in the United States, who could imagine that anyone might want to give a religious book as a present?
Actually the Book Review this Sunday (December 4) contains quite a few excellent reviews by writers I admire. It also features overviews of the past year’s outstanding books in various fields. These include gift-giving naturals like Cooking and Travel and Gardening and art books and children’s books and of course Crime. Also somewhat more specialized tastes like Album Covers, Antarctica, and Hip-Hop. But Religion? Sorry, never heard of it.
The Book Review’s editors list their “100 Notable Books of 2011.” Among the 55 notable works of non-fiction, there are many fine books with religious sub-themes. Same for the 45 books of poetry and fiction.
I spot only two in the non-fiction list that could be identified as primarily addressing religion, however, one of them being Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion. Absolutely nothing approaching, dare it be mentioned, theology. Or, for that matter, philosophy or ethics.
Why is this? Can the question be raised without bringing out the thunder and lightning bolts of Bill Donohue and his acolytes? Or the corresponding circling of wagons by liberal Catholics who feel obligated to defend whatever conservative religious and political figures attack?
Yes, most of the editors of the Book Review are probably not regulars at church, synagogue, or mosque. But even secular intellectuals, including an editor of the Book Review who usually drops in at the Steinfels New Year’s Day open house, have been known to be interested in religion (and philosophy). So secularism is only part of the answer.
Commercialism is another part. Of the 55 notable non-fiction books, only one — repeat, one! — was published by a university press, the source for most serious philosophy and, along with religious publishers, for most serious theology. This is not a matter of excluding dry-as-dust scholarship: Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Princeton, and so on publish many highly accessible books of wide interest in religion. The Times list includes many good books, but they are essentially the best of the trade publishers, whose ads sustain the Book Review and whose editors, minor and major, are very much part of the Book Review’s New York world.
Secularism and circularity converge at this point. What have the Book Review editors been reading throughout the year if not (a) the reviews in the Book Review and (b) the reviews in literary journals and general interest magazines, which likewise exclude or marginalize religion, rather than those in religiously linked publications.
There is an exception to everything I’ve written so far. I think it is an exception that proves the rule. The Book Review devotes two full pages to books about religion — books for children about Hanukkah (NYT spelling) and Christmas. But when you an adult, I guess, you put away these childish things.
I do not write this simply to bemoan. Let’s be constructive. What 2011 books in religion, especially theology, or in philosophy, especially with broad ethical import, would you put on the list? I mean books that might have a greater claim to being notable than, say, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend and Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef or even Inside Scientology?
Peter: Why don’t you talk to the editors of COMMONWEAL about starting a list of notable books of the year in religion as an annual feature to be published in COMMONWEAL? It’s too late for you to undertake to do this for 2011. But you could arrange to do this in 2012 and publish your list of notable books in religion in 2012 in a December issue of COMMONWEAL.
However, as long as I am writing a response to your editorial regarding the NYTimes, I want to ask you about something else related to the NYTimes and religion in the United States. At one time in the United States, Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich were famous Protestant theologians. To what extent, if any, did the NYTimes contribute to helping to make them as well known as they were in their time? For example, did the NYTimes publish book reviews of each respective author’s books? Or feature articles about each respective author?
Now, if the NYTimes did nothing — zero, zilch, nada — to help make those two Protestant theologians as well known as they were in their time, then just how did those two Protestant theologians become as well known in their time as they were?
Commonweal editors, take heed! And since I know that you already have far too much to do for a small staff, you could consider the idea of setting up a committee to choose notable religion books of the past year. I believe that Christian Century and Christianity Today do something like this. Maybe there is room for cooperation.
As for the New York Times and Niebuhr/Tillich, I am no better placed to answer that good question than many historians of American intellectual and religious life. Without checking, I believe that the works of both thinkers and of very many other religious thinkers were reviewed in the New York Times. Of course, Niebuhr’s appearance on the cover of Time is often cited to illustrate the good old days of theology’s standing in the culture. Was Tillich ever on a Time cover? I suspect that the magazine attended to his writings.
I have at hand my late mother’s copy of the April 6, 1966 Time magazine with its famous black-and-red “Is God Dead?” cover. The cover is often mentioned as a sign of 1960s cultural rebellion, though sometimes people forget that it was a question. The story inside is in fact a pretty extensive survey of theological developments,building on a previous story on the topic.
That issue came to me from the family home with a clipping from the March 13, 1966 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times. It was a report on an appearance by Thomas J. J. Altizer, a self-declared “Christian atheist” theologian, at Northwestern University. The extent and sophistication of this local newspaper story is far beyond anything one might find today in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, or what remains of the newsmagazines.
