Worth Reading

In Publisher’s Weekly this week: “Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: Christian sex books sell, even when no one is having sex” by Jana Riess: “It’s a truism in publishing that sex sells. What’s unusual in Christian publishing is not that sex sells, but that even books telling people not to have sex sell.”

The article is an overview of some upcoming non-fiction titles along these lines, as well as some other Christian titles:

• Singer/songwriter Rebecca St. James’s devotional due out in Sept., titled Pure, which “promises to help young women with the struggle to remain virgins until marriage.”

• Nancy Leigh DeMoss (Lies Women Believe) and Dannah Gresh (And the Bride Wore White) collaborate on Lies Young Women Believe, due out in February.

• An Oxford Univ. Press title, Sex and the Soul by Donna Freitas, an academic study about collegiate sexuality, due out in April.

• The Healing Choice: How to Move Beyond Betrayal by Brenda Stoker and Susan Allen, about “the fallout of [men’s] sexual addiction” for women.

• Porn Nation: Conquering America’s #1 Addiction by Michael Leahy, due out in May, will also offer a companion study guide.

• A Biblical Point of View on Homosexuality by radio talk show host J. Kerby Anderson is due out in March.

• Gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson’s memoir, In the Eye of the Storm, will be out in April.

• Paul Edward Murray’s memoir, Life in Paradox: The Story of a Gay Catholic Priest, will be released in July.

• Sexless in the City: A Memoir of Reluctant Chastity, out in April, “follows the New York dating adventures of pseudonymous blogger Anna Broadway,” a Christian who vows to remain a virgin until marriage.

• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Hope, and Happily Ever After, due in April, “explores Trish Ryan’s conversion to Christianity after encounters with various deadbeat boyfriends and a disastrous marriage.”

• The Rev. Candace Chellew-Hodge’s Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians, due in September, is “a manual to being both gay and Christian.”

Recently published titles mentioned in the article are:

• Dangerous Surrender: What Happens When You Say Yes to God by Kay Warren, wife of “megachurch pastor” Rick Warren, aimed at “increasing evangelical Christians’ awareness of international AIDS.”

• The May 2007 release by U2’s Bono of On the Move, a “gift book” that merges “the text of a speech the singer gave at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2006 with some of his own photos from trips to Africa and an innovative graphic design.”

• Road Warrior: How to Keep Your Faith, Relationships, and Integrity When Away from Home by Stephen Arterburn and Sam Gallucci, for the “Christian male business traveler who encounters sexual temptations on the road.” It was released last month.

• Confessions of a Good Christian Guy: The Secrets Men Keep and the Grace That Saves Them by Tom Davis, a leadership consultant for Fortune 500 companies. The book, which came out in January, is partly autobiographical and also tells “the stories of many other real Christian men who are in the process of overcoming addictions.”

• Conquering Pornography by Dr. Dennis Frederick (2007).

Filed under: readers advisory, booklists, non-fiction, spirituality, memoirs, Christian books on March 7th, 2008