Free Republic

What will probably be this year’s biggest book-publishing event took place a few weeks ago. It wasn’t the latest thriller by John Grisham or the sixth Harry Potter book; it was Glorious Appearing, the final installment in the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The mainstream media, which usually ignores happenings in the Christian publishing world, took notice this time. But, as usual, they got matters of Christian faith and practice wrong. Writer Joan Didion, as Wheaton literature professor Alan Jacobs noted, regards Left Behind as “the key to unlocking the hidden agenda of the Bush administration...

The 12th Coming of Less-Than-Glorious FictionThe latest Left Behind book. By Carl E. Olson After nine years, twelve volumes, forty million total copies, two movies, and an endless flood of apocalyptic merchandise, readers of the "Left Behind" series have reached the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately for them, episode #12, titled Glorious Appearing, is underwhelming and pedestrian, poor qualities for a novel about a Big Event. Fans of Glorious Appearing: The End of Days, which hit stores on March 30, may be inclined to label my criticisms as the rude sniping of a former Rapture-believing Fundamentalist-turned-Papist. After all, I've...

<p>LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Seen the movie about Jesus' death? Now read the book about his return.</p> <p>A novel about the return of Jesus is set to become one of the biggest selling books of the year in the United States as Mel Gibson's controversial film about his death breaks domestic box office records.</p>