This is meat for another post and another discussion, however. I hope that it doesn’t overshadow my plea for nominations for notable 2011 books in religion.
For what it’s worth, here are the religious books of 2011 that I actually bought. I buy far more books than I read, so this list reflects what struck me as interesting based on reviews, books mentioned here and on other blogs, and Amazon’s recommendations based on past purchases. I find that there is a significant overlap between what I have bought during the year and what winds up on the Times list of 100 Notable books (I own 25 of the 100 books this year), so some of the titles I bought might be on the Times list if it included more books on religion. It seems to me that Holy War: How Vasco da Gama’s Epic Voyages Turned the Tide in a Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations and Jerusalem: The Biography, both of which made the list, might be considered religious books.
Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith
Robert Barron
Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived
Rob Bell
Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age
Robert N. Bellah
Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection
Pope Benedict XVI
Holy War: How Vasco da Gama’s Epic Voyages Turned the Tide in a Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations
Nigel Cliff
Why Niebuhr Now?
John Patrick Diggins
Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are
Bart D. Ehrman
Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe
Charles Freeman
A Brief History of the Soul (Brief Histories of Philosophy)
Stewart Goetz, Charles Taliaferro
Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God
Elizabeth A. Johnson
Jesus: A Biography from a Believer.
Paul Johnson
The Crisis of Authority in Catholic Modernity
Michael J. Lacey, Francis Oakley
Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India
Joseph Lelyveld
Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus
Jodi Magness
Jerusalem: The Biography
Simon Sebag Montefiore
The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths
Michael Shermer
Did St Paul Get Jesus Right?: The Gospel According to Paul
David Wenham
Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters
N. T. Wright
The Kingdom New Testament: A Contemporary Translation
N. T. Wright
Is a book that is of great interest to Catholics and only Catholics (or Evangelicals and only Evangelicals, or Jews and only Jews, and so on) a worthy candidate for the 100 Notable Books of the Year?
Through a path starting with First Things I found a 2006 essay titled What’s Wrong With the Society of Biblical Literature? by a Jewish scholar named Jacques Berlinerblau, and he made this interesting observation:
Without going into his arguments, or even why I find them relevant, I will just say that maybe one reason that religious books don’t wind up on the list of notable books is that so many of them appeal to such comparatively narrow audiences that they don’t belong on the list.
I’ll have to go through my stash of books just bought at the AAR (which lean heavily towards my interests in the history of the American religious left, admittedly) to check, but I also did buy “The Crisis of Authority in Catholic Modernity” (a timely topic!).
However, the first thing that comes to mind as both “notable in theology” and “of general interest” is James Cone’s long-awaited The Cross and the Lynching Tree.
I’d like to see the day when the NYT Book Review recommends *that*!
Commonweal in the 50s and 60s did indeed run a holiday book-buying guide, which while (as I recall from my reading) was not necessarily *only* religious books, definitely tended to tilt heavily that way. Lots of books on Vatican II and on/by Teilhard in the early 60s, for example.
Oh, also, the new edition of the New Testament with commentary from Jewish scholars, which the Times did actually run a feature story on, would be on the list.
And — sorry for the comment spam, I’ll stop right after this one — this reminds me that one of my dream jobs has always been to get to revamp the religion section at Borders/Barnes&Noble. They have (or had in the case of Borders) such a good and extensive history section, complete with lots of solid though not narrow scholarship, and even a reasonable philosophy section (not much in the way of contemporary scholarship, but could be counted on to stock the classics of Western philosophy.)
But the religion sections are/were *awful*, with a giant shelf of bibles, new age dreck, lots of titles about angels, some terrible right-wing polemic, and rarely, if ever, anything for, you know, grownups.
Hey, David N – I think the book publishing industry owes you a ton of thank-you notes!
Jim,
I have worked in the book publishing industry since graduating from college, so really I’m just helping to pay my own salary!
Peter: In honor of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, a number of books about it were published in 2011, including the following books:
Bloom, Harold. The Shadow of a Great Rock: A Literary Appreciation of the King James Bible. Yale University Press, 2011.
Hamlin, Hannibal and Norman W. Jones, eds. The King James Bible After Four Hundred Years: Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Influences. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Norton, David. The King James Bible: A Short History from Tyndale to Today. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Ryken, Leland. The Legacy of the King James Bible: Celebrating 400 Years of the Most Influential Translation. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2011.
For some reason, Princeton University Press published Robert Alter’s Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible in 2010.
This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.
