A look in the mirror

BOOKS SPECIAL REPORT | Books—how they're written and who writes them, the ideas they fight over, and the unpleasant implications they ignore—tell a lot about a culture | Gene Edward Veith

Contrary to what some futurists predicted, books are not becoming obsolete. Just as movies did not do away with drama and television did not do away with movies, the new information technology is not doing away with books. Ironically, one Internet application that has found wide commercial appeal is selling books.

A book, as Shakespeare said of drama, is a mirror, reflecting back our virtues, vices, and "the very body of the time." The books Christians are reading—especially the most popular titles—mirror the state of American Christianity. The article on CBA bestsellers shows how Christians are engaging—or refusing to engage—their culture, while the article on Christian publishers' style sheets shows how feminist views of language have penetrated even the bastions of conservative Christianity.

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July 07, 2002, Vol. 17, No. 26

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