“Those of us who are privileged to represent our Lord Jesus Christ in the arts should be galvanized by mission, not by ambition; by mandate, not by accolades; by love for the Master, not by the allurements of this world.” ~ Steve Camp, Christian music recording artist
Last month Random House bought out Multnomah Publishing, and now owns two Christian imprints, following the creation of Waterbrook Press in 1996. Similarly, Harper Collins bought Zondervan a few years ago.
“The Christian publishing industry has been booming now for more than 15 years,” said Lynn Garrett, religion editor of Publishers Weekly. “This acquisition is just the latest in a long line of moves by New York publishing houses to tap into this growing industry because they see the growing sales numbers of these books.” (Reuters, Aug.3, 2006)
According to uber-blogger, Tim Challies, “This is further evidence of a disturbing trend in Christian publishing in which we see secular companies purchasing and assimilating Christian imprints.”
Color me cautious, but could Tim be right?:
“Too often it seems publishers, and big publishers in particular, are driven by the bottom line more than anything else. There are exceptions, of course, and many publishers (especially smaller ones) have maintained their integrity. P&R Publishing, Crossway, Evangelical Press and others seem to truly desire to honor God through the business of publishing books. But too many others have become captives to the bottom line, publishing books primarily on the basis of what will sell the most copies. And in an age when almost anything can pass for “Christian,” these popular books often bear little resemblance to the Christianity of the Bible.”
This post will step on some toes but begs the question: Has profit become more important than integrity? It behooves us to rethink this trend of becoming “unequally yoked” in business.
Steve Camp, of AudienceOne says: “How can we call people to abandon it all for the sake of the call, and then be bound with nonbelievers in Christian music and publishing? It is absolutely impossible.” The lure of increased financial resources, wider distribution, and a larger audience does not justify the surrender of our spiritual autonomy, he says.
I invite you to read Camp’s 107 Theses.
Lord, that our bottom line would be mission, not ambition.
Multnomah’s press release .
Tim Challies on Disturbing Trends.
Steve Camp’s To Not Be Unequally Yoked with an Unbelieving World
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on September 5, 2006 - 3:57 pm
Victoria, What a great site and interesting thoughts about Christian publishing. I am bookmarking this and will be back to check out the rest. I love that Christian Women Online site and see you have suggesed it. See you again soon.
on September 6, 2006 - 10:39 am
Crystal, nice to see you here! Thanks for visiting.
on September 7, 2006 - 9:58 am
I have to cautiously diagree. I work for one of the companies you mention, who has an excellent mission statement commiting them to glorifying Jesus Christ, and who has turned down books that, although may sell really well, did not help them fulfill their mission. Making profit is not bad in itself, although I know many of the ‘big’ Christian publishers use the profits from North America to subsidize publishing in the thrid world. The staff at the company I work for have done much to get books and bibles in the hands of more people, and they have done this because of the investment the parent company can offer. I am reminded that Jerusalem was rebuild with the money of Babylon, and so we should be careful of condemning what we do not know from the inside.
on September 7, 2006 - 1:10 pm
Casaubon: First, thank you so much for commenting. I had hoped someone that works for one of these companies would step forward. Please know that I have not “condemned” anyone—only offered this post as a caution. I’ve no doubt that what you say is true, yet I stand by what I said, that we need to rethink this trend of becoming unequally yoked in business.
on September 7, 2006 - 11:11 pm
As a Multnomah/Random House author, I should have a very strong opinion . . . but right now my biggest concern is the Multnomah folks who are out of jobs. Yes, I have a book coming out with Multnomah this month. Yes, I’m sure the move will affect my title, but I know it’s in God’s hands. He gave me the book. He connected me with Multnomah. And He isn’t surprised by this new development.
I’m also a Zondervan author, and when I had a problem with my book (which all started with an out of control rumor), I worked with the Harper Collins’ legal team. They were AMAZING, what a great bunch of folks. I’m glad they were on my team.
Which leads me to my final thought . . . God can use anything to futher His kingdom. Can He use non-Christian publishing houses, I think so.
on September 9, 2006 - 1:06 pm
Tricia, thanks for taking time to post–I know you’re busy. My heart goes out to those who have lost jobs because of this merger.
As to your final comment, of course God can use anything to further His kingdom! The speculation comes from those who are rightfully concerned about the long term ramifications of Christian publishers selling out to, and thus, being controlled by big secular conglomerates. You’re blessed to be signed on already to get your stories out there, but what about future writers whose material might be rejected if/when Random/Zondervan deems it inappropriate for their audiences? In the end, writers can only write what God lays on their heart and trust Him to open doors at the appropriate time…as a writer myself, I believe that. I was just disheartened to hear that Multnomah, as wonderful as they have been over the years, to sell out like they did.
on September 10, 2006 - 5:59 pm
Vicki, my mind has been rolling around so many things lately…exploring the new “emergent church” (wow, lot to learn!) and how “church” as we know it seem so soft anymore…
It’s so sad to see more and more how the culture is changing the church, not vice versa.
