c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Take a peek at your local bookstore shelves and you’ll see that devotion is in. Devotion to God, that is.

A range of Christian devotional literature _ from tiny gift books to hefty specialized Bibles _ is reaching just about every audience imaginable. From dabblers to the devout, there’s a volume out there for anyone interested in spending a few moments each day in prayerful or meditative thought.

For example:

_”365 Meditations for Teachers.” _”The Twelve Step Life Recovery Devotional: Thirty Meditations from Scripture for Each Step in Recovery.” _”The African-American Devotional Bible.” _”The Golfer’s Tee Time Devotional.” The books _ often designed to be read a page or two at a time _ usually include a Bible reference, a related anecdotal thought or quote and sometimes a closing prayer or challenge.

Once, these books _ especially those with a page labeled for each day of the year _ were chiefly given as Christmas gifts. Today, they are selling year-round.

At this week’s 48th Annual International CBA Convention in Atlanta, which ends Thursday (July 17), publishers are talking up their latest offerings aimed at helping people spend”quiet time”with God. CBA is the trade association of Christian retailers and product suppliers.

Family Bookstores, a nationwide Christian bookstore chain based in Grand Rapids, Mich. with 190 stores, is planning to devote twice as much floor space to devotional books this fall.”It’s our fastest-growing section right now,”said Tim Way, Family Bookstores senior book buyer.

His stores’ sales of devotional books rose 25 percent in 1996 over 1995. An additional increase of 22 percent is expected in 1997, he said.

Honor Books _ the 5-year-old publisher of the best-selling devotional”God’s Little Devotional Book for Women,”finds that 65 percent of its sales are in general-market stores, with the remainder in Christian bookstores.

Chris Robinette, Honor Books’ director of sales for the Christian market, said the Tulsa, Okla., publisher has sold more than 1.5 million copies of books in the”God’s Little Devotional Book”series. They include books targeted at women, men, mothers, fathers, students and high-school or college graduates.

This fall, Honor Books will introduce a series of”God’s Little Devotional Bibles”that will include a plan for reading the entire Bible in a year. In addition to the Scripture readings, the plan includes daily devotional stories selected from the”God’s Little Devotional Book”series.

Zondervan Publishing Co., based in Grand Rapids, Mich., has had remarkable success with devotional Bibles, particularly since 1990 when the company first published the Women’s Devotional Bible. A second version of that Bible has been out since March 1996, in three different translations.

As of late June, the company had sold more than 1.8 million of the various women’s editions. It also offers specialized devotional Bibles for men, couples and children.

Jean Syswerda, associate publisher for Bibles at Zondervan, said the combination of Scripture and related devotional thoughts fills a need for people who aren’t satisfied by solely reading a devotional book or only picking up their Bible.”You have devotional material with good application right next to the Scripture that you read for the day,”said Syswerda.

Zondervan officials said the devotional Bibles are popular in the Christian as well as the general market. More than 425,000 of their devotional Bibles were purchased in general-market stores _ including Wal-Mart and Kmart _ from July 1996 to June of this year.

Robinette compared people’s interest in his company’s”portable gift books”to American’s use of discretionary income.”They’re going to invest … in something that’s meaningful and that’s going to give them the inspiration or motivation that they want, but they want it fast,”he said.”It’s kind of like the fast food of books almost.” However, Phyllis Tickle, contributing editor in religion for Publishers Weekly magazine, said devotion to devotionals is driven more by spirit than by speed.”I believe that rather than a sense of hurry, what we’re beginning to get is a nation of people who have indeed felt the urge back to religion and who have begun to experiment with spirituality and who now are looking for a kind of rootedness,”said Tickle.

Marie Griffith, who teaches American religious history at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said some devotional books fit into the seeker mentality of Americans on a religious search.”A lot of people, I think, enjoy the seeking itself and these books can contribute to that in meaningful ways,”she said.

Griffith said that although some devotional books may appear shallow, their popularity shows a depth of need for”religious assurance.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Griffith studied evangelical Christian literature aimed at women for her forthcoming book”God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission.”In many cases, readers have come to trust the publishers _ and the individual authors of the devotional thoughts _ to help them with”short spurts”of advice, she said.”If one is suffering from low self-esteem or from … minor depression on one particular day … the hope is that they could sort of get you on the right track without too much effort, too much money or expense,”she said.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

While newer devotionals abound, there are some classics.

These include church-foyer staples like”The Upper Room,”a 61-year-old bimonthly magazine that includes a daily devotion of a suggested Bible reading, a meditation, a prayer and a thought for the day. The magazine has more than 2 million U.S. subscribers and another half-million foreign readers.

In addition, for almost 40 years, the Nashville-based Upper Room Books has annually published”The Upper Room Disciplines,”a book based on the Revised Common Lectionary, the schedule of Scripture readings used each Sunday in liturgical churches, including some Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Methodist congregations. Fifty-three writers contribute their analytical or personal reflection on the Scripture in a page-per-day format.

Another chief example of longstanding interest in devotionals is the best-selling”My Utmost for His Highest,”a collection of writings by Scottish preacher Oswald Chambers. That book, continuously in print in the United States since 1935, is now available in both original and updated-language editions.

Way, of Family Bookstores, said devotional books range from the”training-wheel devotional”category to”My Utmost,”which he calls a”daily spiritual two-by-four between the eyes.” Publishers try hard not to publicly pooh-pooh each other’s devotionals, but they are aware of distinctions among them.

Those who distribute the”easy-to-read”books note that others tend to be”preachy and teachy”and publishers of the heftier variety say the simpler books are less intellectual.

(BEGIN SECOND OPTIONAL TRIM)

Tickle said the current appeal of devotionals is one of a series of markers along the path of spiritual growth. She said books that encourage prayer twice a day also are becoming popular.

United Church Press, an imprint of the United Church of Christ’s publishing operation, has just published its second volume of”The Book of Daily Prayer: Morning and Evening,”a year’s worth of daily morning and evening prayers based on the lectionary.

In addition to prayer books, publishers are also developing journals that encourage people to record their quiet-time thoughts, Way said.

(END SECOND OPTIONAL TRIM)

As publishers offer different kinds of devotional books to various niches of readers _ businessmen, hymn lovers, teen-agers _ people in the business can’t help but wonder how far it will go.”It’s been kind of a standing joke,”Way said,”when are they going to bring out the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Riders Devotional Bible?”

MJP END BANKS