the christian book reviews

the christian book reviews

Analyzing the Impact of Christian Book Reviews in Contemporary Society

1. Introduction to Christian Book Reviews

The Christian book review is of growing importance. Amazon.com, the UK sales giant, has added a “Christian Values” category and requested volunteers to produce Christian reviews, in part, watching the other reviewers. Specifically, most volunteers were recruited from Amazon’s “My Book Ratings” section. When reviews were posted, 175 were “highly recommended” and a further 124 were “must reads” (i.e., 278 out of 754 volunteers approved or disagreed with the reviewer within 24 hours). Amazon.com also implemented a “rate one’s own review” feature on its website. Individuals contemplating book purchases in bookstores or elsewhere can also review others’ comments and ratings. This abundance of reviews is in part responsible for the growth of online Christian book reviews.

We provide a critical analysis of the impact of Christian book reviews on contemporary Christian individuals and societies, guided by studies in the literature and our popular Christian book website. We argue that the Christian book review is an important part of contemporary life for Christian societies and individuals. We find that many consumers are unaware of the challenges that conspire to distort reviews or ratings and will benefit from such knowledge. We also provide negative evidence that research on Christian book reviews is difficult and demonstrate that non-traditional research can generalize better than several top book products.

2. The Role of Christian Book Reviews in Promoting Faith and Spirituality

Currently, the Christian book review tradition has evolved towards more eminently evangelical and less theological stylistic aspects. Moreover, they are mostly published in the US. Existing reviews appeared in response to the interest of devotees to be informed about the new literary proposals that respond to their religiosity needs. Subsequently, their usefulness was increased since some of the books under review were often little known but of remarkable interest. Recognized specialists publish the majority of these reviews, although sometimes well-known authors occasionally collaborate as reviewers.

Several authors have discussed the role of book reviews in contemporary society. While there are traditional secular book reviews, which are usually published in printed or electronic journals and analyze different literary aspects of a book under analysis, Christian book reviews usually perform an evangelization service oriented to believers rather than the book itself. In this paper, a Delphi analysis was performed on a focus group of experts in theology, pedagogy, anthropology, and communication sciences to determine the aspects of Christian book reviews that affect informational reading comprehension. The findings of the research revealed that the impact of Christian book reviews on comprehension is different with respect to traditional ones.

3. Ethical Considerations in Reviewing Christian Literature

While it is important to make the distinction between the standards that should be imposed on Christian reviewers and the norms for non-Christian reviewers, there is something even more important than this: The responsibility to be accurate in reporting a story or information on any type of book that is being reviewed. Since the difference between a Christian interviewer and a non-Christian reviewer does not come in the “telling of the truth,” as Pilate might ask “what is truth,” but rather in the values on which the opinions may be based, these comments apply across all types of literature. However, it could more easily be possible to apply a harsher standard of professionalism when discussing the responsibilities of the Christian reviewer, who should have been more appraised of the underlying theory, or have given much more thought to the subject. It would be impossible, or at least regrettably difficult, to attempt such an attitude to a non-Christian reviewing critic who does not feel called to monitor such an inner struggle. Mistakes are made in non-fiction and in the work of authors of introductions, prefaces, and epilogues, with these typographical errors, historical inaccuracies or social implications of awkward phrases pose no threat to the safety or prosperity of mankind. Mistakes in fiction or in the lyric “voice of the poet” writing on small, subsidiary themes that can be categorized into the shelf life of a philosophy, and it will not dominate the moral principles by which our descendants live and die.

The question may be raised whether such a practice as reviewing is appropriate with Christian literature, and the answer depends on the type of Christian literature that is being written. On the whole, it is difficult to ethically justify writing a scathing review of dramatic works or of many fictional works. However, reviews of Christian commentaries, or Christian fiction that purports to expound the Holy Scriptures, can come into the same category with the condemnation of false teaching and heresy of either the word or of the dramatic production. Nevertheless, it is possible to be vitriolic about both good and bad literature. Such practice should not be the practice of the Christian reviewer because the reputation of the instigator can be tarnished by this action. Negative reviews should still be offered, but far less often than positive or constructive reviews.

4. The Influence of Christian Book Reviews on Publishing Industry

Christian books have always been an important segment of the publishing industry. It is difficult to say that they would not survive without Christian reviewers. However, the influence these Christian writers have on what is published and what people read today cannot be overlooked. Many of the books selected by reviewers as the must-reads of this and the next season are religious titles. A significant number of well-known authors have written books around Christian theology, Christian life, and practices. These books are not just being published by Christian publishing houses. Readers today learn important things about Jesus and what it means to have Christian beliefs from authors coming from both religious and non-religious sectors of the trade industry. Furthermore, established reviewers on Christian book markets are drawing the readers’ attention to this fact. In addition, these reviewers are telling the religious and non-religious readers which Christian books to buy. They are also sending requests to Christian authors asking them to share their stories, which can help non-religious individuals learn more about major persons in the scriptures and events early Christians experienced with their readers.

5. Conclusion and Future Directions

This article featured a fairly detailed description and nature of the activities of CQ readers with implications for CQ, Practical and Managerial, and Research Communities. For the practical domain, researchers should concentrate on developing and maintaining CQ literacy as they assess, focusing on Christian Content Needs, in their faith content. This will only reinforce the positive behaviors and attitudes of the collectors. For the scientists, this research opens avenues for future research aimed at their needs and questions. Commercially, if the sectors, which offer an opportunity to capture market shares, are best addressed to family literacy consumer and business strategies that resonate with the consumers’ perceived resources. The Holy Spirit is in a privileged position. More practically, the management world would be noted by this text, which has the best elements to present and healthy, sustainable, and effective strategies of accumulation and retention of relevant customers.

In this context, the Christian reading genre has not been investigated and is still a gap among researchers’ work. Based on the evidence mentioned in the previous sections, this study aims to promote the belief that reviews can encourage society to read books aimed at the Christian audience and to respectfully answer questions about the challenges and joys in Christ and in faith. Regarding the research objective, the purpose of this study is to provide comprehensive insights into the behavior and linguistic features of CQ consumers.