My concern, though I agree with you and Tricia that God can use anything He wants to further His kingdom, is that eventually, the real message of Christ will be so watered down by secular guidelines that it won’t impact and change lives. If all the Christian publishing companies are being bought out by secular ones, who is going to be accountable? The standards of “Christians” everywhere are starting to float away from their moorings.
I think you raise a lot of good points, and also, I appreciate the quotes you included from Steve Camp.
Great post.
on September 10, 2006 - 6:11 pm
Mary: Thank YOU for the response. My sentiments exactly. The long term effects of these mergers are yet to be seen, though not hard to imagine. “Do not be unequally yoked.” This pertains to marriage, ministry, AND business, I would think. Giving up spiritual autonomy to secular conglomerates seems a dangerous move to me. Writers certainly can’t help what their publishing companies have done, but interestingly enough, money has a way of silencing any complaint.
Thank you for your very thoughtful post.
on September 11, 2006 - 7:58 am
Victoria
I see a number of problems in what you are suggesting.
1. You seem to see the Publishing Houses as institutions which have a formal existence within the Church. Why should this be? Who exactly is yoked to whom in the publishing relationship? The employee is no more unequally yoked than with any employer, the author no more than any contractor with any company. I cannot see who is yoked to who.
2. ‘Unequal Yoking’ suggests a tied in, and permamnent, relationship. But no author or employee is so tied in. Each author can choose to commit to as many books on their contract as they feel is right. If a publisher tries to ‘dilute’ as you suggest, then bookstores may no longer stock the books, authors refuse to agree manuscripts and employees find jobs elsewhere.
3. No one is giving up ’spiritual autonomy’ - people are choosing to engage with a company who they feel works well for them - and if they don;t they just don;t contract with them.
4. The company I work for has no guidlines restricting or preventing what we publish, and has never, in the 15 years or so of the ownership, interfered in the content of any book. The same goes for expecting anythig other than the highest business practices.
on September 11, 2006 - 9:47 am
Casaubon: Thank you for responding. I’m not speaking of the writer/publisher relationship, but the Christian publisher merging with secularpublisher to do ministry and business. Your point on #2 is well taken. As a writer I don’t have to stick with any particular publisher. But trust me, bookstores still stock plenty of diluted books as long as they sell:-)
Again, #3 is not about individual people engaging with a particular publisher but Christian publishing houses selling out to secular publishers. And for what reason? I think we know. As for point #4, I’m glad to hear it.
Appreciate your perspective, of course. The point of my post is not to inflame anyone (or debate), but to initiate thinking and discussion.
on September 11, 2006 - 11:39 am
Hi Victoria
Thanks. But if both the employees and the authors can leave, then what is yoked to the owning company? The abstract concept of a Christian company only exists as long as the people who make it Christian are there. If they leave then it is no longer a Christian company.
on September 11, 2006 - 3:26 pm
Casaubon: Well, it appears the Christian ‘concept’ certainly left awhile ago. A company is no longer Christian, in my opinion, when they fail to guard the trust of the gospel.
Case in point: HarperCollins/Zondervan also sells the Satanic bible among a plethora of other questionable materials. This is a stench in the nostrils of God. A genuinely Christian company will devote itself to Jesus Christ and upholding truth without compromise. I’m sure there are good people within this company, YOUR company, in fact. But this is the general shape of things.
For brevity’s sake, here’s one good example of publishing conflict when two companies merge: corporate effort to de-Christianize C.S.Lewis’ work .
Appreciate your interest on this topic.
on September 11, 2006 - 3:37 pm
Not sure why the link above doesn’t pull up the article in its entirety.
It’s from WORLD Magazine, entitled Off With His Head. “Devotees of literary giant C.S. Lewis point to a corporate effort to de-Christianize his work—-or, as Lewis himself might have put it, to disconnect him from the immortal Head” by Marvin Olask:
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/5075
on September 11, 2006 - 5:21 pm
Victoria
I still don’t understand the definitions you use to argue that a company is ‘Christian’.
The whole Satanic Bible thing is a whole issue in itself, and one too big for replying to a blog. Firstly, it is a division of HC - HarperCollins NY who publish this. It is not published, or sold, by any other division of HarperCollins (e.g. HC San Francisco, HC UK, HC UK, Zondervan etc). Secondly, it is NOT a genuine sacred text of the worship of Satan - let us be clear about that - it is a literary work (not one I approve of yo understand) - looking at the idea of worship and humanity. Thirdly, HarperCollins gives Zondervan the editorial integrity I describe above, so it has to give all other divisons the same. Finally, when Babylon financed the building of Jerusalem, they also financed the building of pagan temples. This did not mean th financing was a ’stench’ to God - it was part of His plan. The same applies here.
On the CS Lewis link, this has been shown to be a false rumour - it has never happened and this story is from 2001.
on September 12, 2006 - 11:33 pm
Casaubon, we just don’t seem to view things quite the same way, but that’s okay. On the C.S. Lewis link, I knew the article was dated but thought it served as a good example of the kind of conflict I didn’t have time to describe. (`Hard to believe that all the info in that piece was false/rumor, but we’ll just leave it at that). Thank you kindly for your perspective. Folks will take different views, but let’s do as the Lord directs our hearts.
God bless you and your work for Him.
~ V.