IVP - Addenda & Errata - June 2007 Archives

Jesus Made in America

I've been having a fabulous time working through the manuscript of Stephen J. Nichol's forthcoming IVP book, Jesus Made in America (due out May 2008). While Steve is new to IVP, he's a veteran author with a spate of books under his belt, and it didn't take me long to figure out why.

This book is replete with simultaneously mesmerizing, dismaying and hilarious depictions of the "malleability" of Jesus when viewed through the lenses of American Christian subculture. One of my favorite examples of this is his description of the "Deluxe Jesus Action Figure" :

"Such trivializing of Jesus by presumably sincere people has sparked a rash of products that step beyond the trivial and verge closely into blasphemy, which might be a good description of some of the products of the good-humored folks at Accoutrements. They market the Deluxe Jesus Action Figure. The deluxe model comes with loaves, fishes, a jug to turn water into wine, and 'glow-in-the-dark miracle hands.' . . . While intended as a spoof, sincere Christians purchase it just the same. American evangelicals, it seems, have a hard time recognizing the comic caricature that they have become. More tragic, American evangelicals have allowed Christ to become a comic caricature. And even more tragic still, American evangelicals can’t even seem to realize that Christ has become a comic caricature."

What's fascinating about this book is that it shows how American Christians have been domesticating, commodifying and otherwise trivializing our Lord from the historical outset. I suppose we would find the same sort of reductionism taking place at any point in the history of Christianity--or Judaism for that matter. After all, wasn't that the whole problem with the Golden Calf?

A Blog on Blurbs

One of an editor’s tasks is to find endorsements for select books. Nearly all of my academic books, for example, are accompanied by them.

But what happens if you get a general book—even a humor book—written by an academic? Well, you get what you see on the back of The Original Dr. Steve’s Almanac of Christian Trivia written by professor of philosophy and ethics, Steve Wilkens. Endorsements from serious guys like Mark Noll, Alan Padgett and Gary Moon that are, well, shall we say light hearted? (And you should know that each endorser really did sign off on their respective blurbs.) Take a look. You’ll be impressed!

Oh, and don’t forget to note the special one from Dr. Steve’s mom.

The Grain of Sand That Creates the Pearl

During the AAR/SBL meetings last November in Washington, D.C., I was at the IVP book booth when I saw John Dominic Crossan standing in front of a large stack of Craig Evans's new book, Fabricating Jesus. He had his hand on the stack but seemed uncertain as to whether or not he should pick up a volume.

So I walked over to him and in a light hearted way said, "Don't worry. Craig doesn't say anything bad about you!" Of course Crossan knew Craig and knew the two disagreed on a number of issues. So with a twinkle in his eye and a bit of an Irish brogue in his voice, he said, "It is my gift to be an irritant. I am the grain of sand that creates the pearl."

We chatted for several more minutes, but I began to think about how Crossan and others such as those in the Jesus Seminar have indeed raised the bar for conservative scholars, forcing them to elevate their game. And so today we often find those like Crossan and those like Evans paired as peers in debates.

As Crossan began to leave I picked up a copy of Evan's book and handed it to him. "Please take a copy. I don't want to make you pay for it," I said. He thanked me. But perhaps we should be thanking him.

Common Ground on a Meaningful World

Sometimes you never know who your friends will be--or at least, as Francis Schaeffer put it, your cobelligerents.

Recently IVP published A Meaningful World by Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt. The book seeks to make the case for a universe that is full of purpose, arguing the case from Euclid to Shakespeare to the development of the periodical table.

In a fascinating example of common ground The Muslim Weekly recently offered a supportive response to the book. Read it for yourself!

IVP Academic 3: An Ethos of University Publishing

Back to the topic of a shared center. While many IVP Academic books fit comfortably within so-called centrist evangelical thought, our university ethos calls us to explore and bridge the space between academic communities shaped by confessional faith and those shaped by secular pluralism.