Evangelical Publishers Score Big with Palin Books | Christianity Today

Free Newsletters:

RSS Feeds |

Audio |

Twitter

Home > 2008 > September (Web-only)

Christianity Today, September (Web-only), 2008 |

Evangelical Publishers Score Big with Palin Books

Tyndale picks up earlier title, and Zondervan taps Christian mystery writer.

G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Religion News Service | posted 9/17/2008 11:15AM

Related articles and links |

1 of 1

In this high season for political books, two evangelical publishers are leading the race to capitalize on fascination with Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Tyndale House Publishers of Carol Stream, Ill., has begun distributing a paperback edition of Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Alaska Political Establishment Upside Down, by Alaska freelance writer Kaylene Johnson. Best known as publishers of the bestselling Left Behind series, Tyndale is printing a whopping 250,000 copies of the book, which first came out in April from Epicenter Press.

Next month (Oct. 10), Zondervan of Grand Rapids, Mich., will release Joe Hilley's Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader. According to a statement from Zondervan, the author makes a case for Palin's leadership by touting her "maverick integrity, electrifying communication style, career agility, and perpetual education."

Both biographies highlight Palin's Christian faith as a formative force. Sarah examines her family life and the role religion played in her childhood. The Zondervan book explores how faith influences her leadership style.

Both books also mark a contrast from other political titles published by Tyndale and Zondervan earlier this year. In an effort to reach evangelicals weary of the religious right, Zondervan in March released How to be Evangelical Without Being Conservative by Roger E. Olson. Also in March, Tyndale released We the Purple, in which reporter Marcia Ford makes a case for politics unmediated by political parties.

"Tyndale House does not endorse political candidates or parties," said Tyndale President Mark Taylor. "But as a distinctively Christian publisher, we believe it is vital to promote clear thinking and thoughtful conversation about the intersection of faith and the public square. In choosing to distribute this Epicenter Press book about Sarah Palin … we hope to stimulate both thought and discussion about the role of faith in politics."

Related Elsewhere:

Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader and Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down are available from ChristianBook.com and other book retailers.

More on Palin and the presidential election is available in our campaign 2008 full coverage section and our politics blog.

1 of 1

share this page

September (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52

E-mail this page

Write CT

Print this article

Post a comment

Reader Reviews are below

Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.

Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.

If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.

Click here for international orders

2-for-1 Gifts!

[Reader Reviews]

Average User Rating:

Displaying 1 - 3 of 5 comments.

See all comments

Jason

Posted: September 19, 2008 2:44 PM

Palin, like McCain and Obama, has grovelled at the feet of AIPAC, the anti-Christian Zionist power that controls Washington. Just over a century before the birth of Christ, the Edomites, a nation of people who are utterly condemned by all the major prophets, ‘became Jews’. See for example Isaiah chapters 34 and 63, Jeremiah chapter 49 and the entire book of Obadiah. According to Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived just after the time of Christ, 'They (Edom) were hereafter no other than Jews' (Josephus Antiquities of the Jews, XIII ix 1; XV vii 9). Yahweh Himself, the God of Israel and Creator of the Universe, ‘hated Esau (Edom)’, a people ‘against whom he has indignation forever’ (Malachi 1:2-4). According to the Jewish Encyclopedia (1925) "Edom is in Jewry" (Volume 5 p. 41). Revelation 19:13 describes Christ’s cloak as soaked in blood. Bibles with marginal references and other reference Bibles virtually all link this to Isaiah 63:1-6, so Christ Himself will destroy Edom.

homebuilding

Posted: September 18, 2008 7:52 PM

A cutie with special spectacles won't move me from my concern with McCain's bottom of the class intellect and his cozy with big business sycophancy. Before he was for Wall Street bailouts, he was for unbridled free markets. He has kept his Bush non-intellectual gang of Karl Rove thugs as his campaign staff--and they are delivering the goods--a massive manipulation of the uncritical so called Christians who jump on cue when "anti abortion" is so much as murmured. The best government is that which governs the least just came crashing down this past month. Adult supervision is needed. McCain and group stand for minimal oversight--and the hapless rest of us have to pay the piper, rather our kids and grandkids finally will. I'm tired of the dishonesty and raising a down's syndrome kid doesn't clean up all the dirty laundry from the past. Nice try, though in manipulating those more given to flash than substance.

jsharp

Posted: September 18, 2008 2:04 PM

I'm happy Palin is against abortion and is pro-family. I love her tough-girl, hard-working image and her tough-talking communication skills. She's someone I'd love to hang out with. But that isn't necessarily enough to make her a good president should the need arise. She has yet to show me she can handle economic and diplomatic issues on a global scale or that she has even thought about them before McCain called her up. In fact, she professed ignorance of such matters on TV just this summer. Her history of appointing unqualified high school chums to statewide office (her secretary of agriculture was a real estate agent before being appointed and has no background in agriculture ) gives me little confidence she'll select qualified cabinet members. She's much more interested in complete loyalty than experts who'll confront her when they think she's wrong. I love her but I'm not thrilled about electing her. Having these concerns does not make me a liberal. I'm not one. I'm just concerned.

The allotted time for commenting has ended.

[Browse More Christianity Today]