You can search and read it here:
http://www.kingjamesbibletrust.org/the-king-james-bible/read-and-search-the-kjv
(Sorry, I didn’t see Thomas Farrell’s post before I submitted mine.)
Peter: In 2011, Yale University Press reissued Sacvan Bercovitch’s book THE PURITAN ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN SELF with a lengthy new preface by the author. The preface alone is worth the price of the book. The preface is an excellent personal essay about Bercovitch’s life and his life as a scholar in American studies. In narrative form, he recounts the story of how he came to write the book. He also updates the book’s coverage by discussing more recent scholarship in American studies since the book was originally published in 1975.
I once considered as a New Year’s Resolution taking note of how many books on religion would be reviewed in the NYT Book Review during the coming year, but, like most of my NYR’s, it came to nought. I think the number has fallen off considerably, and not only in the NYT but also in the TLS which continues, however, to list an editor for religion. The LRB, of course, is a hopeless case.
Some 2011 picks – -
Dante in Love by A. N. Wilson. This doesn’t offer any surprises for specialists but it’s an easily accessible (though not watered down) work for a general audience — a mature summing up by a prominent British literary critic who has been reading Dante and struggling with issues of faith for many decades.
Augustine’s Confessions, A Biography by Garry Wills.
Behaving in Public by Nigel Biggar. An attempt to find the via media in contemporary Christian ethics.
Dilemmas and Connections by Charles Taylor. A collection of essays, some of which reconsider themes in his Secular Age.
Gothic Enterprise (2nd edition) by Robert Scott. A secular sociologist considers Gothic cathedrals.
__________
On the cynical theory that others will cheat by naming books published prior to 2011 I will preemptively name a 2010 publication: The Hebrew Republic, Jewish Sources and the Transformation of European Political Thought, by Eric Nelson.
The devil made me break the rule, but I hope for absolution on my deathbed because the book is so good (and short).
And a Young Adult list of religious books would be helpful, too. I was browsing the religion section at B&N yesterday looking for a non-saccharine book about saint(s) for my daughter; the Children’s religion section over all was pretty weak (except for a fairly large selection of Bibles).
My Thanksgiving holidays were divided between grading exams and drinking deeply of Newman via Edward Short’s “Newman and his Contemporaries.”
Drawing to a large degree on letters written and received, Short introduces us to Newman’s fascinating relationships with people like Pusey, Gladstone, and Matthew Arnold.
The book is also spiced with obiter dicta by Short on present-day situations — dicta that, for some, may put to the test Peter’s caution against “the corresponding circling of wagons by liberal Catholics who feel obligated to defend whatever conservative religious and political figures attack.”
I don’t see why the NYT should promote scholarly books. Those who want such material know where to acquire it. (A shame the university presses do so little advertising and make so few of their expensive books available for Kindle.)
And, given the public taste, I don’t see why the NYT should promote religion books. A book called Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo, has been on the non-fiction bestseller list for 43 weeks. I think it’s about a three-year-old who went to heaven and came back. Should that book be given additional promotion in a Holiday Books issue?
Missale Romanum 2011…if that qualifies.
To the list of books about the KJV provided by thomas Farrell I would add the eminently readable GOD”S SECRETARIES by Adam Nicolson (Harper/Collins). I also loved Short’s book on Newman recommended by the ever worthy Bob Imbelli.
The Harvard University Press ad in the Holiday Books issue, page 19, features six books. One is about religion. Looks fabulous. (Bring it, Santa.)
Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age, by Robert N. Bellah.
http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Human-Evolution-Paleolithic-Axial/dp/0674061438/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323023571&sr=8-1
As NYT is featuring “holiday” books, maybe they couldn’t include religious ones?
For us Catholics, there’s the easy pleasant read of Fr. Martin.
For serious readers, i urge Lacey and Oakley’s “Crisis of Authority in CatholicModernity” with great essays by among others, our own Fr. K and Cathy.Sorry to say but worth the price and the time!
A smidge off-topic, so forgive me–did Commonweal review “The Shack,” arguably one of the most influential Christian books in recent years? How about “Heaven is for Real?” I read “The Shack,” which was given to me by a hard-core Southern Baptist relative, and was pleasantly surprised–not least by the profusion of Bruce Cockburn references, explicit and implicit, throughout. “The Shack” is a progressive-evangelical wrestle with theodicy.
Perhaps a “meta-review” is in order, of “books that cause people to ask core Christian questions,” or “explicitly Christian books that hit the best-seller list and stay there,” or some such? “Conversations with God” might be another–I’m not sure how well it sold.
