Popular Doesn’t Always Mean Quality
Oct 3rd, 2007 by admin
When I would walk into my local Christian bookstore, I would glance at the Top 20 bestselling books and one thing would strike me, the dearth of good quality books on that list. I was amazed to see how many of those books were fiction, or dealt with sex (sex sells even for Christians), or dealt with marriage and dating. I always wanted to take a picture of those books because it would be a stark image of Christianity in today’s world. Well, the ECPA took that picture for me. The ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) just put out the top 50 bestselling (though there are only 48, don’t know why) Christian authors. Here is a list of the authors and a book that represents their writing. And as they say, popular doesn’t always mean quality:
Randy Alcorn
Shaun Alexander
(Yes, the Seattle Seahawks running back)
Stephen Arterburn
Ron Beers
(Ron Beers does all of the Touchpoint devotionals for the New Living Translation)
Bell, Rob
Blackaby, Henry T.
Brunstetter, Wanda E.
Chapman, Gary
Cloud, Henry
Colbert, Don
Collins, Brandilyn
Dekker, Ted
DeMoss, Nancy Leigh
Dungy, Tony
Eggerichs, Emerson
Eldredge, John
Ethridge, Shannon
Feldhahn, Shaunti
Gregory, David
Hagee, John
Heavilin, Marilyn
Henderson, Dee
Hybels, Bill
Jakes, T. D.
Jeremiah, David
Kilgore, Kay Wheeler
Kingsbury, Karen
LaHaye, Tim
Lewis, Beverly
Lucado, Max
MacArthur, John
McGraw, Robin
Meyer, Joyce
Miller, Donald
Moore, Beth
Oke, Janette
Omartian, Stormie
Osteen, Joel
Piper, Don
Rice, Helen Steiner
Rivers, Francine
Rosenberg, Joel C.
Shepherd, Sheri Rose
Strobel, Lee
Warren, Rick
Weaver, Joanna
Wick, Lori
Yancey, Philip
- More Books
- When Christians Sue Christians
- By Popular Demand - Part 1
- Can Continuationists and Cessationists Live Together Without Driving Each Other Crazy?
- Reading Whole Books of the Bible
We have several “Christian” bookstores around here but there’s only one that I’ll go to for my book needs - Evangelical Bible Book Store
From their website:
“Today, the term “Christian books” refers to a wide spectrum of literature. Too often so-called Christian books incorporate worldy philosophies and ideas which ignore or even deny what the bible says. At Evangelical we believe that all Christian books should be in accordance with the scriptures and that the Scriptures alone are the standard for how we live and what we believe.”
Many of the “other” book store specialize in left behind and purpose-driven books and mostly carry CD’s, bible covers, knick-knacks and other “stuff”. They are very light on theological books and even lighter on actual bibles.
Sad fact: the local B&N and Borders have better books for the soul than the inaptly named “Christian” bookstore. I’ve seen Grudem’s _Systematic Theology_ and _Bible Doctrine_ plus books by JI Packer, RC Sproul, and Francis Schaeffer plus works by Calvin and Luther at Borders. These were not stocked at the local “Christian” shop. But then, look at religious broadcasting. The Gospel and message of the Cross are mostly absent from the airwaves. Amos 8:11 comes to mind:
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.
People are starving and they don’t even know it. I feel like weeping …