For those interested in Eastern Christianity (both Catholic and Orthodox), there is a long annotated list of recommended titles here: http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2011/11/books-for-christmas-some.html
Peter, I think it’s simply cultural. The Times list of notable books is a list of books it feels its readers – or the people it wants to have as readers – would consider notable. I don’t think the Times considers people for whom Christianity is of utmost importance to be among their readers – at least in great numbers. As for the presence of religious books on the children’s list, I’m guessing the idea still persists among the culturally sophisticated that children are best tamed, at least in the very early years, by a little religious mythology.
Ila Delio, The Emergent Christ
Bob Spitzer, New Proofs for the Existence of God
Both are excellent fusions of theology and the revelations of science.
Hit enter too soon. Opps (as Rick Perry would say…).
Maybe Commonweal could compile a Theology / Religious studies best books list of the past five years. Spitzer and Delio would top my list.
Probably not highbrow enough for this group, but as a cradle Unitarian, I enjoyed Eric Weiner’s discussion on NPR this morning about his new book, “Man Seeks God.”
Weiner, a nominal Jew, was asked in a hospital by a nurse if he had “found your God.” He set off exploring Sufiism, Buddhism, lived with some Fransiscans in New York, and finally returned to his Jewish roots. He says he’s still a seeker, but that he learned something valuable from his encounters with all these faiths.
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/05/143057528/man-seeks-god-finds-wayne-of-staten-island
A wonderful jeremiad, Peter, and wonderful suggestions by commenters, in my view. Why does Commonweal need a special edition on best religion books when you have a thread like this? I saw some of these titles pass across my desk, and a few even migrated to my bedside table, most left there unread. What I want is a way to read some of these books, as much as the books themselves. Beautiful e-readers are everywhere, but…
One note re Scientology: First, it may not qualify as a religion, which would further undermine the NYTRB holiday edition. But Hugh Urban also had a fine, and a bit more scholarly — though very accessible — book on Scientology this year. Two fine works in one year on a religion/cult/whatever that has resisted, often using powerful means, scrutiny. That has led mainly to apologias or rants.
Here are the ten best religion books of the year according to Publishers Weekly:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2011/religion#book/book-1
(Carroll’s Jerusalem, Jerusalem looks good.)
David Gibson, like you I usually have a table full of books i am reading and re-reading and playing off against each other in my mind. Most of mine right now are in some way or another on matters related to authority, governance, and accountability in the Church and on Vatican II. But they aren’t hot off the presses. It takes me a while to catch up. So I second Rick Malloy’s idea of Commonweal compiling a list of books from the last five–or ten– years. (Besides. sometimes you get a better perspective on books when they can be looked at in relation to other books that respond to the same issues. ( I just got around to reading Francis Sullivan’s “Creative Fidelity: Weighing and Interpreting the Documents of the Magisterium.” Would hate to have missed it in favor of something just out.)
A bit late with this but perhaps I’m on “Catholic time.” (“The parish’s seven-thirty ad hoc subcommittee meeting promptly begins at ten to eight.”)
“Pope Bob”
http://tinyurl.com/PopeBob
David G — You really consider my measured, qualified, balanced, and deferential remarks a “jeremiad,” however wonderful? Yes, I did season them with a few pinches of sarcasm. But you should hear me in full rant sometime.
David S — I don’t think that the question is whether Times editors consider people for whom Christianity “is of utmost importance” to be among their readers. First of all, I was writing about books dealing with religion and not limiting my observations to Christianity. Second, I don’t think NYT editors — and I’ve actually known a good number — are all the dogmatic secularists some people like to believe. Third, in my experience these editors are pretty smart. (That can sometimes be a problem.) They don’t imagine, for example, that Gardening or Crime or Travel are necessarily of “the utmost importance” among great numbers of their readers. Yet they devote Holiday Books sections to those topics. And they know the data about the U.S. still being a pretty religious nation.
So if they asked themselves, are there possibly as many readers out there interested in the past year’s books about religion as are interested in the past year’s books about gardening or biographies of celebrities; or even are there a goodly fraction of readers as interested in religion as in belles lettres — I am pretty sure they’d tell themselves Yes. The problem is that they don’t ask themselves that question.
The reasons they don’t — and here I agree with you that they can be called “cultural” — are not by and large ideological but sociological and literary and commercial and perhaps even habitual. I wonder to what extent the categories in the Holiday Books issue are determined by what was in last year’s Holiday Books issue, as well as the extent to which the books singled out as notable simply recapitulate the ones the Review already featured.
Just want to add the new America has a fine aerticle on Jennifer Haigh’s novel, “Faith” which I strongly urge you to read if you haven’t.